Commercialization of Newspapers in Canada - Case Study Example

Commercialization of Newspapers in Canada In the past two centuries, Canadian Newspapers have undergone commercial liberalization. Presently, they are no longer financed and managed by the government instead they are run as profitable organizations, relying chiefly on advertising as a source of income. Commercialization is a process whereby the emphasis on market share and profitability in media production becomes predominant; potentially at the expense of other media functions such as political, social and cultural roles. This can also be interpreted to mean that several media are expressed to a dominant purpose to amplification, manipulate and organize commercial transactions through advertising. This research looks into the consequences of newspaper commercialization on news content arguing that commercializing newspapers in Canada has reinforced the ability of the government and other sponsors to influence public opinion through the stated means of mass media hence cannot play its public service role effectively. The influence of commercialization in Canadian Newspaper traces the change of newspapers from a politically based perspective to a commercially based press. The media industry all over the world has seen impressive modifications in the current years. Key among them is the change in the perception of media in the olden days as a radical instruments and mighty political players. Presently, the media is seen more of a commercial enterprise with a motto of making profits. Increased competition levels coupled with the tendency of confinement of media ownership to a few leading multinational conglomerates/empires has intensified the commercial pressure in the field. It has also attributed to media proliferation - where many rising media products get down to catering for the needs of a more divergent market. Commoditization of news among Canadian newspapers has become a grave matter. This has been turned into a product, packaged and sold-out to the economic upper class, configured primarily to meet the needs of the advertiser then the audience comes in second. The rising rivalry adds on to this intention which impacts the newspapers to choose strategies which are likely to disconnection between editorial content and advertising. As newspapers becomes more commercial, they depend more on advertising income for survival, thereby mounting more pressure to come up with media content that appeals to the advertisers. The resultant effect is that there is an increased amount of conflicts with the newspapers accountability towards the general public in terms of providing information in public interest. This means that very intent of the existence of the media, which is informing the public, is surpassed by commercial interests. This flared pressure consequents into the newsprint firms being choosy with regard to their audiences to suit advertisers taste, hence shifting the focus to the wealthy elite audience. Commercialization of Canadian Daily Newspapers is the transition of the Canadian daily newspaper from a political-party mouthpiece by the end of nineteenth century into a contemporary profit-seeking business (Sotiron 9). Sotiron further argues that the old mission that sustained newspapers for two hundred years-to act as a check against random power and serve the public in the interests of democracy is being replaced by a singular focus on the bottom line. With stiff competition in the market and the need to realize bigger profit margins, newspapers are now seeking to satisfy human interest. Competition for consumers has now become the ultimate goal. Entertainment has succeeded the provision of information; human interest has supplanted the public interest. Franklin speaks about Newszak’ to explain news as a product formulated and processed for a particular market and delivered in increasingly standardized snippets which make exclusively unassuming demands on the audience . Newszak is news changed into entertainment. The far-flung commercialization of the media industry is mostly seen as a threat to a democratic society as it may lead to profit making outdoing the quality of journalism. The essence of media incorporates creation of a big forum which is accessible to as many individuals as possible to express and exchange a variety of social issues. Various statements and perspectives can be confronted through rational discussions. The media should offer the widest possible range of interpretation frames so that the citizen is also aware of what he did not choose (Murdock 28) and to check the government policies critically. Unfortunately, with the current turn of events where most media activity is being commercialized, the economical perspective has become of key importance. Newspaper commercialization has demanded that the newspaper content be profit driven. Most newspaper content are now chiefly commodities produced to generate maximum profit. The predominant character of what the media produce can largely be accounted for by the exchange value of different kinds of content, under situations of pressure to expand markets and by the underlying economic interests of owners and decision makers (Garnham 73). It is against this background that we come to the finding that the commercialization of newspapers in Canada is re-defining audiences to chiefly as consumers rather than citizens with the right to information. This has also translated into more demand from newspaper workers hence resulting into job losses. In simple and plain terms, it is evident that the commercialization of newspapers in Canada has led to the newsprint media losing its core founding values of informing the citizen. A major setback to the newspapers assuming their traditional role comes from the very fact that a growing amount of media production is in the hands of powerful media houses whose main reason for existing is profit making. The letters to the editor remain the only sector in the newspapers with a public view. There is need to create more public spheres in the newsprint media in which the citizen can get their views expressed or appropriately addressed. From a neo-Marxist point of view, it can arguably be stated that the commercialization of newspapers is a new choice for the people, giving them the illusion of democracy in a capitalist controlled society. There is no doubt that the orientation of newspapers in Canada is shifting. It is crystal clear that more important articles such as news and current affairs are coming under immense pressure in the battle for resources and audiences. They are being replaced by infotainment articles. This is in a bid to maximize profits and their audiences. This paradigm shift has a direct bearing on the newspaper content. The increase in competition translates into the media content being colonized by commercial interests. It is evident by the promotions and ads becoming more important than the other key features. This research views that the role of newspaper in the public sphere in Canada as an essential tool of communication. The media has a key purpose to execute in in enhancing public dialogue (Curran & Gurevitch, 56). In the meantime, the opinion of public service publishing has been sabotaged by the erosion of the public commitment to the service that has been provided by present public publishing institutions. In many cases, this has been caused by the abuse of the term by national governments, political elites and those who fund the publishers seeking to use publishing for a higher national purpose, claiming that this is in the public interest (Raboy 32). If public publishing is aimed at promoting public interest, welfare or well-being, it goes without saying that it should be responsible to the public, not to commercial or political interests, and that it should be carried out at public expense. Sadly they are owned by elites who finance and control publishing services hence making sure their terms are met. As a result of the Commercialization of the Newspapers in Canada, the general public has been denied access and the publisher has inclined to the interests of the political class and elites. Conclusion The study set out to analyze the effect of Newspaper commercialization in Canada. This study has demonstrated that though Publishers have some public services principles and values, they majorly lean on commercial exploits. This is evidenced by the emergence of commercialized publishing and a reduction of space allocated to educational and developmental articles. To add to the precedent discussion, government interference and the influence of sponsors on content publication, narrows the scope of Newspapers performance in as far as public service principles and values are concerned. Sponsors of content whether, educational, informational and entertainment dictate their content and design. This compromises numerous aspects such as goals and objectives of those particular publications, hence barring them from reaching the target audiences. The above discourse corroborates the study’s thesis that commercializing newspapers in Canada has reinforced the ability of the government and other sponsors to influence public opinion through the stated means of mass media hence, cannot play its public service role effectively. Works Cited Blumler, J.G. The new television marketplace. In J. Curran & M. Gurevitch. Eds. Mass Media and Society. London: Edward Arnold.1991. 33-126 Dahlgren, P. “The public sphere as a historical narrative.” In D. McQuail. Ed. McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage Publications. 2002. 82-303 Garnham, N. Contribution to a political economy of mass communication. Media Culture and Society 1 (2). 1979. 123-46 Golding, P. & Murdock, G. Culture, Communications and Political Economy. In J. Curran & M. Gurevitch. Eds. Mass Media and Society. London: Arnold.1996. 17 - 41 Ishikawa, S., Leggatt, T., Litman, B., Raboy, M., Rosengren, K.E. & Kambara, N. “Diversity in Television Programming. Comparative Analysis of Five Countries. In S. Ishikawa. Ed. Quality Assessment of Television. Luton: University of Luton Press.1996. 31 - 72 Minko Sotiron. The Commercialization of Canadian Daily Newspapers. 1890-1920. 1-86 Read More