Lecture Six: Commercial Media

Commercial media is essentially profit driven media; it aims largely to produce audiences, in order to advertise to them, thus creating profit. It could even be said that the real 'target audience' for commercial media is advertisers; not viewers/listeners/ readers. Commercial media is not government funded, although it is somewhat controlled by government legislation and requirements.

Just a few examples of some of the major players in Australian Commercial media are -

News Limited

Fairfax Media

Nine Entertainment Co

Seven West Media

TEN Network

Macquarie Radio

So what is the role of Commercial media in a democratic society such as Australia? Or at least, what should it be? 

'The first duty of the media is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not talented, neither in what it gives or what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred.'

                      - C.P Scott (Editor of the Guardian 1872 - 1929, owner of the Guardian 1907 - 1932)

C.P Scott pretty much says it all. In an ideal world, Commercial media would provide a comprehensive, accurate and intelligent account of the day's events, while also providing a space for free comment and criticism. However, this is not necessarily the case. Because of the profit focus, social responsibility is often marginalised in Commercial media, and news in Commercial media can fall victim to sensationalism; content is often manipulated to appeal to mass audiences, and therefore can lose quality. 

Some upcoming challenges for Commercial media include that advertising revenue is at an all time low, and things aren't improving. As lecturer Dr Bruce Redman pointed out - 

Loss of Revenue = Less investment = Less money for quality production = More brought-in productions = More repeats of US sitcoms and reality TV shows..

Another challenge has come with the increasing prominence of internet platforms in the media field. When it comes to the internet, the amount of 'clicks' a story gets is everything. Unfortunately, people tend to lean towards viewing superficial content before important, hard-hitting content. Commercial media broadcasters must now face the challenge of making what is generally less thrilling, although ultimately important news (eg. politics) more appealing to the masses to attain the credibility of intelligence within their corporation. 

Something for the Commercial media corporations to consider through these challenges..

Quality. Audiences will pay for quality. Quality content will get the first mouse click. Make bigger, better, greater content, and revenue from advertising will not be so essential. Also, less ads = less people changing the channel/page to avoid them.

Whatever your opinion of Commercial media, it is the dominant media sector in Australia; it holds great influence over many of the people in our country. There are also many quality productions that come out of Commercial media. One example is 'The Global Mail' - an investigative journalism focused organisation (owned by the Wotif corporation), which produces some fantastic content. Their unique position statement is 'Our Audience Is Our Only Agenda'. Check it out here..