Media conglomerates a global phenomenon

The clamour made by the Kaieteur News, and particularly its owner Glenn Lall, about media ownership in Guyana is clearly nothing more than a vindictive obsession with individuals who have dared to achieve not only in business in general, but yes – in media operations as well! Concentration of media ownership or media consolidation – a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organisations control increasing shares of the media – has become a feature in many countries, including in the Caribbean. Globally, large media conglomerates include Viacom, CBS Corporation, Time Warner and News Corp.
The Guardian Media Limited in Trinidad, often referred to as GML, is the media sector of the Trinidad-based company ANSA McAL. GML owns and operates CNC3 Television, the Trinidad Publishing Company – publishers of the Trinidad Guardian, and Trinidad Broadcasting Company – which has several radio stations.
In the wider Caribbean, One Caribbean Media Limited was born in January 2006 from the merger of two of the region’s most distinguished and long-standing media enterprises, the Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) Group (Trinidad and Tobago) and the Nation Corporation Group ( Barbados).
The CCN Group comprises the Express newspaper, CCNTV6 and the Grenada Broadcasting Network Limited. On August 31, 1991 CCN television, Channels 6 and 18, became the first independently operated television station in the English-speaking Caribbean, broadcasting to over 80 per cent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Nation Corporation Group is the parent company of Nation Publishing, which publishes the Nation newspaper and Starcom Network Incorporated, which operates four radio stations. The publications of the Nation now include Daily Nation, Weekend Nation, Saturday Sun, Sunday Sun, Barbados Business Authority and the Friends and Better Health, magazines.
Starcom’s four radio stations are the Voice of Barbados, Love 104.1FM, Hott 95.3FM and Gospel 97.5FM. This company was originally part of the Rediffusion network and was acquired by the Nation Group in 1979. It received a wireless licence in 1981 and commenced broadcasting as Voice of Barbados at 790 in the AM band. The FM stations were added in 1988, 1997, and 2000, with Gospel moving to the FM band in 2007.
Grenada Broadcasting Network was formed in 1998 when CCN acquired 60 per cent interest in the then government-owned Grenada Broadcasting Corporation. GBN provides television and radio services.
In Australia , ownership of national papers and the newspapers of each capital city are dominated by two corporations, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, and John Fairfax Holdings. These two corporations along with West Australian Newspapers and the Harris Group work together to create the Australian Associated Press, which distributes the news and then sells it on to other outlets such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) in New Zealand formerly published the Wellington-based newspapers the Dominion and the Evening Post, in addition to purchasing a large shareholding in television broadcaster Sky Media Limited in 1997. Commercial radio stations are largely divided up between MediaWorks New Zealand and the APN/ Clear Channel-owned Radio Network, with MediaWorks also owning TV3 and C4.
Apart from a relatively small number of community broadcasters, media in Canada are primarily owned by a small number of companies, including Bell Media (formerly CTVglobemedia), Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Astral Media, Quebecor, and the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Each of these companies holds a diverse mix of television, cable television, radio, newspaper, magazine and/ or internet operations.
As far as the Czech Republic , about 80 per cent of the newspapers and magazines are owned by German and Swiss corporations. In Germany, Axel Springer AG is one of the largest newspaper publishing companies in Europe, possibly having over 150 newspapers and magazines in over 30 countries in Europe.
In Britain and Ireland, Rupert Murdoch owns best selling tabloid The Sun as well as the broadsheet The Times and Sunday Times, and 39 per cent of satellite broadcasting network BSkyB. BSkyB in turn owns a significant part of ITV Plc and five per cent of Shine Limited. In March 2011, the United Kingdom provisionally approved Murdoch to buy the remaining 61 per cent of BSkyB, but subsequent events relating to the News of the World hacking scandal and its closure in July 2011 led to a halt of this takeover.
In Guyana, Queens Atlantic Investment Inc has gained the distinction of becoming the first private company to own and operate a media entity that emcompasses Guyana Times, which has become a reputable newspaper regionally and beyond, TVG Channel 28, for which the Evening News is the leading local newscast, and Radio Guyana Inc (RGI), the most popular entertainment radio station in the country.