It’s hard to get out of bed without being subject to the media. Whether it’s checking Facebook or driving to work, you’re bound to encounter a sign, a story or a statement from a media organisation. But do the people who ‘control’ the media, control these messages as well?
Having studied journalism for three years, you come across many forms of bias towards the media. The most prominent being the politically inclined boycotting certain publications due to the right or left wing associations of the owners. Currently working with a Fairfax owned publication, there seems to be very little impact from the owners on what is published and rather from the publications audience.
The biggest difference made to the media content we are subject to is by ourselves. If we don’t want to read something we don’t read it. If we don’t read it, they don’t make money.
In its simplest form, this is how influences in the media are constructed. Owners of media organisations are ultimately there to make a profit, most of which are willing compromise their personal views in order to do so. For this reason the owners of the media we consume actually have very little input into what we physically read and view. The audience of a publication or text however, will determine its success or failure, giving them the greatest element of ‘control’ in the media.
Yes, the media can be used to change and evoke opinion, but only if the opinion or facts presented are received well by the majority of the target market. If not, then the control is placed in the hands of the consumer and changes must be made by individual producers of content in order to be both profitable and influential.
References
Hart, Elizabeth, ‘Media Ownership’ in http://www.oup.com.au/__data/assets/…/Bainbridge_1e_ Case_Study_6.pdf
Media and Journalism , Bainbridge, J., Goc, N. and Tynan, L. (eds.) Oxford University Press: Melbourne, 2008, pp. 400-408
Fairfax Digital – About Us – Australian leaders in Digital Media, News & Classifieds. 2014. Fairfax Digital – About Us – Australian leaders in Digital Media, News & Classifieds. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fairfax.com.au/about-us.html. [Accessed 1 April 2014].
Social Media Usage Statistics 2012. 2014. Social Media Usage Statistics 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.brandwatch.com/2012/12/how-we-use-social-highlights-from-the-social-media-report-2012/. [Accessed 1 April 2014].
First Year Again. 