Library Resources
Databases for Scholarly Articles and Trade Publications
- ProQuest One Business (for business and labor)
- Communication Source (covers subjects in comm/media)
- Databases: other subject areas
Databases for Magazines and Newspapers
- Academic Search Ultimate (magazines and academic articles)
- Nexis Uni (popular magazines and newspapers)
Books
- Online Catalog (Books at UIUC)
- I-Share Catalog (books at other institutions available to borrow)
How to Evaluate and Cite Sources
- Evaluating Sources (with examples)
- Online Style and Citation Guides (Undergraduate Library)
Assignment Instructions
- Find two recent news articles that discuss an example of media industry concentration and answer the following questions:
- Which companies were involved?
- What elements of the process (production, distribution, exhibition, etc.) were merged?
- Is this an example of horizontal and/or vertical integration?
- What effects might this merger have on democratic goals?
- Were labor issues discussed in the articles? If so, how did they contribute to our understanding? If not, what could labor issues have added to our understanding of these mergers?
Suggested Keywords for Searching
- media companies, media industry, motion picture industry, film industry, internet, journalism, radio, books, advertising, magazine, cable television, TV, television, video distribution, video games, telecommunications, music industry, newspaper industry, publishing industry
- Acquisition, antitrust, horizontal integration, media convergence, media monopoly, media ownership, merge, merger, monopoly, vertical integration, democracy, democratization
Merger Examples
- New York Times / Serial Productions (2020)
- Gannett / Gatehouse Media (2019)
- Alden Global Capital / Gannett (2019)
- Viacom / CBS (2019)
- Fox / Disney (2018)
- TMobile / Sprint (2018)
- IBM / Red Hat (2018)
- Vodafone Group / Liberty Global (2018)
- Apple / Shazam (2017)
- Meredith Corporation / Time Inc. (2017)
- Tronc Inc. / The New York Daily News (2017)
- Chicago Sun-Times / ST Acquisition Holdings LLC (2017)
- AT&T / Time Warner (2016)
- Microsoft / Linkedin (2016)
- Disney / BAMTech (2016)
- Charter Communications / Time Warner Cable (2015)
- AT&T / DirecTV (2014)
- Apple / Beats by Dre (2014)
- Liberty Global / Virgin Media (2013)
- Sirius XM / Pandora (2013)
Library Hours: Monday–Thursday: 8 a.m.-midnight, Friday: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday: 1-5 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m.-midnight
If you have questions or need help finding resources email us at comlibrarian@library.illinois.edu, or visit us in the Communications Library!