Terms used in the Media Industries

AUDIENCE
The audience is the gathering of spectators or listeners at a usually public performance, such as a concert, play or T.V program. They are the people who buy, watch and read the pieces created by the media industry.
In short, they are the reason we do anything in the industry.

ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (ASA)
The ASA is the self regulatory organisation of advertising within the U.K. They cannot enforce legislation, rather they have a code of 'Advertising Practice' (which does actually reflect legislation in some areas). They are funded by the advertising Industry, by means of a levy that all companies must pay. Their role is to make sure that all advertising, regardless of where it is, meets high standards. The purpose of this is to make sure that all advertising is created to the same high standards and to regulate, which stops things like false advertising from occuring.

BROADCASTERS AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD (BARB)
BARD is the organisation which provides information and audience figures about programs that are on T.V. These figures are however based on estimates. As of time of writing, BARB have around 5,100 homes participating in act of acquiring data.
The households that take part have a box fitted to their T.V/s which tracks the programs which are viewed on that T.V. The results are then rounded up to 6million, giving a (very rough) idea of what the country has been watching. These results are obviously of great importance to advertising companies, as it shows the best times, and channels to advertise products, and also defines the cost of advertising at that time. For instance, if 3 million people where watching ITV1 at 18:00, and 4,000 watching channel 5 at the same time, it would cost a far greater amount for the airtime on ITV, and would be deemed to be of more use to the company advertising.

BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CLASSIFICATION (BBFC)
This is the organisation which is legally responsible for the classification of films, video's, and games within the U.K. It is this organisation which decides what is suitable for each age range.
Any video/DVD or game classified by the BBFC, receives a certificate (U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18, R18) along with 'consumer advice', which informs the reader to the instances of taboo subjects within the film, including sex, violence and language (as in swearing).
By Law, a citizen who is under the age which has been deemed appropriate by the BBFC may not watch or purchase that piece of media.

BROADCASTING
To Broadcast is to send information over a network. It originates from radio, but can now apply to the internet as well.
A person or organisation in deemed to be broadcasting when they distribute video or audio signals which can be received simulation by many other sources connected to that network.
The term Broadcasting is also the opposite to Narrowcasting, which means the media being broadcast appeals to a large group of people, for Instance one of the popular soaps like Coronation Street.

COMPANY SIZE: MAJOR COMPANIES (TNC)
A Major company is a huge organisation with many buildings and an empire that spreads through countries, and quite possibly the world. To be classified as a 'Major Company' the net worth of the company should be over 11.4 million, and the turnover should be over 22.8 million.
Examples of Major Companies would be the BBC, Fox and Wal mart.

COMPANY SIZE: BIG TO MEDIUM SIZED
These are companies which are pretty big, having many buildings in different parts of a country. In order to be classified as Big to Medium, the net worth should not exceed 11.4million, and the
turn over should not exceed 22.8 million.

COMPANY SIZE: INDEPENDENT
Anything that is not incorporated in any requirement. The company is only responsible for themselves. They are free to do as they please, as they do not have to please the head office. The magazine IP one is an example of this.

CROSS MEDIA COMPANIES
These draw T.V and written media companies to start using the Internet and mobiles phone technolgy more often in their media. This includes ways of communicating with the mass media, with mediums such as E-mail, and webpages.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
This is a type of ownership or control. It is when companies own more than one building or firm, typically of a similar size, and in the same industry.
For instance a magazine company could have a building in another town where their magazine is printed.

INSTITUTION
An Institution is an organisation that is heavily organised and regulated, like Banks, Loan companies, big film companies, and the BBC. It doesn't have to be a money making company, it is just the element of control. It could be argued that a college, such as Suffolk New College, is one.

NEW MEDIA INDUSTRY
The term 'New Media' is meant to apply to digital, computerized, I.T, and communications which emerged in the latter part of the 20th century, with products within it being manipulative, net-workable and interactive. Companies have been able to take advantage of this, advertising is easier, costs less, and can be broadcast to a larger audience.
It has also allowed companies to communicate quicker, and with more organisations on the other side of the world, meaning products can be created quicker.

NARROWCASTING
Narrowcasting is when a certain channel targets a particular audience by the type of media they broadcast, like Sky Sports – appealing to people who enjoy sports, Sci–Fi channel – appealing to people who enjoy Sci-Fi. Adverts on these station can be tailored towards the specific audience, and are of more use for specialist products
Because people can choose what they want to watch on internet streaming sites such as BBCI player, it could be argued that this is also a type of Narrowcasting.

NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY (NRS)
This is the company that records and estimates the readership of the major newspapers and magazines. It works on a very similar principle to BARB (see above). It allows publishers to know whether they are doing too much or too little.

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (OFCOM)
This is the Independent regulatory body which makes sure that big communication companies based in the U.K are doing as they advertise, and that they offer a fair service to the general public.


PRESS COMPLAINTS COMMISSION (PCC)
This is the regulatory body for printed media in the U.K, and it consists of representatives of the major publishers. It is not funded by the government, but by an annual Levy that it charges newspapers and magazines – however this is voluntary. The organisations involved with it adjust the rulings of it, which makes the industry self regulating.
It has not legal power, it is more of a set of codes and conducts that should be adhered by.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
A Privately owned magazine is owned and funded mainly by one person or an organisation, which acts as the owners decree. This can lead to the stories being more biased, and investigate what the owner wants, which is not necessarily what is in the best interests of the public.
Having a good owner will obviously make the difference between a good publication, and a poor one.

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
This is a owned and funded by the buyers of the magazine and by shareholders. They have a duty to report and investigate stories that the public decrees and wants. They are funded primary by sales of the magazine and advertising.
(I.e. a steam locomotive owned by a society)

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
This is a broadcasting organisation which gets at least some of its funding from the public. It is controlled by the public for the public. ICR, Ipswich Community Radio is a good example of this.

REGULATORY BODY
A regulatory body is an independent organisation that was established by the government which regulates the activities of a company in an industry.


SELF-REGULATORY BODY
This is an organisation that exercises a certain amount of regulatory authority over an industry or profession.


VERTICAL INTEGRATION
This is the process in which a company which owns all the parts required to produce its products, and thus does not have to go through a third party.
For instance, Games Workshop has a division that comes up with the designs for the models, It owns the factories which create and mould the product, as well as the warehouses to box and store the product, and the marketing department to advertise it, as well as the shops to sell the product in.

Lawrie Rose