Transnational media corporations in global media cities: a geographical approach to understanding media power through corporate office networks

A central concern of media and communication scholars has been the developing discursive and economic power of a relatively small number of large transnational media corporations (TNMCs). In this paper, we advance research on the spatialisation of TNMC power through a novel empirical analysis of the global-spatial organisation of TNMCs as reflected in their corporate global office networks. Our findings reveal both global and regional corporate strategies: whilst many TNMCs are firmly anchored in home markets, others reach out across world media markets through strategically positioned global media cities. Further, our results demonstrate how US new media firms are expanding into Chinese global media cities to penetrate this emerging media market. Uncovering networks allowing for the control and management of communicative resources across space, our analyses provide a crucial macro-level overview of the structural power of TNMCs to consolidate control over the global network of media