Lionel Bopage
Mass media influence the way facts are viewed in society. Independence and pluralism in media, critical public opinion and views about those in power are the safeguards of a healthy democracy. It is the historic responsibility of journalists to report the realities of everyday life on a factual basis. But such principles are dead and gone. The space for debates, disagreements, or intelligent discussion is limited. The mission of media conglomerates appear to be destroying thinking voices and analytical writings.
The media’s power does not lie in its ability to shape public opinion, but in the selection of stories for its audience and setting up the agenda for them, by Constructing Public Opinion or Manufacturing Consent. For many decades now, mass media appear to be only doing this following decisions made by the owners and ruling elites.
Market monopoly controls the media today. In the USA and the rest of the world, six companies control about 90% of media. For example, a leading multinational mass media and entertainment company Walt Disney mainly contributed to shaping American politics. The News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch has media and publication outlets in five continents.
Australia
The reality of economic survival depends on how big the businesses are. For this, media companies rely heavily on advertising and government assistance in the form of donations or tax breaks. In the 1900s in Australia, 17 owners controlled 21 dailies. In the seventies, there were only 4 owners completely controlling the remaining fifteen major city dailies , several weeklies and specialist papers. Currently News Corp Australia owns about 142 newspapers and publishes about thirty magazines Australia wide.
In 2007, John Howard’s government scrapped foreign ownership limits, and relaxed cross-media ownership rules allowing the possession of two out of three media types. Horizontal and vertical media monopolies expanded with time. In addition, Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., built his media empire by lowering the journalistic quality. Murdoch has been alleged to “go downmarket” to sell the news using scandals, violence, or sex. Despite this degradation, it brought him tremendous success.
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, political affiliations of many media owners are difficult to assess. The law does not limit media ownership concentration. There are no regulatory safeguards that prevent cross-media ownership concentration. There are no conflict-of-interest legal provisions that would prevent Members of Parliament or their family members from owning shares in media organizations. Media owners are not obliged to disclose political affiliations. The state plays a key role in the media market not only as an owner but also as the main regulator. At the height of the civil war Sri Lanka was one of the most dangerous places for journalists. Prior to January 2015, violence against journalists and media was at a peak. From 2004 to 2015, more than 20 journalists and media assistants had been assassinated. Nearly all such crimes remain unpunished.
In 2018, the media market was highly concentrated. In the print media, the top four owners (the Wijewardene Family, the Government, the Welgama Family, and the Alles Family) had a combined readership share of 75 percent, posing a high risk of media politicization. The top four owners in the television market (the Rajamahendran Family, Dilith Jayaweera & Varuni Fernando, Rayynor Silva and the Government) together accounted for a viewer share of 77 percent. In the radio sector, concentration with the top four owners (Rayynor Silva, the Rajamahendran Family, Dilith Jayaweera & Varuni Amunugama and Nihal Seneviratne Epa) accounted for a listenership share of 74 percent. These tendencies undermine pluralism and impartiality and pose a high risk to media diversity.
Conclusion
The media should factually report public opinion. However, as the media industry grows, it becomes economically less viable for it to remain the watchdog of the government. As the quality and educational value of news are degraded, the quality and value of politics also degrade. Further regulation of media ownership may be a solution; however, the governments have been moving in the other direction.
The media has the power to influence the public not only through creating opinions, but focusing people’s attention on certain problems. The rise of social media is often hailed as the rise of a democratic and participatory economy. However, these social media constantly monitor user interests such as their usage and browsing behaviour, demographics, generated content, social relations etc.
Therefore, we need to discover our own alternative media with community participation and civil society involvement. If independent media organisations could be supported and our own cooperative media organisations could be created that will represent our interests, we would be able to promote democratic, secular politics and scientific values in society. This will be possible only by establishing forms of people’s media, free from corporate control.
27 May 2021
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