Commercial Vs. Public Media

 In Australia, three media companies monopolize the industry – commercial organisations Fairfax and News Limited, and the publicly owned Australian Broadcast Corporation. However, the ways in which they operate are quite different. As commercially run organisations, Fairfax and News Ltd rely on sponsorship from advertisers and ratings to turn a profit. The taxpayer-funded ABC does not. 

This funding knowledge is an important fact of Australian media, and the effect of it reverberates throughout all content produced. It becomes obvious what the driving force is behind which companies, and therefore the differences between public and commercial media.

Commercial media divides its audience – it refers to them as ‘consumers’ – into demographics. It then decides what content is aimed at what demographic and tailors it to fit that category. It is then broadcast, supposedly maximizing ratings and therefore profits. They use advertisement slots to sell products to their consumers, using demographics to ensure their product is marketed to the right kind of consumer – the right customer that will buy, buy, and buy. Commercial media pummels us with advertisements, and it appears to be getting worse. Perhaps this is the smell of desperation as newspaper sales begin to decline. How else are they to turn a profit?

If a news story will not boost ratings or advertisers backings, it is likely that it will wind up on the editorial room floor, as it isn’t financially viable. Musician Jack White, One half of American band ‘The White Stripes’, has stated previously “A lot of people in the media, and some everyday people, really aren't in search of the truth. They're in search of something worse than that. Money, yeah. I think the media's the kind of a thing where the truth doesn't win, because it's no fun. The truth's no fun.”

Commercial media views us not as an audience, but mindless consumers that divide evenly into stereotypes placed on us. It is this attitude that commercial media fails us as a society. It tells us what we should think, what we should be worried about, and what is newsworthy (although only if it is profitable). Commercial media does not seem to trust its viewers to make these decisions on our own, and so instead we are left with media reeking of bias.  If it cannot find anything newsworthy, it will attempt to create news for the sake of ratings – you can tune into any current affairs program to witness this.

Commercial media has even created a new type of program to boost ratings and to provide consumers with news – The ‘infotainment’ program. In these programs they aim to entertain their audience whilst discussing the hot topics of the day – and they sometimes miss. Often, these programs are heavy on the ‘tainment’ part, and scant on the ‘info’ through shallow journalism, failing to delve into any detail or anything that wouldn’t be considered directly entertaining. 

I really shouldn’t be too critical. Commercial media has blessed us with many entertainment programs, which allow us to tune out and relax. The major issue here is the monopoly that Fairfax and News Ltd hold over Australian media. It is said in politics that if you have the media against you it is impossible to win an election. Should anyone one corporation have that much power? Or can they trust the population to make up their own minds?

The ABC certainly thinks so. Instead of having to conform to what is profitable, they spend more time focusing on quality programming, trusting their audience to make up their own minds on a variety of topics from all political points of view. ABC news programs are far more in depth than commercial media, and public television isn’t afraid to go against the majority.

Tim Dunlop, of ABC’s ‘The Drum’ states on his blog “But the ABC has always operated in the area of market failure. It has earned its central position in our institutional landscape in part by providing a news service that commercial providers have always been reluctant to involve themselves with, either by broadcasting to regions where private companies were unable to turn a buck, or by dealing with subjects of minority interest.”

Understanding the business models behind these companies helps us as an audience to navigate through the stormy seas of commercial and public media. Understanding the agenda behind what they do enables us to make informed decisions about what we watch and ‘consume’. It is this knowledge that helps us find a balance in our lives for their consumption.