Marketing and Money Making with Mickey Mouse Media

It cannot be denied that the commercial media dominates Australian Television, Radio and Newspapers. Surely this is a good thing; instead of having a government dictate the information that reaches the general public, like in so many countries, private companies can broadcast whatever they want (within reason). The non-governmental media organisations that arose with the intention of gaining profit – the commercial media – was the focus of this week’s lecture. We looked at its form , its function and its flaws.  

In Australia, the biggest players in the business of newspapers are Fairfax Media, News Limited and APN. Regarding television, channels Seven and Nine compete for views from the general public, while Ten takes an adolescent angle. The largest two radio corporations are ARN and Austerio .

The private media’s form is based on subscription and sponsorship; its function, of course, is commercial. Dr. Redman made the point that advertisers are the true customers of commercial media, not readers, viewers or listeners. So if we’re not customers than what are we? Because we are not paying for a service (in the case of free to air TV), it is reasonable to assume that we are in face the products being sold:

 As an aside, I found it rather ironic that the commercial media’s alternate function is the production of propaganda. In a strange turn of events, the public media is more balanced (regarding political matters) than the ‘free’ commercial media. I found this quite interesting.

It is worth mentioning commercial media’s eternal struggle – to generate profit while delivering quality material (‘public trust’). The question is, what do the media corporations care about more? I don’t mean to sound depressing but I think we all know the answer to that question. Sadly, I think John McManus hit the nail on the head; “profit over-rides social responsibility.” It is apparent that the ethical wall separating the free media’s commercial and social functions (analogous to the segregation of church and state) has indeed been compromised.

In saying this, however, according to the the Hutchins Commission (1947), commercial media is required to provide “full access to the day’s intelligence.” What a charming thought.

Here’s a selection of the commercial television shows being broadcasted on the evening I wrote this blog: The 7pm Project (technically now ‘The Project’ due to an unfortunate re-scheduling), ‘World’s Strictest Parents’ and ‘The Biggest Loser.’ Clearly today provided little intelligence.

The fourth section of the Hutchins Commission states that the commercial media is responsible for “the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society.” I find this very interesting. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what the ‘goals’ of our society are, but if they are reflected in the commercial media’s output then it’s time I started packing my bags.

Surely our society is not reflected in such superficial glib. Sadly, mouse clicks reveal all. The data shows that celebrity shenanigans, UFO sightings and movie stars without makeup are what draws the most attention. Websites compete for views, and as such the result is tabloidisation and a ‘dumbed-down’ online media. 

Broadcast media is also starting to show signs of tabloidization. Advertising revenue for broadcast media has quickly declined. This means less revenue and consequently less money for quality production, more affordable foreign imports and more programs that grab viewer attention as quickly as possible.  Does this mean that there will be no escape from low-quality, attention-grabbing media output both online and on television?

It’s not all doom and gloom. Sites like theglobalmail.org aim to stand out and draw in readers with quality rather than tabloid style attention-grabbing techniques. Furthermore, public news corporations such as the ABC are not for profit and consequently do not have an ethical wall dilemma to deal with. Or at least that is what can be assumed. We will just have to wait until next week to see.