‘The mass media do not control their consumers; the consumers control the media.’
To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence support this view of the mass media today? (33 marks)
When looking at ownership and control of the media it is useful to study developments and trends in this context. There has been an increased concentration of ownership into a few transnational corporations. Media companies have also become increasingly diverse, having many media interests. They have branched into other areas of media interests, for example Murdoch’s media company News Corp has a wide range of media interests including broadcasting, cinema, newspapers and publishing. An important question is whether those who own the mass media also control its content. If those who own the media do control its content, they could effectively use it to put forward their own interests and control the masses. On the other hand the mass media may have to be diverse to reflect the many interests and attitudes of its consumers.
Pluralists see societies as collective democracies in which the concerns and interests of the population as a whole and of the particular groups within the population are represented. The media reflects these common values. Society has become more diverse and the media has changed to reflect these developments and differences as it simply responds to the demands of the market. Those who own and control the media usually take a pluralist view, arguing that they must satisfy public demand to stay in business. If they failed to do this, no one would buy their newspapers or watch their TV programs. This is known as market mechanism and the audiences are able to control media content. They will not watch or buy if their needs are not catered for. Media companies must compete to satisfy these needs and thus we have a wide variety of media catering for a wife variety of audiences and their demands. In 1988 there were only 4 TV channels available to the...