Bertelsmann

This book analyzes one of the largest media conglomerates worldwide, the Bertelsmann Corporation. Analyzing its history, its corporate divisions and international business relations, the book focuses on the dominant role of Bertelsmann in international media - and media services - in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and China. Addressing a broad readership interested in issues of media ownership, journalism and policy work, this book shows how issues of media ownership and corporate power are closely connected to issues of beyond media, namely politics, consulting, services and financial transactions. The book also draws parallels to other major media conglomerates and their attempts to influence communication infrastructures and policies on national and international levels, helping readers to understand the broader structural relations and power mechanisms at play in the global media market. The book will be of interest primarily to scholars in the fields of global media studies, international communication studies, and the critical political economy of media and communication.

Mandy Tröger is a Walter-Benjamin-Fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her publications include: Monopolizing the Democratic Dream: The Struggle over a Free Press in East Germany 1989/1990, International Journal of Communication (2021); Digitaler Kapitalismus. Die Macht globaler Technologiekonzerne [Digital Capitalism: The Power of Global Tech Companies] (2021); Pressefrühling und Profit. Wie westdeutsche Verlage 1989/1990 den Osten eroberten [On the Rise and Death of Newspapers: How West German Newspaper Publishers Conquered the East in 1989/1990] (2019). Jörg Becker is Professor of Political Science at Marburg University, Germany. His latest book publications include: Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann zwischen NS-Ideologie und Konservatismus [Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann between NS: Ideology and Conservatism] (2013); Medien im Krieg - Krieg in den Medien [Media in War - War in Media] (2016) and Gustav Flohr: Noch ein Partisan! Ein Remscheider Kommunist, Klempner, Spanienkämpfer und Bürgermeister [Gustav Flohr: Another Partisan! A Communist, Plumber, Fighter in Spain and Major from Remscheid] (2020).

Introduction 1. History and Family Ownership 2. Bertelsmann Divisions and Corporate Strategies 3. The Global Media Giant 4. The Bertelsmann Foundation: 'Making Politics' Concluding Remarks: A Transnational Information und Service Giant