Political economy in the media

This is it. My final blog post for JN1001 and what better topic to discuss then Political Economy. Rebert McChesney (2011) defines political economy in the media as "a critical exercise committed to enhancing democracy". Information provided by the media is carefully selected and shaped. Political economy has five core concept, these include:

1. Ownership
2. Control
3. Regulation
4. Audience Labour
5. Surveillance

Within our lecture, Marie explained five editorially distorting filters that apply to news reporting in mass media known as the Herman and Chomsky's "Propaganda Model" (see image below). Tad Tietze (2011) said that the propaganda model "remains probably the most serious modern theory of operations of the mass media in capitalist democracies".

Chomsky and Herman understand that making a buck is not just about advertising and sales, but the maintenance of a social order where making a profit in the media is the preserve of a tiny, unaccountable corporate elite (ownership). Information gathering tends to rely on powerful sources such as corporate PR departments, cashed-up think tanks and government and/or state bureaucracies because of a confluence of economic necessity and reciprocity of interests (sourcing). If a media organisation strays too far from acceptable views there are plenty of ways in which they can be put under pressure through public or more surreptitious campaigning (flak). Finally, media outlets tend to initiate or perpetuate campaigns against perceived enemies, external or internal, to bind ordinary media consumers to elite interests (fear).

Figure 1: Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model

References

McChesney, R. (2011). The political economy of media. Retrieved from http://hope.journ.wwu.edu/tpilgrim/j190/MacNUBOOKch1.html

Tietze, T. (2011). Limits of liberal critique: Murdoch, the media and the Manne. Retrieved from http://overland.org.au/2011/09/limits-of-liberal-critique-murdoch-the-media-the-manne-qe/