Lecture 6: Commercial Media

Prior to the lecture in week 6 I already understood that there was a difference between some TV channels based on government and nongovernment funding, but that was the full extent of my understanding. Due to this, I found the lecture on commercial media quite interesting. As a profit driven media production, that is nongovernment funded, commercial media survives or fails on business success. Channels 9, 7 and 10; the digital channels such as GO! Gem, 7TWO and 7MATE, and then Foxtel and Austar are all examples of commercial media, along with various radio programs and newspapers.

Three of commercial media's major players are News Limited, Fairfax Media and APN. News Limited, headed by Rupert Murdoch, involves itself in a huge variety of media such as newspapers, cable TV, film, magazines, books and sports. They are in control of business including The Courier Mail, The Australian, Fox, Sky News, Harper Collins Publishing and 20^th Century Fox. Fairfax controls mainly newspapers and digital media such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Financial Review Brisbane Times, domain.com and dating site RSVP. APN is involved with regional newspapers, digital media, radio and outdoor advertising. Some of these are radio station 97.3 fm, finda and AD Shell.

In my opinion, one of the largest negative results of commercial media is the dumbing down of society. By being able to be selective about what news one is exposed to, and what entertainment one is exposed to, educational value is lost as the demand for it lessens.

Some of the questions raised in the lecture about the future of commercial media were, how would it continue to make profits if advertising revenue is declining? How will it continue to server the advertisers, audience and the public good? What kind of audience can it expect to gain/maintain? What cumulative effect will it have on the practice of journalism and public communication?