There is a direct link between integrity in journalism and media ownership. These have both gone down steadily since the 24-hour cycle advent of the 1980s. There has been an adjustment in reporting to suite each generation’s needs. In the millennial’ case, there has been a preference of the social media news to TV reporting . Generally, TV has become antiquated to some extent, trailing behind more radical formats which invoke picture messages and hash tags.
There are a number of advantages to competitive media scenery. More independent outlets in the community have led to a wide variety of viewpoints presented in the media. If a company owns everything in a given region, it is likely to cut staff and never worry about being scooped by a given competitor. When there are a few reporters in the field, the journalism on the news becomes less. Conversely, when there are few DJs in a local radio station, pre-programmed playlists and automated computers take over . It is, therefore, imperative to preserve a media landscape that is competitive and make certain that broadcasters are excellent stewards of the airwaves of the public. This can be done through limiting the size of the local media that a single company should own. This enhances healthy competition among the media companies in consequence providing journalism of high quality. However, some media companies that are robust have managed to acquire the Federal Communications Commission’s ear, thus over the years, such companies have been able to run off with more of the local airwaves . I strongly postulate that it is high time Federal Communications Commission served the public and not particular media corporations.
However, according to the Free Press, on September 26, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission gave out a notice of proposed rules to get rid of the alleged UHF discount. Eliminating this old-fashioned loophole is a long-overdue approach to curbing unfavorable media concentration . It is crystal clear that massive corporations have dominated the media landscape in U.S. Through a history of acquisitions and mergers, these massive corporations have focused their control over the things that the public hears, sees or reads. In many scenarios, they are integrated vertically, exercising control over everything from the preliminary stage of production to the ultimate distribution stage .
Since broadcasters take home billions of dollars in profit while making use of public airwaves for free, they are obliged to offer programming which fulfills the needs of the public. However, lobbyists have fought successively to ensure that broadcast companies gobble up more free airspace easily while providing low quality journalism to the public. This is totally unacceptable and should be buried in the grave of antiquity. It is high time this massive broadcast swindle came to an ultimate end.
Access to high-speed internet service has become a basic necessity for the public, just like electricity and water are. However, access to broadband in the U.S. is still far from universal despite the fact that is essential and critical. Millions of Americans are still standing at the wrong side of ‘digital divide’, with the inability to tap into the social, political, and economic web resources . It is quite unfortunate that phone and cable companies which have massive control over the internet infrastructure consistently refuse to build out high-speed internet service to regions that are in dire need of such services. They often seek to limit the public from coming up with its own high-speed internet service solutions . This is extremely bad. In fact, it is an issue of social justice and the general good, thus firm action should be taken to bring their mischiefs to an end.
Consolidation has made a significant contribution in the hard times for the newspaper industry. While the industry swam in huge profits in the 1990s, powerful media companies spent 14-27 percent of their profits to purchase other property instead of investing in the quality of their products or innovating for the future. It is unbelievable that they want to enable a particular company to own a broadcast station and a newspaper in one market . It is obvious that the public’s online rights have been violated. According to the Free Press, giant companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple are gradually reconstituting the walled gardens of the internet. As they try to steer the public to their progressively more closed internet versions and marketers that gain from mining the public’s personal information, it is imperative to demand for policies which protect the rights of the internet users .
In print and news for instance, Rupert Murdoch’s News broadens its grasp on the media outlets. Murdoch has been looking into getting hold of Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. This is likely to have negative impacts on employees of the paper . Due to the telephone hacking scandal in UK, Murdoch’s repute as a self-styled and dishonest entrepreneur is enough to create a warning against such buyout. The government of U.S. has overshadowed the likes of Murdoch’s indignity through NSA. News Corp made two men scapegoats, Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire . World News was, however, cancelled and the fallout had a significant impact on the British Government. The cover-up which ensued was an example of do-no-wrong attitude of powerful media. This type of bloated ego concurs with the rise of adherent pandering from media companies such as NBC and FOX News. Originally, CNN replaced that with the conception of becoming likewise subjective in all extremes. The growth of such conglomerates blindsides the Chief Executive Officers. Murdoch thought that he could bring into play plausible deniability in spite of the large inquiries into World News.
According to the video ‘Murdoch’s Scandal’, the electronic eavesdropping scandal which started at Murdoch’s News of the World has rapidly escalated into a full-blown conflagration that poses a massive threat to his media empire and the government of Britain. This has led to resignation and arrest of formerly numerous untouchable figures . This shows how the ethics in media is going down. It is a disappointment to the public that such an illustrious media mogul has been engulfed in such a massive phone hacking scandal. In the video ‘Rich Media, Poor Democracy’, Robert W. McChesney asserts that American democracy has reached a decrepit state, and the media is the most important factor in helping the public to understand how the democracy ended up in the sorry state. The media prop up a system in which the few powerful and wealthy make the most critical decisions with practically no informed public involvement thus breaching democracy . The media is among the most serious problems that the public faces and, accordingly, it is on any short list of matters around which democratic and progressive activists need to organize.
According to Dr. Veerman Lennert, a lecturer in the School of ‘Population Health’ at Queensland University in Brisbane, “Viewing TV is in a similar league as obesity and smoking” . He asserts that every hour of TV that one watches is likely to cut 22 minutes of their lifespan. A study by an Australian Professor in the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes institute in Melbourne, Professor Dunstan David, reveals that each our of viewing TV a day leads to 8 percent higher premature death risk for instance cardiovascular disease . This means that TV viewing is a severe threat to public health. However, an analysis of related studies in The Journal of the American Medical Association puts forward that the risks related to TV viewing are lower than Dr Veerman’s findings . According to me, the estimates’ differences could be attributed to various groups under study and TV viewing interpretations.
Indeed, there is a need for follow-up studies that involve more people, perhaps wearing accelerometers which measure the rate of movement of people. According to the findings of a study in The Lancet, just 15 minutes of physical activities each day lowers the risk of death of a person by 14 percent, thus increasing their life expectancy by approximately three years relative to an inactive person . This study suggests that any physical exercise amount is necessary. Unfortunately though, one should not offset the risk arising from excessive TV watching.
According to a study by ‘American Millennial’, Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group, millennials reported more awareness of youth-oriented, newer cause campaigns on marketing and more campaigns exposure through the social media in comparison to other generations. Conversely, the study shows that non-millennials depend on direct mail and newspapers . Accordingly, I believe the needs, behaviors and tastes of the millennials could shape the future decisions of the media companies. More millennials become fond of brands through the social media as compared to adults.
McChesney’s book is entirely based on the idea of corporate exploitation of the media. The book The Problem of the Media: U.S. communication politics in the 21st Centurysays that the media represent the spectrum and full voice of the Americans . It is my position that journalism is for the good of the public; however, it has failed to summate all backgrounds and views. It is imperative not to take for granted the idea that media refer to social power in their own right and not a manifestation of other forces.
Works Cited
Bergman, L. (Director). (2012). Murdoch's Scandal [Motion Picture].
http://video.pbs.org/video/2215966370/
Burns, J., & Cowell, A. (2011, September 13). British hacking inquiry to recall James Murdoch. Retrieved September 13, 2011, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/world/europe/14hacking.html?_r=2.
Free Press. (2013, April 10). Media Consolidation. Retrieved April 10, 2013, from freepress: http://www.freepress.net/media-consolidation
Free Press. (2013, September 13). Who owns the Media. Retrieved September 13, 2013, from freepress: http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart
Frechette, J. (Director). (2012). Rich Media Poor Democracy [Motion Picture].
http://permalink.fliqz.com/aspx/permalink.aspx?at=cd05a82f499d4b84b3ffac9e22ee0cbd &a=c51dc391e9144f1b86310993a7f6d918
Loechner, J. (2011, September 7). Millennials High on Digital and Friends. Retrieved September 7, 2011, from Media Post: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/157923/#axzz2gBdFopfb
McChesney, R. W. (2004). The Problem of the Media:U.S. communication politics in the 21st Century. New York.
Salleh, A. (2011, August 16). News in Science. Retrieved August 16, 2011, from ABC Science: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/08/16/3293820.htm
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