Who controls the media? What difference does it make? Why does it matter? And why is this of any concern of ours? Not many think of these questions, but perhaps we should. Why? Simple, do you like being told what to think, what’s right, what’s wrong and what opinions you should have? No? Then why let those who control the media do just that?
As technology continues to move forward and improve we become more and more dependent on the media in order to be informed about current events both internationally and locally via newspapers, TV, magazines and the Internet, to be able to communicate with one another through social networking such as Facebook, twitter, and Skype and to be able to function in our day-to-day lives. Have you ever lost power during a storm and been left with no TV, no reception and no Internet, what is pretty much todays version of being reverted back to the Stone Age? This is when we understand just how dependent we truly are on the media.
So in saying this, Australia’s media ownership is amongst the most concentrated in the world with only a handful of people pulling the strings. For example Rupert Murdock’s News Corporation (formerly News Limited) is one of the worlds largest media groups owning companies in a wide range of media channels such as:
- News papers
- Magazines
- Film
- TV
- Advertising
In having News Corp. owning such a large percentage of our media, its coverage and influence is immense 14.7 million Australians. We must ask how much of the information we are given is unbiased, is there another side to this story, has any additional important information been left out to suit their views, and is this propaganda?
Media provides us with information on the causes and scope of social, cultural and political problems and so shapes the public views.With one company in charge of so many media outlets we lack the diversity of views, opinions and information needed in order for us to draw our own conclusions. When we are repeatedly being fed the same idea from every direction which in the end all context lead back to the same origin, we tend to conform to the greater opinion shared by the majority.
In saying this with everyone agreeing on the same thing since we are all being fed the same information it makes it difficult for us to gain an interest and be engaged in what’s happening in the world around us. We speak of freedom and independence but how can we be if we are not given the opportunity to think for ourselves, provide our own opinion and thoughts when there is such a concentration of media ownership.
Donovan, D 2011, Concentrated media ownership: a crisis for democracy, viewed 6 april 2014
http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/concentrated-media-ownership-a-crisis-for-democracy,3259
Goncalves, R 2012, Factbox: Who owns what in the Australian media, viewed 6 april 2014 http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/06/22/factbox-who-owns-what-australian-media
Week 4 Lecture Slides/Readings:
http://ereadings.uow.edu.au.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/harte1.pdf
chrissy@uow 