The forgotten actor in media ownership debates: Audiences and their knowledge of media ownership in Flanders

Hilde Van den Bulck; Koen Panis; Daniëlle Raeijmaekers; Pieter Maeseele

doi:10.1515/commun-2015-0030

Article

The forgotten actor in media ownership debates: Audiences and their knowledge of media ownership in Flanders

Hilde Van den Bulck , Koen Panis , Daniëlle Raeijmaekers and Pieter Maeseele

Published/Copyright: March 2, 2016

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From the journal Communications Volume 41 Issue 1

Abstract

The characteristics and scope of media concentration are of great concern to media and communication studies, especially in relation to media diversity and pluralism, considered key in democratic societies. However, to date, there have been few analyses of audiences’ knowledge of media ownership. This contribution explores knowledge of media ownership structures, and how it relates to media use and socio-demographics amongst a representative online sample of the Flemish population (N = 1100). Findings reveal limited knowledge of ownership structures, with significant differences relating to gender, age, education and media consumption. The implications hereof are discussed from a perspective of democratic citizenship, political economy studies, media literacy studies and media literacy programs, and result in a call for more research into this specific area.

Keywords: media concentration; media ownership; knowledge; Flanders; media literacy

Published Online: 2016-3-2

Published in Print: 2016-3-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2015-0030

Keywords for this article

media concentration; media ownership; knowledge; Flanders; media literacy