The most recent lecture was about commercial media, with a particular focus on the Australian media landscape. One of the questions we examined was whether commercial media can deliver both commercial and social functions. That is, does the profit-driven aspect of commercial media impinge upon how trustworthy or credible the media source is? It's extremely important in a democracy to have free and trustworthy media because if the people are the ones voting they need to be well-informed and be given a balanced perspective.
1. a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day's events in a context which gives them meaning;
2. a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism;
3. the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society;
4. the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society
5. full access to the day's intelligence.
The "first duty [of the media] is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
C.P. Scott (Editor/Owner of The Guardian)
We looked at the the major companies and groups in the Australian media, in addition to the areas they have focused on. A lot of the companies had a diverse range of areas and types of media. For example, Nine Entertainment Co. doesn't just own Channel Nine and its associated digital channels. It also owns or is involved with Ticketek and magazines such as Cleo, Women's Weekly, Zoo etc. Fairfax doesn't just own the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Financial Review. They also own the RSVP dating website, MyCareer.com.au and domain.com.au.
I liked this lecture because I didn't know how wide-ranging some of the areas of media ownership were. They have needed to branch out a bit from traditional forms, for example with the decrease in printed classifieds they have bought online websites that offer similar services.
To ensure that both the commercial and social functions of the media are met there needs to be a clear separation of the advertising and editorial aspects.
I think this recent story is pertinent to this lecture:
"IT HAS tried every avenue of marketing, from ads to sponsorship of sport. Now McDonald's is opening up a new front - its own TV show.The fast-food giant has funded a documentary about itself that will air on prime-time television in a move that blurs the lines between advertising and programming."That excerpt above is from Julien Lee's article, which you can find here:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/mcdonalds-beefs-up-tv-presence-20120330-1w3o0.html
Some of the problems associated with certain styles of commercial media can be the dumbing down of news and the aim to please the reader. "The Sun" is an example of this style of tabloid newspaper. Now that we have internet news which shows stories individually, we can pinpoint which exact stories are clicked on most. Unfortunately the most popular tend to be sensational stories about things such as UFOs, shark attacks, celebrity romances or sport. These things score more clicks than politics or 'hard news'.
Here is a link to the BBC's section on Australian media:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15675260
Finally, here's a link to an alternative media business model which is neither profit-driven nor government subsidised:
http://www.theglobalmail.org/
The Global Mail is a philanthropically funded news website that is not for profit.
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