This week my JOUR1111 lecture
covered the Australian media landscape, a terrain taken over by a few big names
and operated however they like. It sounds pretty much like the physical Australian
landscape too.
9, 7, Ten, GO and Gem are all
part of the commercial team that’s bombarding our ears and eyeballs, and they themselves
act as the ears and eyeballs for the advertisers. Public media comprises the
ABC and SBS, which I like to refer to as the Mum and Dad channels. My mum
watches Grand Designs on ABC 90% of her waking hours, and my Dad watches
whatever strange programming he can find on SBS.
I was slightly discomforted to find out that I’m
not the customer; I’m just a tool to lure in the advertisers. I’ve been used
this whole time, just a piece in their little game… but I’ll let the media head
honchos off just this once because they’re doing well in running Simpsons
repeats.
The major players utilizing you
and me are:
- News Ltd,
- Fairfax,
- APN and
- Nine Entertainment Co.
And to a lesser extent:
- WIN,
- Southern Cross,
- 7 West,
- Ten,
- Telstra,
- Optus,
- Austar and
- Macquarie.
Pretty much everything we look
at, listen to, read and just generally use
is owned by one of these companies. These days even your breakfast is
probably brought to you by Telstra.
Luckily there are a few controls
so that the form of commercial media doesn’t go haywire. Formal state
requirements, legal prescription, state oversight and statutory and voluntary
measures are taken, and to guarantee the functions of media, an ‘ethical wall’
exists. This public sphere is an area free for comment, debate and public
opinion although overall, facts are sacred, as noted by C.P Scott, editor/owner
of the Guardian.
* SHOCK HORROR!! *
“Commercial media is corrupt,
lacks quality and profit over-rides social responsibility.”
Thank god John McManus, author of
Market Driven Journalism (1994) is
here to alert us to such an incredibly surprising fact.
The sad truth is that tabloidisation
is abundant and it’s hunting down clicks from you. You’ll be dumbed down so you’re easy to please, while you’re
receiving less original content. As advertising revenue for broadcast media
continues to slide, the quality of the product will also decline.
It seems ironic that although
more people nowadays are receiving a better education than a few decades ago
(my grandma was subject of juicy gossip amongst her friends for going to
university), the media we’re being fed is drivel.
Professor Farnsworth hit the nail
on the head when he said he didn’t want to live on this planet anymore.