READ POST TO WIN!!

For JOUR1111 students lecture 6 explored commercial media, questioning whether it can coincide delivery of social and commercial functions.

>> !!CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU ARE THE LUCKY WINNER!! <<  
Continue reading to discover how YOU WON!

It’s fair to say that most modern media is in fact commercial. This form of media is profit driven and aims to ‘get the audience to the advertisers’. Being non-government funded, commercial media survives or fails depending on business success. Therefore it must create audiences to sell advertising to and enable profit and success.

So if ‘advertisers are the real customers of commercial media ... not its readers, viewers or listeners’ can it really serve a trustworthy and beneficial function for society whilst generating profit? Or is money what really makes the media world go round?

With continued development, marketing has found ways to reach us throughout our everyday lives. With such access to society, how do we know we can trust these marketing tools? Will that download transpire a fatal computer crash or will that link eventuate our untimely fall to bankruptcy? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

It was interesting to hear of the abundance of high profiting commercial media organisations and their ownership of everyday media outlets. Many corporations, whilst competing with each other, are actually funded and owned by the same organisations. News Limited, nine entertainment, Seven West Media and ten, are commonly known organisations to  name a few. Unfortunately, just like the stereotyped ‘spoilt youth’, I’ve never considered the fact that these outlets weren’t just always there but had to have started somewhere, with someone to fund their existence. In return these foundations must be repaid somehow, and that’s where we, the audience (or consumers) come in.

Contradicting commercial media is social controls over media, which evidently may not be more beneficial for society. These controls may allow specific groups (i.e. government agencies) power through content regulation, corruption and lack of quality where the truth is outweighed by the possibility for political or financial gain.

So for truly beneficial media production, a balance must be struck between the extremes of commercial and socially controlled media – but is that possible? Will social responsibility ever overcome the almighty dollar?

If you’ve gotten to this point and are still wondering what it is you’re going to win, it’s nothing.
Do you feel slightly cheated? Well CONGRATULATIONS! You really are a winner after all! Your prize; an educated insight and the capability of a broader view into the controversial media world. What better prize than a lesson learnt?