***I made an A on this paper*** ABC vs. Gannett Battle of the Titans The ABC Corporation was created in 1943. While its original formation was centered around radio, it has reformed around television. With ABC’s new motto, Start Here, it is attempting to be the one and only station for news and quality television series. The Gannet Company on the other hand is involved primarily with newspapers across the country, and in Britain. Included in the company’s holdings is 23 television stations, with an average audience of 20 million viewers. In this technological time we live in, even the elderly understand the importance of the internet. If someone is inquiring as to information regarding a certain company, and goes to that company’s website, the website should reflect the company as a whole. ABC.com is a very visual website, mirroring the fact that ABC is a television network. Almost every link leads to a video, with the major exception of ABCNEWS.com. Gannett.com is predominantly text, solidifying the newspaper publishing company’s image. A simple, and straight to the fact, website delivers a no nonsense evaluation of what the company stands for. ABC’s main focus as a company is on television. It offers both news, and hit shows such as Desperate Housewives. Touching once more on there motto, Start Here, ABC is wanting you to start off in the morning watching ABC, and to end your day watching ABC. They hook viewers in by changing what is shown. In the mornings it is news, followed by Ellen and the View. Then it jumps into the noon news, followed by Soap Opera‘s such as General Hospital and One Life to Live. Having your television on ABC for the day will allow you to see a diversified television show schedule. ABC’s start with radio did evolve to television. ABC may not have “cornered the market”, nevertheless they are still one of the top three television stations on TV. Some of ABC’s previous holdings were radio stations throughout the country. With the selling off of the radio stations, ABC did loose the title of being a diversified company. With all this in mind, ABC still has a very strong foothold in the international media community. Watch Good Morning America, Nightline, or World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson and if there is a story about another country, an ABC correspondent will be there. That is something that viewers do pick up on, and connect with. They may not know that correspondent, but they know that logo they represent. Newspapers seem to be the cornerstone for Gannett. They have diversified intotelevision, that is just a small portion of their holdings. While Gannett owns roughly 16 percent of daily newspapers in America, it still does not own the other 84 percent. It does however possess USA Today, the newspaper with the widest circulation in the United States. Gannett can reach more people in more mediums than ABC can. If a presidential candidate wants to have some political ads run, Gannett can take care of it through TV and newspapers. The United States and Great Britain may have had some misgivings towards one another during the Revolutionary War, but centuries later the two consider one another an ally. When pictures and news of Amy Winehouse performing erratic behavior at four in the morning is picked up in London by Gannett, it can be transmitted across the Atlantic to Gannett papers in the states. Monopoly is a word that gets thrown around a lot. I do not think the ignorant masses’ that use that word so freely knows the definition of a monopoly. Imagining the Parker Brothers popular board game, Monopoly, is the best way. The way to win essentially is to own all the properties on the board. Neither ABC or Gannett should be considered Monopolies. Now if ABC was to merge with CBS and NBC, that would be a start on the way to a monopoly. ABC would also have to merge with Time Warner, Direct TV, and other cable providers to reach some sort of vertical integration method controlling the market from filming to television sets. Gannett, while a large company worthy of praise, is nowhere closer than ABC is to being a monopoly. It does have the largest circulated newspaper in the United States, but that is not enough. Gannett still has Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to contend with. News Corporation’s reach in Australia, Asia, England, and the United States is closer to reaching a global monopoly than Gannett’s 85 daily newspapers in the United States and Great Britain. As technology is constantly having to evolve, it is up to media conglomerates to get the story precise and to the point at the beginning, before it is to late. With the internet and cell phones, anyone can be the news reporter. So for the professionals out there that have bosses to answer to, it is now or never. That second of hesitation before calling an ABC producer on a story, or not calling a Gannett editor can mean losing the story to the competitor. While time is always against reporters, so is quality. Those two things are the main focus on anyone that works for ABC or Gannett.