Structure and Ownership of the Media Sector: EMAP

EMAP Limited is a British multi-media company who specialise in the production of business-to-business magazines and the organisation of business events and conferences.. EMAP stands for East Midland Allied Press. EMAP was founded in 1947 after an existing newspaper company was passed over to the owner’s son “Richard Pattinson Winfrey”. The company was formed by the merger of the Northamptonshire Printing and Publishing Co., the Peterborough Advertiser Co., the West Norfolk and King's Lynn Newspaper Co. and commercial printing sections at Rushden, King's Lynn and Bury St. Edmunds.

EMAP is owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax who acquired EMAP after EMAP sold some of their assets to Bauer for a large of money, the remainder of the company was taken over by the companies. EMAP are a multi-media and multi-national media company because their media brands span many areas of the media and they are multi-national because they operate in areas outside of their main area (UK). Some of EMAP’s subsidiaries include AME Info FZ-LLC, Cap Motor Research Limited, De Havilland Information Services Limited, Glenigan Limited, Groundsure Limited, International Advertising Festival Limited, Planet Retail Limited, Torcello Publishing Limited, Trade Promotion Services Limited, Worth Global Style Network Limited, WGSN Inc and some of their own EMAP-based subsidiaries. EMAP used to have its own radio station where they owned several other radio stations but it eventually became Bauer Radio and was owned by Bauer Media. EMAP has 20 magazines in its business-to-business portfolio including: Architects' Journal, Architectural Review, Broadcast, Construction News, Drapers, Health Service Journal, Local Government Chronicle, Nursing Times, Retail Week, Recycling & Waste Management and Screen International. Some of the events they organize include: Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Drapers Fashion Summit, Retail Week Conference, World Retail Congress, World Architecture Festival, Media Festival, Supply Chain Summit, Broadcast Conference, HSJ Conference, LGC Conference, RAC Conference and a few more.

EMAP is a privately owned company which means it has shareholders with limited liability and its shares are not on offer to the general public like they would be if it was a public company. As their shares aren’t available to the public they have to generate money from other sources. It is very common for small companies like EMAP to be privately held because they wouldn’t generate much money from shares because they’re not very large companies and aren’t as popular as some of the public companies out there.

EMAP are only quite small in comparison to some media companies and their target audience is a lot less vast than that of some of the large conglomerates such as News Corporation and Disney. As a result of this they do not have a massive influence in the media but instead in their own section of the media (business magazines and business events). Their magazines can have an influence on their audiences, for example Broadcast magazine is aimed at people who work in TV and radio industry and EMAP and their owners are the ones who decide what goes in these magazines so what they put in may influence the readers. A small company is unlikely to include media bias in their works but it is always a possibility and it is unknown as to whether EMAP’s magazines are biased or not. They have no real involvement in TV except possibly for advertisements for their events or magazines, other than this they have no involvement in TV so do not spread their influence in to the TV side of the media. EMAP do not own a lot of assets in different areas of the media and are not recognized worldwide like some of the large conglomerates so that also limits their influence because may think their opinions don’t mean anything because not that many people will know of them.

In 2006, EMAP was criticised by Ofcom for its “lack of control” over Kiss FM and as a result brought its radio division under the control of consumer media head Paul Keenan. Keenan was already the overseer of EMAP's magazines, television, events and international activities, but radio stations such as Magic and Kerrang had until then been in a separate division under managing director Dee Ford. EMAP Radio was heavily criticized and given a record £175,000 fine by Ofcom in June 2006 after a number of listener complaints about 'The Bam Bam Breakfast Show' on London's Kiss FM. The complaints were made about the use of foul language at breakfast and on a prank telephone call, which was broadcast without the victim's consent. Ofcom described the prank as "the most serious case of unwarranted infringement of privacy it had heard". This says that even the smaller companies who don’t have a particularly big influence in the media can be heavily criticized just for making a simple mistake and shows you how seriously people take cases like that. Of course at some point after this, EMAP’s radio division (EMAP Radio) was sold to Bauer Media Group and became Bauer Radio.

Overall I think EMAP are a good media company, as good as any company of their size, and they used to be an even better company before they sold their radio division. Also being a small company means no big influences in the media like the large conglomerates have which means very little bias which is better for the public because they’re not being made to believe what a company wants them to believe. Also them being a smaller company means they don’t own a massive amount of assets in different areas of the media which makes it easier for the smaller companies to acquire assets and become more successful.