Why does it matter who owns news media?
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News media is a form of mass media which targets the general public by supplying vital news by either print based, broadcast or online text. This essay will focus on news media ownership and coverage, and how that affects society as a whole.
Diversity of media ownership ensures that a variety of opinions are fulfilled and that the news media caters for every audience. Rupert Murdoch is the owner of many media companies including The Sun, The Times and 21st Century Fox (Cassidy, 2006). Today, Murdoch’s NewsCorp Company stretches across five continents, covering 75% of the world’s population. (Arsenault, A. and Castells, M. 2008). Therefore, Murdoch has control over many different platforms injecting his personal thoughts to the reader. The Hypodermic Needle theory can be identified here, Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) which suggests that audiences are directly influenced by appropriate messages within a media text. In relation to Rupert Murdoch, the passive audience are being injected with his preferred messages and concepts resulting in them not forming their own opinion, instead accepting Murdoch and other mass media executives’ views. This suggests that the ownership of news media is important as the receivers of the media text are influenced directly by the media executives’ judgements. Streeter (1996) argues that the capitalist trade of thought is normalised by the policies in media ownership, thus undermining the proletariat.
Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper ‘News of the World’ was accused of unethical and law breaking behaviour when the invasion of mobile phones belonging to politicians, murder victims, members of the royal family and celebrities were discovered in the summer of 2011, this event now most commonly known as the Leveson Inquiry. This hacking scandal reveals the corruption of power in political elites and media elites, destroying the relationship between democracy and the news media. (Fenton 2015) According to Horwitz (1989), the same dynamics are followed in media ownership than in general corporate ownership; governments and the regulators should not guard the strength of the media with superior arrangements. (Freedman 2012) this suggests that some people are under the belief that media is heavily protected and is an industry that should not be favoured.
Some may say that news media also plays a crucial role in political participation. When Ed Milliband ran the Labour Party, Murdoch had The Sun newspaper report aggressively and negatively about him to ensure the Conservative Party was portrayed in a favourable light. (Fenton 2015) It can be argued that if the number of media outlets is restricted and the media power is concentrated, then democracy is strangled. In a pluralists view, having diverse ownership would create an independent and imaginative media platform for the public (Freedman, 2012) which in relation to politics could reduce the number of floating voters as the media on voting could be less favourable of one particular party. This will allow citizens to seek and act upon all information they deem viable without damaging democracy. (Freedman 2012)
Correspondingly, with Murdoch being biased towards certain political parties, this influences the readers to trust the opinion formed by Murdoch himself, narrowing the oppositions chances of succeeding as he currently owns a vast majority of the news media companies with a net worth of $13.4 billion. This market dominance of the news media creates fear of careers being jeopardised, simply by negative press being published or in an employee’s case, too fearful to admit that commercial priorities are deemed as more important as journalistic integrity. It is not only these people who are restricted from their own democratic freedom as governments as well as journalists are obliged to corporate power; and so the general public as a whole are premised to their own freedom. (Fenton 2015)
According to many, Murdoch played an important role in the outcome of the election when major newspapers of Britain including ‘The Sun’ ignored the traditional conservative path that they usually follow and instead favoured Tony Blair and the New Labour prior to the election. Former chairman of the FFC, Reed Hundt stated ‘You know, and he knows, that, if he [Murdoch] likes you, you are going to get both news and editorial coverage that is different than if he doesn’t like you.’ (quoted in Cassidy, 2006: 7) This proves that in this global network society, business man Murdoch holds power in connecting business with media and politics. Also, this suggests that Murdoch has the authority to change a mass audience view on a particular individual as he has the ability to report negatively against particular people or groups in the news media. This is another reason as to why who owns the news media is important as business men like Murdoch have the control to divert newspapers from their traditional political backgrounds to favour another one, depending on what he deems as politically correct at the time.
However, the rise of digital technology and market adaption generates the argument that lack of diversity is no longer anything to worry about. Essentially, the internet has stolen print press or ‘old media’ audiences with ownership rules being harder to follow in the media marketplace of today. Some believe that ownership rules conflict with freedom of expression and so they should be minimised in order to protect corporations’ rights of speech. (Freedman, 2012)
It can be debated that television is the largest endorsement for news media with approximately 8 hours a day being consumed by individuals, on average (Lewis, 2016). Some believe that it matters who owns the news media as it is easily accessible to children, who tend to be more vulnerable as they are exploited to what is shown within the news media, especially on television and more recently, the internet. An example of this is the James Bulger case (1993) where violence was exploited to children through media at a young age which resulted in illegal and abnormal behaviour. This violent and aggressive nature is shown to be likely if children, especially boys, are exposed to the violent visual images shown in the media, according to many studies. (Christakis & Zimmerman, 2007; Funk, Baldacci, Pasold, & Baumgardner, 2004; Ybarra et al., 2008). Researchers have also found that there is a link between being exploited to violence in the media and the brain structures needed to regulate aggressive behaviour being less able. (Carnagey, Anderson, & Bartholow, 2007; Guo et al., 2013). This is a faultless example as to why it matters who owns the news media as unsuitable and antagonistic content can affect a mass audience especially children, which can lead to inhuman activity.
In regards to television, the BBC is a key supplier of public information. However, it can still be argued that this broadcaster lacks in diversity. The BBC limits the range of political arguments because of their definition of democracy and television debate is mostly restricted to the views of just three main parties. (Philo 2013) Again, this shows an absence of variety within the news media as there is a hierarchy of interests, a particular view on what is seen as newsworthy.
In conclusion, media ownership and coverage has a significant impact on society and the general public as a whole. It is important that it is made clear who is in control of our mass media companies to ensure that citizens can create an overall judgement of a topic on their own behalf without being consumed by media officials. However, this can be deemed as difficult as media is consumed by individuals everyday whether that is online, on television or by reading print based texts. Awareness of media ownership is vital as it offers the public a critical way of thinking, questioning the publications across the globe, forming an opinion of their own. It matters who owns the news media as it affects behaviour of social groups, and holds a threat against democracy.