Lecture #7- Commercial Media

When it is made apparent that the decline of old media is upon us, it honestly disappoints me as I have a classical romantic view of the importance of the printed word and the counter-cultural lifestyle of being a journalist in this era (see below).

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That's not to say that commercial media now doesn't interest and fascinate me, being the money driven cut throat industry that it is.

As mentioned in today's lecture, commercial media exists to provide eyeballs and ears to advertisers with a primary focus on being profit driven.
Commercial media is non-government and privately funded and its success or failure is determined on business successes.

Examples of commercial media organisations include:
  • News Limited
  • Fairfax
  • Nine Entertainment
  • Win
  • Southern Cross
  • 7 West Media
  • Ten Corporation
The form of commercial media is through subscription, sponsorship and subsidisation and has commercial, propaganda and social functions.

Commercial media is an important aspect of democracy but is however kept under control through:
  • formal state requirements
  • legal prescriptions
  • state oversight
  • statutory elements
  • voluntary elements
Commercial media has impacted on society arguably negatively through 'dumbing down' of news in general because of the focus to entertain the public and through tabloidisation as a result of the desire to please the audience.
The future of commercial media is uncertain as factors such as how do commercial media companies continue to make profits? what audience will commercial media pertain to? and what will be the effect on journalism in this media shift? arise.
There are however potential business solutions which have been suggested such as:

  • Quality: bigger, better, greater content
  • Greater competition: compelling content- companies are pressured to lift their game further
  • Conversion: switch existing customers to digital
  • Paywalls: Implemented on internet sites
In contemporary society there are rapid developments in media and the manner in which we produce and consume media and it is primarily important as journalism students to recognise and keep up to date with this.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

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