‘An Insider’s Game’

Abstract

The article examines the way in which media mergers in France and the US are framed. This is done in order to ascertain whether media mergers, which are symptomatic of the growing concentration in the global media industries, are presented as purely commercial events or as events with sociopolitical repercussions. Content analysis of articles in the French press covering the Vivendi Universal merger in France and in the American press covering the AOL Time Warner merger in the US was conducted. Results suggest that in both countries the respective mergers are mostly framed as economic events, thereby removing the event from the realm of political contention.