Money Media

Commercial Media is responsible for some of Australia's highest rating programs currently. Channels such as 7, 9 and 10 all produce content which achieve very high viewer-ship. For example, Channel 9's new adaptation of the American series "The Voice" aired at an astounding 2.1 million viewers on its debut  on Sunday before hiking to 2.54 million on Monday night. (Sydney Morning Herald,  http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/nines-voice-drowns-out-rivals-as-viewers-remain-hooked-20120418-1x6ec.html) This goes to show that this gold mine of entertainment can potentially generate massive profit for these privately owned and operated media giants.

This bring two different points to light. Primarily, at what stage will Commercial Media care only about making money, and secondly will it simply monopolise the market? 

Addressed in the JOUR1111 lecture, Commercial Media is known to put profit before quality and tends to dumb down the content. It was branded "Micky Mouse news." Now this may well be all fine for those who reap the financial benefits from the media outlets, however this may increase the risk of a monopoly. Some may argue that the outlets such as Fairfax and News Limited already hold a slight monopoly over other outlets and especially Public Media. I believe there should be a stronger means of enforcing fair play amongst our media outlets. 

For example, it was outlined in the Hutchins Commission of 1947 that news outlets must "give a truthful, comprehensive an intelligent account of the days events" Instead, I believe we are seeing "Micky Mouse News" that is neither comprehensive nor intelligent. This, laced with the numerous ads that are the backbone of the channels I believe has lead to a gradual decrease in the quality and integrity of commercial media. 

It's all about the money.