Week 7 lecture summary: Commerical media

I guess we will all be familiar with today’s topic – commercial media.

What is commercial media?

u        Profit-driven media production

u        Not government funded

u        Its business is generating ‘audiences’

u        Selling advertising → generate profit

What are the examples of commercial media?

Newspapers, Cable TV, Film, Magazines, etc

Channel 7/9/10, News limited, Fairfax media, etc

Form of commercial media:

²         Subscription

²         Sponsored

²         Subsidized

Function:

²         Commercial

²         Propaganda (e.g. Fox news)

²         Social

Social responsibility (public trust) in a Democratic society:

ü          truthful & comprehensive context (meaningful)

ü          a forum for the exchange of comment

ü          the clarification of the goals & values of the society

However, the commercial media can always be described as Tabloidization which means a newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form, usually with illustrated, often sensational material.

Here is an illustration showing what The New York Times might look like if it shifted to a tabloid format:

There are two organizations to keep it under control which are Australian communications and media authority and Australian press council.

Moreover, new controls implement on commercial media.

ü          Government agency → regulating content

ü          State press subsidies

ü          Licensed journalism

I am going to talk about public media next week:)