Jour1111 Lecture 6- Monday 28th August
Previously all our lectures have been based on basics, or journalism
skills. Moving on from that, Mondays Lecture was about taking our first step
towards learning about Journalism Studies, firstly beginning with week 6’s
topic, Commercial Media.
We began with identifying forms of Commercial Media we are prevalently
subject to, these are:
- Go!- Television
- Channel 9- Television, Magazines, Free to air,
Digital Media, Events
- Channel 10- Television
- Foxtel- Cable Television
- Channel 7- Television, Free to Air, Newspapers
- Austar- Cable Television
- News Limited- Newspaper
- Farefax- Newspaper, Digital Media
- APN- Radio, Regional Newspaper, Outdoor
Advertising, Digital Media
- Austereo- Radio (FM)
- Telstra- Phone Company
As opposed to our Public Media forms:
- Sbs - Television
- Abc- Television & Radio
Just by dot pointing the examples of the two forms of media
it is obvious how much more dominant Commercial Media is in comparison to
Public. (Probably not surprising to most, but important none the less to point
out)
The big questions to be asking next, is why does Commercial
Media Exist? And the simple answer is MONEY!! Commercial Media is a profit
driven production and thrives on its primary customers, the Advertisers (not
the Viewers/ Listeners) to spend up in order to get their products on air and
advertised. This is where big money is made, rather than money made entirely by
honest ratings.
After discussing the several forms of Commercial Media and
breaking down specific branches of what some particular forms or companies have
to offer, Dr Redman set to answer this question, what is The Form and Function of Commercial Media? Firstly,
Commercial Media is always one of these three things
1.
Subscription- Foxtel
2.
Sponsored – Channel 9
3.
Subsidised- Government funding
And secondly, Commercial Media Functions under these
descriptions
·
Commercial (Obviously)
Advertising, Sales
·
Propaganda
·
Social – True Local, Editorial (Opinions)
To guarantee Social Functions in Commercial Media,
there is this idea of an “Ethical wall” between, the commercial and social
elements Commercial Media comprises of. This is to insure a balance in the
system ultimately in cases of corruption, news tainting and so on.
Today we see an increase in new controllers in this form of
media, primarily our governments have a huge input in content regulation, this
can be through internet censorhip, television culling even banning of
particular words/ topics on the radio. This has been known to strike some
controversy suggesting that any form of democracy censorship is not a good
thing, I tend to agree with this as it potentially paths the way for censorship
of many more facets of our life…what happened to freedom of speech?!
We also see state owned and licensed forms of Commercial
Media which again could be problematic as it sets to regulate and sift out
perhaps rouge or controversial stories that really get our nation talking.
Ultimately, Commercial Media dumbs down news. It is about
people pleasing and keeping peace with providers of big money so in my opinion,
in many senses losses credibility. In agreement with John McManus, who summaries
that; “Commercial= Corrupt; Lack of Quality; Profit Overrides Social Responsibility”-
John McManus, Market Driven Journalism.
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