Lecture six - COMMERCIAL MEDIA

This week's lecture was on what is known as Commercial Media (as opposed to Public Media), which is media defined by advertisers, sponsorship and "pleasing the public" as opposed to necessarily reporting the news in an unbiased manner. Immediately I was struck by the idea that Commercial Media runs the risk of presenting an inaccurate picture of the news due to the desire to keep shareholders happy, as well as remaining able to be 'mass consumed' by the general public.

The major Australian Commercial Media players are News Limited, Fairfax and the APN; Channel Nine, Seven and Ten, etc, along with the Australian Radio Network and Austereo. Commercial Media exists essentially to create money, generate advertising revenue, etc.

This is not to say that commercial media is completely negative; many Australian citizens only access commercial media platforms, and it is possible to gain an unbiased, well-rounded view of national and world news through the consumption of commercial media - personally, however, I would make it my mission to access & publicise other forms of media, for example public media.

An example of commercial media - Fox News in the United States:
Fox News, as we all know, is an extremely right-wing, biased News network in the United States. Fox News identifies with conservative ideologies and promoting these to its audience; its vested interests lie with certain political parties and candidates, and therefore, as an example, would serve to protect and maintain the interests of these groups. This is an example of commercial media because it is a news corporation that puts advertisers, subjective views, sponsorships and the personal views of those in power above the interests & rights to unbiased information from the public.
Most people I know have heard of, and have a scornful view of Fox News - I wonder, however, whether they take the time to consider the implications of such a widespread influence on such a dominant world power, along with whether or not similar news 'censorship' (or twisting) is happening in Australia.

I personally, do not ever want to work within the realm of commercial media as I currently understand it. I would love to work for (and eventually own) an independent magazine; I would also have an interest in television work such as Channel V or MTV in terms of music/pop culture presenting, etc; or, depending where my work leads me in later life, I would be interested in doing my own independent documentary making - whether in the realm of music, travel, or investigative journalism I am as yet unsure.