Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence investigates the current state of Canada's newspaper industry in light of recent developments-increasing concentration of ownership, multi-media convergence, and controversy over the actions of proprietors. Case studies examine how Conrad Black's acquisition of newspapers in the mid-1990s, bringing his total ownership to over half of the country's dailies, followed by the subsequent purchase of the most important of these by CanWest Global, has actually influenced the content of newspapers. Canadian Newspaper Ownership revisits "social responsibility" in the context of the changed media landscape as a means of prescribing how newspaper owners and employees might conduct themselves in the public interest.

This is the first in-depth analysis of major French- and English-Canadian news companies to show the impact of cross-media ownership on the diversity of new content. Surprisingly, the study lays to rest fears over content convergence of newspaper and television network ownership by Canadian media giants Canwest Global, CTVglobemedia, and Quebecor. Content-sharing between newspaper and television properties of these giant companies did not occur. This leads the authors to examine why, and to assess problems that mass media in Canada will likely face in the coming years, particularly as newsrooms strive to adapt to new media and the online environment. Policy makers, media executives, and journalism students and professors will find this study invaluable.

Language Ideologies and Canadian Media explores how French and English Canadian media discuss languages and language issues, which language ideologies predominate in English and French, and whether language ideologies in traditional news media are transferred to new and social media. Using corpus linguistics and discourse analysis and a variety of different datasets ranging from print newspapers to online news, commentary and Twitter, the author argues that language ideologies in Canadian media have a bearing not only on the extent to which Canadian language policies are adopted, but also on the very way that Canadians understand themselves and their place in the nation.

The concentration of private power over media has been the subject of intense public debate around the world. Critics have long feared waves of mergers creating a handful of large media firms that would hold sway over public opinion and endanger democracy and innovation. But others believe with equal fervor that the Internet and deregulation have opened the media landscape significantly. How concentrated has the American information sector really become? What are the facts about American media ownership? In this contentious environment, Eli Noam provides a comprehensive and balanced survey of media concentration with a methodical, scientific approach. He assembles a wealth of data from the last 25 years about mass media such as radio, television, film, music, and print publishing, as well as the Internet, telecommunications, and media-related information technology. After examining 100 separate media and network industries in detail, Noam provides a powerful summary and analysis of concentration trends across industries and major media sectors. He also looks at local media power, vertical concentration, and the changing nature of media ownership through financial institutions and private equity. The results reveal a reality much more complex than the one painted by advocates on either side of the debate. They show a dynamic system that fluctuates around long-term concentration trends driven by changing economics and technology. Media Ownership and Concentration in America will be essential reading and a trove of information for scholars and students in media, telecommunications, IT, economics, and the history of business, as well as media industry professionals, business researchers, and policy makers around the world. Critics and defenders of media trends alike will find much that confirms and refutes their world view. But the next round of their debate will be shaped by the facts presented in this book.

Crumbling business models mean news media structures must change. Gavin Ellis explores the past and present use of newspaper trusts – drawing on case studies such as the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Pulitzer Prize winning Tampa Bay Times – to make the case for a form of ownership dedicated to sustaining high quality journalism.

Digital Media has transformed the way Canadians socialize and interact, conduct business, experience culture, fight political battles, and acquire knowledge. Traditional media, including newspapers and conventional TV networks, remain the primary link to Canada's political sphere but are under concerted attack. YouTube, blogs, online broadcasting, Facebook, and Twitter have opened new and exciting avenues of expression but offer little of the same "nation-building glue" as traditional media. Consequently, Canada is experiencing a number of overlapping crises simultaneously: a crisis in news and journalism, threats to the survival of the media system as a whole, and a decline in citizen engagement. In Digital Mosaic, David Taras both embraces and challenges new media by arguing that these coinciding crises bring exciting opportunities as well as considerable dangers to democratic life and citizen engagement in Canada.

The contributors show that digital media are disrupting entire media industries, but without erasing the past and insist that one media sector is not the same as the next. As the title signals even in the age of convergence and remix culture, different media continue to display their own distinctive political economies.