As I sat down to pen this post, I thought to myself, “How can I explain commercial and public media in a way that will make sense to everybody who will read this? I best not explain too many complicated concepts; it will probably be beneficial to simplify the workings of these two forms of media so that everybody can understand it.” And then I realised…
In Australia, a large quantity of media is owned by either one
of two companies: Fairfax Media or News Corporation. These companies produce
commercial media, which is profit-driven. They receive no government subsidies,
and are funded by commercial spaces which they sell to advertisers, which means
that advertisers are the people who keep the companies up and running. In order
for advertisers to want to buy this commercial space, the companies must make
the space attractive; this is done through attracting as big an audience as
possible to see the advertiser’s product. In order to attract a large audience,
companies need to make sure that their content is captivating the viewers and
keeping them entertained.
The most popular way to entertain while somewhat informing
audiences on television is through ‘infotainment’, which combines aspects of
news with entertainment and excitement. This method draws large audience
numbers, but results in newsworthy issues being simplified or ‘dumbed-down’ in
order to appeal to this modern day audience. Infotainment is known for
highlighting only key points and divesting other information, which could be
vital to the news story. This is done in
order to keep the audience alert and attracted to the show, and to keep the
pace quick and lively to avoid boredom in viewers. In doing this, the companies
are creating niche audiences, who begin to dictate exactly what they want to
see on television; the companies oblige these niche audiences, as it is the
best way to keep advertisers buying ad spaces, and in doing so, warp the
quality of the news being presented.
On the flip side of this, public media is built on the
foundations of serving the public, rather than appeasing them. This form of
media is government subsidised, and because of this no personal opinions on
Australian political parties are allowed to be taken to air. Due to the
government subsidies, public media does not traditionally sell advertising spaces;
however this has changed in the last two decades, with broadcasters such as ABC Australia opening merchandise stores, and SBS Australia selling select
advertising space and partnering with companies such as Dymocks to sell their merchandise.
Through doing this, public media is moving in the direction
of commercial media, which can raise the question: how long until all media is
controlled by advertisers? If Australia’s one source of non-skewed hard news is
shifting towards selling advertising space and merchandise, we may be witnessing
the start of the end of true journalism in Australia.
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