Predestined Patterns

Case Study #2: Week 4

  On the Ownership of Five Friends'  Media Menus

          For this case study, I interviewed five people that had no interaction with each other in hopes of interesting results. I chose to question my closest friend, my boss, a parent, a fellow student, and a long-distance acquaintance. My friend recalled hearing about Macaulay Culkin’s heroin addiction via Yahoo! News, acquiring such knowledge via laptop. My boss regaled how the company Wells Fargo settled out of court for millions due to neglect, also found on Yahoo! News. My mother thought about how she read in the Missourian that the Krakow store was robbed. A fellow student informed me that a couple was caught in a romantic last kiss before being arrested, a charming story delivered by ABC.

            Entertainment wise, my friend indulged in a Facebook game on the computer. My boss watched House Hunters on HGTV while my mom watched Anthony Bordain: No Reservations on the Travel channel. The student popped in a VHS tape of Aladdin. Last of all, the long-distance acquaintance sought solace in Grey’s Anatomy.

The following is a chart recording the news, entertainment, and medium for each person interviewed.

Person	News	Medium for News	Entertainment	Medium for Entertainment
Friend	Yahoo! News	Online via computer	Facebook game	Online via computer
Boss	Yahoo! News	Online via computer	Television program (Scripps Networks Interactive)	Cable via TV set
Parent	Washington Missourian	Newspaper: print	Television program (Scripps Networks Interactive)	Cable via TV set
Student	ABC News (Disney)	Online via computer	VHS tape (Disney)	VCR via TV set
Acquaintance	Fox News (News Corp)	Online via computer	Television program (News Corp)	Cable via TV set

            Yahoo! populated the news field, taking two slots of media ownership. The Missourian is owned by the Missourian Publishing Company, a family owned business. ABC and Fox News, however, are corporate pups generated from the expanding bellies of Disney and News Corp. Disney and News Corp also have their fingers in the entertainment field of the study, owning Aladdin and Grey’s Anatomy respectively. Scripps Networks Interactive takes the lead in entertainment, owning two television stations (HGTV and Travel). Facebook trails along with its flash game.

I found it interesting that the same person that watched the VHS tape of Aladdin also got their news from ABC, both Disney-owned entities. The student, perhaps unknowingly, ingested his/her most memorable media material from the same producer. Even more interesting, my acquaintance also watched both news and entertainment that shared a media brand. Channel 2, KTVI is owned by News Corp, so both Fox News and Grey’s Anatomy are controlled by the same corporate brain.

Out of the ten pieces of media consumed by all participants, only six businesses owned the material. Yahoo! took over two slots and Disney captured two, as well. SNI and News Corp also held a count of two pieces of media each. As a consumer society, we are extremely limited as to our choice of media sources. Two of the individuals recalled their news stories and their entertainment coming from the same producer, a scary reality check that shows us just how much control media corporations can have over what we consume.