Media proprietor

A media proprietor or media mogul refers to a successful entrepreneur or businessperson who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media related company or enterprise, media consumed by a large number of individuals. Those with significant control, ownership, and influence of a large company in the mass media may also be called a tycoon, baron, or business magnate. Social media creators can now be considered in the realm of media on a mass scale. The creators and founders of such channels deliver media to a large consumer base.

History

In the United States, newspaper proprietors first became prominent in the 19th century with the development of mass circulation newspapers. In the 20th century, proprietorship expanded to include ownership of radio and television networks, as well as film studios, publishing houses, and more recently internet and other forms of multimedia companies. Reflecting this, the term "press baron" was replaced by "media baron", and the term "media mogul" was popularized. In modern relevance, social media sites need to be taken into account such as Facebook in relation to Mark Zuckerberg who is an extremely important Media proprietor. Media and technology play a significant role in mass media production.

Notable media proprietors

Mark Zuckerberg is a media mogul that most people are familiar with. According to Forbes, Zuckerberg is ranked #7 on the World's Billionaire list and #1 on America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40. Since his innovation of Facebook, he is considered to be one of the top influential people in the world. The Social Network is a movie that explains the journey of Mark Zuckerberg's success as a media mogul. Prior to his creation of Facebook, he started with Facemash.com where he successfully hacked onto Harvard University's student database images. After that, he went on to construct TheFacebook.com where it became a campus-wide success. However, Zuckerberg is accused of stealing his colleagues' project ideas for the development of Facebook but he did not use any of their codes to create the social networking site. Statista rated Facebook as the most used social media site as of April 2015, reaching up to 45.4 percent of social network visits. According to Investopedia, Mark Zuckerberg endorsed with Giving Pledge stating that before his death, he will give away half of his net worth for charitable intentions.

Malcolm Stevenson, Steve Forbes Jr is one example of a media proprietor. Steve Forbes was born on 18 July 1947 and he is the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media. He also became a nomination of the Republican party for president twice. He is a great media proprietor because he has a lot of experience in media. "Forbes is the nation’s leading business magazine, with a circulation of more than 900,000. Forbes combined with Forbes Asia and the company's licensee editions together reach a worldwide audience of more than 6 million readers." He is also the only writer that have won the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award four times.

Another great example of a media proprietor is Walt Disney. Walter Elias Disney was born on 5 December 1901 and famously known as an American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer. He and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which turned into one of the best-known motion picture production companies in the world. After that, his life became truly successful resulting in winning 22 Academy Awards. One of his popular creation is Mickey Mouse. He started everything from the original film and created a lot of animations using the character. Consequently, this successful innovation led him to open a theme park called Disneyland and Disneyworld. Today, he owns numerous theme parks around the world and the most successful part is that a lot of people from around the world noted him as a legend.

Oprah Winfrey is a great example of a media proprietor because she started everything from media and became one of the most successful women in the world. She was born on 29 January 1954 and started her career in various media. She became very successful back then and a lot of people know her because of her experiences. Her career began in Nashville’s first African-American TV correspondent and the youngest person to co-anchor the news for WTVF, a CBS-affiliated television station. Winfrey also owned her morning show called AM Chicago and a year later, she changed it to The Oprah Winfrey Show. After that, she was also making a film debut and magazine called O, the Oprah Magazine which then became the most successful magazine launch in recent history. She was awarded Association of American Publishers’ AAP Honors Award and Oprah’s Book Club which also went on to be the largest book club in the world. moreover, she was ranked No.1 based on Forbes’ Power Celebrity list.

More examples of media proprietors

• Marcus Agius (BBC)
• Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
• Sally Aw
• Silvio Berlusconi
• Conrad Black
• Michael Bloomberg
• Subhash Chandra
• Richard Desmond
• Walt Disney
• Steve Forbes
• Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere
• Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
• Hugh Hefner
• William Randolph Hearst
• Alfred Hugenberg
• Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet
• Jean-Luc and Arnaud Lagardère
• Roberto Marinho
• Robert Maxwell
• Lew Grade
• Vince McMahon
• Keith Murdoch
• Rupert Murdoch
• Samuel Newhouse
• Kerry Packer
• David Portnoy
• Mir Shakil ur Rehman
• Haim Saban
• Silvio Santos
• Manmohan Shetty
• Axel Springer
• Al-Waleed bin Talal
• David Thomson
• Ted Turner
• Jan Wejchert
• Oprah Winfrey
• Sean Combs