Media Conglomerates- To Fear or Not To Fear?

In today's world what we read in a book or newspaper is becoming more and more controlled as media conglomerates continue to gobble up local publishing companies.

Of the top 12 book publishers in the UK only a few are actually owned by UK companies. They are Pearson PLC the parent of Penguin and Pearson Education, Oxford Press, Bloomsbury, and the Faber Alliance of Independent Publishers. The top 2 publishing houses in the UK Hachette Livre and Random House are owned by French and German parent companies respectively. Even Macmillan, which was started in the UK, is now owned by the foreign media conglomerate Verlagsgruppe out of Germany. Rupert Murdoch's U.S. based powerhouse News Corp owns Harper Collins, and the American big wig CBS owns Simon and Schuster.

Of the top 12 book publishing companies in the UK only 4 are UK owned. So overall the amount of UK publishers owned by foreign companies far out weighs the one that are UK owned. Many fear this kind of foreign influence or dominance as it can easily overlook or stamp out local flavor. Despite the fact that most big publishers have a solely UK branch of the company does little to quash peoples dislike of media conglomerates. This is because we cannot help to feel that we are being spoon-fed the same information and products as everyone else. The reason this is so disturbing is because it is the idea that culture is being changed from a unique entity that is dependent on an area and the people who live in the area and their beliefs, traditions and history to a one size fits all model that media conglomerates are injecting into our societies.

On the other hand the more media conglomerates tighten their grip on society the more people fight back. Thanks to the availability of information through the Internet we are able to share the truth behind who owns what and thus become aware of “the man” influencing society. The Internet has also allowed a major increase in the amount of people who can share their ideas without going through a publishing house or media conglomerate. So in a sense the more conglomerates try to control what we see, read, buy and think, the more new technologies are invented to counteract such influence. These new innovations on the Internet have given us the ability to circumvent the control of media conglomerates.

Gail Rebuck- A force to be reckoned with

The longest running CEO of a publishing company, she has made Random House the second largest publishing company in the UK. Her entrepreneurial roots and legendary work ethic have made her a leader in the publishing world.

In 2009 she was made the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the year, and a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List. Famous for her unwavering focus in the midst of car accidents and the birth of her children, Ms Rebuck has gained the respect of the publishing world even if some see her as a “turbo-charged careerist”. Her critics say she fits Random House all to well, in that she and the publishing giant are all about is making money, often putting creativity on the back burner. On the other hand Random House is known to go out of its way to support smaller independent booksellers as much as it does for the big chain stores.1 Either way it is hard to deny the influence of Random House and it’s captain Rebuck when such famous authors as John Grisham, Dan Brown, Salaman Rushdie, Tony Blair, Bill Bryson which fill the publishers literary stable, let alone the icons like Virgina Woolf, and Ernest Hemmingway, and Sigmund Freud (to name a few) that have graced the Random House in the past.

As one can see to handle such an influential publishing house, as Random House is no easy task, yet Ms Rebuck has shown the industry what the perfect head of such a company should be strong, smart, and very professional. But it didn’t all start out so golden, as all successes and stories there is a beginning. For Ms. Rebuck it was in London where she was born in 1952, she was educated at the University of Sussex, and worked as a tour guide and driver for her brother before she decided to follow her passion for books into publishing. She started in the publishing world as a production assistant for a children’s book company, then revamped a guidebook series by enlisting the local knowledge of London taxi drivers. Soon afterward she created a new publishing house called Century and after a series of other coup d'état that included ousting her former boss and mentor, Anthony Cheetham, she became CEO for Random House in 1991.

She followed a strict routine and only worked from 9-5 when her children were young, claiming that it wasn’t the quantity of time one spends in the office but rather the quality of work one does when they are there. She is an advocate of adult literacy saying, “learning to read isn’t a skill- it’s the doorway to life.”2 This kind of sentiment also prompted her to be a part of launching World Book Day and a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust and on the Council of the Royal College of Art.

Aware of the changing times and development of new technologies Ms Rebuck believes that the publishing industry is about to be transformed by "a new curve – the emergence of our digital future". Yet instead of being afraid of what that will mean for print books she has embraced the digital revolution claiming that printed books will not be overtaken by their digital counterparts as they are a part of our culture. Instead she has adopted the view "in 10 years time… we may get 25pc or 30pc of our revenue from digital sales.”3 Thus publishers must adapt and find a way to work with new media rather than scorn it.

Along with Random House Ms Rebuck has worked with and been affiliated with many media groups from News Corp, to British Sky Broadcasting Group, and is a trustee of the Institute of Public Policy Research and worked for the Government’s Creative Industry Taskforce to name a few.

It becomes obvious at once that Ms. Rebuck is a force to be reckoned with and that she has followed her passion for books up the corporate ladder to a place of prestige and longevity that few women have attained. In an interview by her old alma mater she advises students looking to get a foothold into the publishing world to “never be afraid to say what you think, always have an opinion, do more than is asked of you and be prepared to fail.” In a time where graduates are more than often found in a vacuum of “what next” Ms. Rebuck is proof that hard work and determination pays off. In a event where Ms. Rebuck was awarded a Doctorate from the University of Essex, the orator aptly said "if there is a “glass ceiling” keeping down ambitious and able women, Gail Rebuck has shown that it can be shattered."4

1. www.independent.co.uk

2. www.guardian.co.uk

3. www.telegraph.co.uk

4. www.essex.ac.uk

www.guardian.co.uk/books

www.sussex.ac.uk

www.independent.co.uk/news/media/

www.bmmagazine.co.uk

www.cabinetforum.org

people.forbes.com

Regulation in Publishing

Regulation in the Publishing industry is multi-faceted, piracy has become a growing concern for authors and publishers alike. Copyright has always been a key aspect of the publishing industry, Cornell University and the UK Copyright Service state that copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years after the authors death. According to the Publishers Association ensuring the author is protected and reimbursed as well as the publisher for taking on the risks and costs of production is vital to the preservation of the creative economy.

One of the most important aspects of the book publishing industry is copyright. The Publishers Association, The Society of Authors, The British Copyright Council, UK Copyright Service, and the International Publishers Association are only are a few of many external associations that have all been developed to support and advocate copyright laws and or fight censorship. Some work through forums and others through representation or awareness.

For example the UK Copyright Service provides online registration for various creative outlets from books to music, websites, logos and much more. The Publishers Licensing Society provides licensing knowledge through clarification and innovation, including royalty distribution to digital licensing.

Examples of internal regulation that Random House UK and Harper Collins implement is a permission policy, that requires written consent from the publisher to allow people to quote one of their books in another work.

Penguin has its own rights website that users can view to keep apprised of all of Penguins Rights news and information. It also has it’s own contracts department to “ensure that it achieves the best possible terms on which to publish [its] books.” Penguin also has it’s own Rights and International Publishing and Licensing Team, this is quite normal for big publishing houses to have regulatory departments within the company. The Rights department focuses on how to “maximize a book’s financial potential” and the IPL team focuses on getting Penguin books or it’s imprints books all over the world. (PENCAREERS09)

Here's a link to many more copyright related associations.