Role_of_Media

The Role of Media In a time with such a multitude of information access points and extensive diversity of opinions, it can be easy for one to be convinced that the mass media exists, in general, to both question and inform so that every citizens may participate to their full potential in a democracy. A handful of people have rightly questioned this assumption, putting forth hypothesises in stark contrast with such an optimistic opinion. In his famous work Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky postulates that privately owned media subjects its viewers to five filters: ownership, advertising, sourcing, and anti-communism, all in the name of profit. There is little doubt that there are truths to this assumption, however it is important to note that media exists to inform and any deviation from objective reporting can be explained by the pressures of ownership, advertising contributors and audience demands. Because all media sources want to expand their influence, where the funding comes from will dictate both what filters are applied to that media organization and to what extent media content is limited. Publicly traded corporations are often the most powerful entities in society. When it comes to media, this power is compounded by what we know as the power of the press. With large portions of their revenue coming from shareholder investments, the ownership filter will be the dominant influence in limiting the content of a publicly traded news corporation. Fox news for example is owned and operated by the News Corporation which pulled in $1.417 billion dollars (U.S) from stocks, nearly 95 percent of the company’s net income. (News Corporation) They are also widely criticized for being strongly biased backers of the republican party. As a segment of a corporation propped up mostly by stockholders, Fox News need not worry about intolerances to their biased reporting seeing as viewership, and therefore advertising, are far less significant factors than pleasing their owners. So long as the channel remains an extension of the republican party, which it undoubtedly has, donating $ 1 million dollars to the republican party in 2010, it will always have a source of strong support. (Kurtz) In Canada, 5 large companies control the majority of media outlets and have drummed up much controversy as a growing number of columnists have complained about corporate censorship. (Winter) If any publicly traded media corporation can appease wealthy owners while staying within the more extreme boundaries of audience tolerance, that corporation will always have a purpose, an audience and, most importantly, continuous funding. Government owned media present the opposite case. The profit motive is no longer present here and so the organization is focused on pleasing the government, for short term survival, and the general public for long term popularity. The advertising filter is a smaller factor because publicly owned media organization depend less on advertisement revenue. Instead what is present is a desire to avoid excessive criticism of government institutions that is limited by audience tolerances. This effect was clearly evident in 2009 after CBC’s the Current was hosted by David Suzuki. An invitation was rejected by environment minister Jim Prentice due to what he thought would be a hostile interview. (Martin) Soon after, a number of climate change critics and sceptics appeared on the show, a manoeuvre to deflect the criticism of the CBC by the Harper Government for being too left-wing. Due to popular support, however, David Suzuki has remained a prominent figure at the CBC, now hosting his own Documentary series, the Nature of Things. The first reaction of the CBC to the governments criticism was to do them a favour in providing commentators who could justify the government’s environmental policies or lack there of. Ultimately the network had to reflect the attitude of its viewers, as the CBC did in retaining David Suzuki as a contributor. This would have to be the decision of any publicly owned news organization that relies on popular support for survival. In the past, advertising has been the primary source of revenue for most media outlets. Although that is quickly changing in large media corporations, it remains a crucial staple for local news media. As a result, it is in local newspapers, magazines and television where private companies will actually be able to influence the content of the media. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times published a special Sunday edition devoted to the opening of the Staples Center in a deal with the sports complex to split the $ 2 million dollars in advertising revenue. (An) Recognizing the ability to increase revenue, the newspaper neglected to report on any pressing stories, opting instead to sign an unethical deal that was later condemned by other major newspapers. In contrast, when advertisers began boycotting Fox News, citing the radical claims of television personality Glenn Beck as poor association, nothing changed. (Grothaus) Glenn Beck continues to claim the country is barrelling toward communism and that any protest for better pensions or higher wages is a sign of a violent revolution. Where advertising provides a significant portion of revenue for a news source, it will have the greatest influence on the content of said source. Where advertising provides less of the total income, it will have less influence on media content. The profit motive in western society has become so great that there is no doubt in its ability to influence many areas of life. When it comes to media, the term profit motive should be broadened to include the funding motive as whether it is a non-profit, government run organization or a publicly traded corporation, the goal is to , no matter where it comes from. As one can observe in the reactions of governments to critical media, the multiple page spreads of advertising in newspapers and even the uninterrupted, near apocalyptic ranting of Glenn Beck, calm, objective reporting in media has to make room for the diluting force of money. Works Cited Kurtz, Howard. "News Corp. Defends $1 Million Donation to Republican Governors Association." Washington Post - Politics, National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - Washingtonpost.com. 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . News Corporation. "EARNINGS RELEASE FOR THE QUARTER ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2010." News Corporation. News Corporation, 02 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Martin, Don. "Don Martin: CBC's The Current Paints a Bulls-eye on Its Forehead." National Post. National Post, 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Winter, James. "Canada's Media Monopoly." FAIR. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, May-June 2002. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. . An, Soontae, and Lori Bergen. "Advertiser Pressure on Daily Newspapers: a Survey of Advertising Sales Executives." Access My Library. Journal of Advertising, 22 June 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Grothaus, Michael. "Apple Boycotts Fox News Because of Glenn Beck." TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog. TUAW, 29 Mar. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. .