Concentration of media ownership and freedom of expression

by Said EL MARDA
 


Concentration of media ownership is a threat to media freedom, placing excessive power in the hands of private individuals, corporations, governments or political authorities. Despite the proliferation of websites and social media, power and influence is still concentrated in the hands of the few.

Research suggests that more concentrated media ownership also results in a conservative shift in the ideologies being spread. The concentration of media ownership and the corporate conflicts of interest are threatening the truth. The media has a huge amount of power, influencing the way we see the world, especially politically. However, if the media fails to provide us with unbiased information, we cannot make accurate judgements. Do we really want to continue to let massive conglomerates manipulate our thoughts for their profit?

The concentrated ownership of media chains is the question of objectivity on the side of the journalists. Since the resident Gods of the media chains have expectations of profit and ,in some cases, forming the overall opinion of the medium in crucial topics like politics or economy, there may be a multi-layered system of pressure in the hierarchy of the owners and workers of these firms, all concentrated on the journalist. The simple worker crumbles between the principles of objective journalism and the thoughts of the editor not letting their work to be published, or worse, losing their job. In the giant media chains owned by powerful media moguls, journalistic objectivity may be under pressure, so in this way the quality of information presented to the public may be biased, or faulty. Conflict of interest can also be a major factor in the mass media, and within the media giants with centralised ownership, the phenomenon may exist on a considerable scale.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the concentration of media ownership is harmful to the public, concerning the following points made. Firstly, the profit-oriented nature of media chains with concentrated ownership can affect the quality and quantity of information published to the people. Secondly, conflict of interest may be a major factor in information publishing by such media powers. Lastly, biasing, and namely politically biased information dissemination has large grounds in these chains.

Comments

  1. NickApril 9, 2022 at 12:15 PM

    Concentration of media ownership will damage freedom of market. if let the media market be no rule or negetive competition, the one result is monopoly. As Berny said, 90% of America media was controlled by 5 biggest company of America. We media become tycoon, the have chips to exchange with dominating class, we need to aviod this phenomena.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comment is free, but the facts are sacred

Image
by Galkin Daniil There will never be a moment in time when people are not interested in the media, whether it be for news, entertainment or education. Naturally, this gives print, radio, TV and Internet journalism important functions, such as influencing public opinion, socialization, as well as setting the agenda and following the pillars of society and the state. Just as doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, so any journalist who calls himself a professional must return to this quote from the famous article "A Hundred Years" in the Manchester Guardian: “Comment is free, but the facts are sacred”. I believe that the state and the media should live parallel to each other, where the state reads and studies the media in order to fully understand the reaction of society to its activities and does not take control of the media in order to influence society with its propaganda and its values.  As a journalist, I understand why the state wants to control the media. After all, this is
Read more

Welcome to the silent ball

Image
By Papiya Mondal  Well be a part of 21st century and thinking about a world without communication we can think about the old century when people didn't have language and and no way of communication. Ofcourse it was and it would be so hard  in a  daily life that we can explain  through a child. Without the ability for a child to communicate fully or to understand what is happening in their day, a child can feel completely out of control, lonely and helpless. This can lead to regression, aggression, frustration, and behavioural expression and the results is hitting, biting, pushing, etc. Communication basically means transferring information from one person or party to another. If we couldn't communicate at all, how would anything work How would you let someone know you were hungry or need a doctor or ask questions and teach children? When there is no communication people won’t able to share there perspective. They will have to anylise each and everything themselves. Without comm
Read more

Is silence really that golden?

Image
 By Galkin Daniil Spoilers: It really isn't.  Multiple pieces of media touched upon the idea of isolation and loneliness, for example, the famous movie "I am Legend" starring Will Smith. Even there, the main hero can't comprehensevely continue his journey without a companion - a dog, which becomes his outlet for relaying his ideas, feelings and fears. Without communication, we as human beings become stagnant, we can't strive to achieve results. Humanity reached its peak due to ideas of multiple, not just one. For those reasons we have science fairs, internet discussions and, even, media - to relay our ideas, so that our crudely created existence can be polished and can become a much greater experience for future generations. A world without communication will wither, stop and simply become a shell of what it originally was. We've seen a lot of examples when words, no matter if they are carefully prepared or said on a whim, can inspire a future which is unpredi
Read more