Commercial Media - Week 6

Week 6 Lecture – Commercial media

Another Monday came round, as did another JOUR1111 lecture. This week the lecture concentrated on commercial media. To be honest I didn’t really know what I was going to think of the lecture, because I had never really put much thought into commercial media, my thoughts went as far as oh yeah that’s a good add, or, I really don’t understand what the marketing person was thinking when they created that add. But it turns out commercial media isn’t just about adds, its actually a monstrosity of an industry. They say you learn something new everyday, excuse me if I sound extremely clueless but I never knew ABC and SBS were government owned, therefore deemed public media, where as all the other popular TV channels are privately owned and therefore commercial media.  

Commercial media is profit driven meaning it succeeds and fails on the success of the business.  Its business is to generate an audience to which it can sell advertising. Dr Redman explained why commercial media exists; it’s the eyeballs and eyes to advertisers. You would think that viewers, readers and listeners of commercial media would be the primary customers, however the advertises are the real customers. We were shown the big players of commercial media such as, WIN Corporation, TEN, nine entertainment co., News Limited, Fairfax, Southern Cross broadcasting, seven west media and APN Media. Dr Redman then went through and explained what each company produced; I found this quite interesting to find out which companies owned the media I consume routinely.

Dr Redman made a point that commercial media has resulted in general dumbing down of content. This statement is clearly supported by this quote included in the presentation. “Commercial = corrupt; lack of quality; profit over- rides social responsibility” John McManus. This may be the reason mainstream news channels such as 7 & 10 feel its necessary to report on the arrival of UK x Factor winners “One direction” over much more important and worthy news, but I guess if their audience includes infatuated teenage girls then they’ve got to keep them happy too. The question was posed: Can commercial media deliver on both commercial (profit) and social (‘public trust’) functions? (or is it really just about the mighty $ dollar?)… I think no it can’t, and yes the mighty dollar is paramount. Stay tuned for next week’s installment where public media will be explored.