Unlike
public media, private media is
distinctly for profit. Private media is sustained by commercial
revenue. Corporate media is simply private mass media that is controlled by
a corporation as opposed to individuals.
For example, while in the 1980s roughly 50 different corporations
controlled the vast majority of private media in the US, in 2012 this had
consolidated to six mega corporations: Time Warner, Walt Disney, NBC Universal,
CBS Corporation, Viacom, and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Another company, Clear Channel owned over
1000 radio stations.
Private
and corporate media cover the spectrum of media types:
Private
broadcasters range from giant
multinational corporations run by some of the richest and most politically
powerful people in the world to small, local FM stations. In most cases,
broadcasting will be under the terms of a license granted on a periodic basis
by a public authority. How prescriptive or restrictive are the terms of that
license will also vary, often laying down certain terms under which news or
current affairs can be broadcast. Sometimes this will include prescriptions as
to what election coverage should be carried. There may also be an explicit
public service component to the license - for example, obliging the licensee to
carry voter education programmes.
Private
print media is also extremely
diverse, ranging from daily to weekly newspapers and magazines, to
special-interest publications and journals, relying on advertising and sales
for revenue. Even in situations where the state retains a large stake in
broadcasting, the print media are usually in private hands. Even in authoritarian
contexts, at least some newspapers in any country are likely to conduct serious
news investigations and to comment in a reasonably sophisticated manner on
political developments.
But
private newspapers often still have their own political agendas, which may not
necessarily be a democratic one. A notorious example was the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, which, aided by
the CIA, campaigned against the elected government in 1973 and in favour of a
military coup - a clear case where the press dismally failed to promote
political pluralism.
Even
in mature democracies, newspapers are perhaps more likely than broadcasting
stations to endorse a political candidate or party explicitly, although
political culture varies from country to country. In many countries explicit
editorial endorsement of a political choice would be unthinkable; in others it
is regarded as normal. Journalistic ethics would still demand that news
reportage of fact be strictly separated from the expression of editorial
comment. Nevertheless, a chosen political agenda will almost inevitably affect
the selection of which news is to be covered. The usual argument, however, is
that the existence of a variety of newspapers reflecting different viewpoints
will ensure a better-informed public and a free interplay of political ideas.
Media convergence means that the
concepts of separate print, broadcast and online media are starting to become
obsolete. Many outlets which were traditionally one thing or another are now
operating across a range of mediums.
Corporate
media is big business. The past half-century has witnessed the expansion of
large media conglomerates owning a wide range of media as well as other
business interests (and of non-media conglomerates buying into the media
industry). The result of these developments has been a media landscape that is
often far removed from the ideal of the neutral “fourth estate” – press that
are independent and detached from the political process. The media owners have
a partisan interest in the political process in the same way that any company
will have. Thus in a sense the line between private, or (supposedly)
independent media, and state-owned media is blurred.
Nevertheless, private
media play a crucial role in all the various aspects of media’s contributions
to the democratic process, including elections. Not all private media are
monopolised by large conglomerates, particularly in the developing world. Those
that are owned by large conglomerates also exercise independence and
objectivity at least some of time.
