Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
channels, radio stations, Internet sources, and magazines)
and argue that there are more gatekeepers in the world
today. The diversity of media outlets supports the latter
proposition, with television channels geared to specifi c
segments (or markets) of the population. For example,
both the wide-reaching Al-Jazeera satellite television
station and the new cable channels in the United States
that are targeted toward Muslim Americans are geared
to specifi c segments of the global or U.S. population.
DISNEY VERTICAL INTEGRATION
THE WALT DISNEY CORPORATION
FILM
Walt Disney Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Miramax Films
Pixar
BROADCAST TELEVISION
ABC Network
Owned & Operated Television Stations (10)
Blogs
Historically, governments and journalists had the abil-
ity to be strong gatekeepers by choosing what stories to
release or tell. Today, with the extraordinary growth of
blogs (“web logs”) on the Internet (upwards of 8 million
in 2004 and over 133 million in 2010), tight gatekeeping
is much more diffi cult. A blog allows individuals, without
cost, to post thoughts, photographs, and experiences, and
to create links to websites or other blogs. Blogs are local,
regional, national or global networks that respond to and
stand separate from global media networks.
Anyone with access to the Internet can read a blog-
ger's postings and comment on them. Blogger, the origi-
nal blog site created by the small company Pyra Labs in
1999, was sold to Google. Media giants are fi nding their
way into the blogosphere (as the blog space of the Internet
is called) with sites such as MSN spaces and AOL journals.
The blog site hosts your
CABLE TELEVISION
Owner
ABC Family
Disney Channel
Toon Disney
SOAPnet
Jetix Latin America
Major Owner
ESPN (5 stations)
Partial Owner (8)
RADIO
ABC Radio
Radio Stations
50 cities
ESPN Radio (syndicated)
MUSIC
Walt Disney Records
Hollywood Records
Lyric Street Records
PUBLISHING
Topic Publishing Imprints (20 companies)
blog for free and provides a for-
mat for your blog, so that you need know next to nothing
about website publishing. Blogs infl uence elections, and
they help generate interest in particular stories and events.
MAGAZINES
Magazines (16)
PARKS & RESORTS
Walt Disney Imagineering
Disneyland Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort
Disneyland Resort Paris
Hong Kong Disneyland
Disney Vacation Club
Disney Cruise Line
Networks and Economic Exchange
Unlike major media corporations that are vertically
integrated—with ownership of relevant suppliers and
producers—major retail corporations are typically hori-
zontally integrated. A horizontally integrated corpora-
tion is one that acquires ownership of other corporations
engaged in similar activities. The retail industry may appear
to be dominated by a large number of different companies;
however, many retail companies bearing different names
are in fact owned by the same horizontally integrated
parent corporation.
Horizontal integration
means that when you shop
for similar products in different places or across a mall,
your dollars often support the same parent corporation.
If you go to the mall to buy a pair of jeans, your choice to
shop at Banana Republic, the Gap, and Old Navy sends
your dollars to the same parent company. And your choice
to take a break at the food court to drink a Gatorade, eat
a bag of Doritos, and buy a Quaker granola bar also sends
your dollars to the same parent corporation (in this case,
PepsiCo). You might wonder when Taco Bell started selling
OTHER
Disney Theatrical Productions
Disney Live Family Entertainment
Disney on Ice
The Disney Store
Club Penguins
ESPN Zone
Disney Toys
Disney Apparel
Disney Food, Health and Beauty
Disney Home Furnishings and Décor
Disney Stationery
The Baby Einstein Company
Muppets Holding Company
Disney Interactive Studios
Walt Disney Internet Group
Figure 14.7
The Walt Disney Corporation.
Data from
: Columbia Jour-
nalism Review, Who Owns What. http://www.cjrarchives.org/
tools/owners/disney.asp
