Lecture week six!
commercial media
Media landscape in Australia
What is commercial media?
- Profit driven media production
- Non government funded
- Survives/fails on business success
- Business built around generating audiences
Major players
News limited, fair fax, APN, Win, southern cross, Telstra, Optus
They produce newspapers, cable tv, film, magazines, books, sports
FORM of commercial media
Subscriptions, sponsored, subsisdised
Commercial media's role in democratic society- can it deliver on both commercial (profit) and social (public trust) functions?
Social responsibiltiy
1. Truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of days events
2. Forum for exchange of comment and criticism
3. Projection of a representative picture of constituent groups in society
4. Presentation and clarification of the goals and values of society
5. Full access to day's intelligence
To keep commercial media under control there are:
- Formal starts requirements
- Legal prescription
- State oversight
- Statutory
FUNCTIONS of commercial media
"comment is free, but facts are sacred"
New controls on commercial media
- Government agency regulating content
- State press subsidies
- Licensed journalism
STYLE of commercial media
- Dumbing down
- Tabloidisation
- 'desire to please'
- 'Mickey mouse news'
CHALLENGES that commercial media faces
- advertising revenue for broadcast media is down and falling
- Fragmenting of audiences- so many radio stations, tv channels to choose from
- Loss of revenue= less investment= less money for quality production= more 'bought in content'= more repeats of US sitcoms and reality tv.
What does the FUTURE hold for commercial media
A number of questions can be asked...
- How does commercial media continue to serve advertisers, audiences and public?
- What kind of audience can be expected?
- What effect does commercial media have on the practice of journalism and communications?
To ensure a future, commercial media needs to consider:
- Quality
- Greater competition
- Pay walls
And what is my opinion on commercial media after this lecture? I can't help but feel a strong dislike to commercial media. I feel as though it is tearing apart everything that journalism and communication truly stands for, and covering it up with copious amounts of advertising and tax payer funded reality tv. Maybe I was born in the wrong era, but I would much prefer to be informed with the facts in a simple newspaper article, than have to wade my way throughages and pages of pretty advertising pictures, to find the important stories of the day
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