Autor(es):
Rebelo, José 
Data: 2010
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/11144/481
Origem: Camões - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa
Assunto(s): Network; Transnationalisation; Naturalisation; Standardisation; Digitalisation
Descrição
The present article addresses the form major world information and communication groups
operate, based on strategies of verticalisation of activities that encompass the distinct media
segments – newspapers and magazines, television and radio – and stretch to the new
technologies, namely telecommunications and Internet access services. Operating through a
vertical system, these groups work as a network system by establishing association or
merger agreements, protocols to strengthen their commercial relations, and through
interpersonal connections. Their corresponding capitals tend to disperse and their ownership
is constantly changing, particularly thanks to the involvement of pension funds, which do
not disregard the opportunity of alienating property whenever the profit obtained justifies it.
Both directly, thanks to the strength of their own products – “global products” that inundate
the world market, and indirectly, through the influence they have on others around them,
the leading information and communication groups are a decisive factor in the speeding up
of the processes of naturalization, the fixing of stereotypes, and in putting on the agenda
the topics that will cross through public space.
It is undeniable that the advent and massive spread of the new technologies pose a serious
threat to the homogenization and the media standardization carried out by the major
groups. However, there are still issues that call for moderation when analyzing this issue.
Firstly, the power public authorities still detain, especially in non-democratic countries, to
interrupt the circulation of contents. Secondly, the attack launched by the large information
and communication groups in order to occupy online space themselves. Thirdly, the excess
of information flow and the difficulty associated with the need to select and verify.
