There are ongoing issues about the suggested mergers in the media industry in Canada that have been protested and deemed to spell doom on the media consumers. With the reports of high levels of concentration in the media industry, certain actions should be taken to limit the concentration of the ownership of media. The acquisition of Sun Media’s digital properties and newspapers that provide The English language by Postmedia is something that was widely considered to spell gloom and doom for the industry owing to the already concentrated media industry (Knox, 2012). The consumers of media information deserve and needs information that is unbiased, robust, and objective.
However, the acquisition of the main English language provider of both website and newspaper could potentially make the editorial scope very narrow when it comes to providing information to the public. It must be understood that the public relies heavily on the information provided by the print media as well as websites of reputable organizations. It is thus important that the information they receive do not show any sign of interference. The rise in the use of the internet as a platform for airing information remains one of the key challenges that Canada faces today (Roger, 2009). In this context, it is not right to have highly concentrated ownership as it can have an impact on the quality of information that the public receives and the manner in which their businesses are run. The mergers can limit the sources of information thereby reducing the variety of information received by the consumers. It will equally narrow the number of media outlets thus making it unhealthy for the industry players to run their affairs effectively.
References
Knox, P. (2002). Not in the newsroom: Free expression and media concentration in Canada: The case of canwest global. The Round Table, 91(366), 503–520. doi:10.1080/0035853022000012595.
Roger, G. (2009) ‘Media concentration with free entry’, Journal of Media Economics, 22(3), pp. 134–163. doi: 10.1080/08997760903129366.
