Impact of News Commercialization in Broadcast Media: A Comparative Study of Public and Private Organizations
Chapter One
Research Questions
This study seeks to answer the following research questions:
- What is the extent of news commercialization in public and private broadcast media?
- How does news commercialization impact the objectivity and credibility of news reporting?
- What are the audience perceptions regarding commercialized news in public and private broadcast media?
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Broadcast Media
The term “broadcast media” describes the dissemination of audio and video content to a large audience through digital, television, and radio channels. It is essential to national growth, public education, and the spread of information (Croteau & Hoynes, 2021). Broadcast media were founded in the past to provide reliable, impartial, and objective news in the public interest. However, the broadcast journalism landscape has changed significantly due to the growing influence of commercialisation, which has an impact on audience perception, news credibility, and media ethics (Baym, 2022).
Broadcast media’s main purpose is to inform, educate, and amuse the public. It is a tool for influencing political discourse, forming public opinion, and holding government agencies responsible (Papathanassopoulos, 2023). Traditionally supported by the government, public service broadcasters are supposed to report objectively and fairly. Financial limitations, however, have compelled public broadcasters to embrace commercial methods more frequently, which frequently results in slanted news that supports governmental goals and political elites (Ekwo, 2022). On the other hand, private broadcast media prioritise advertising revenue over journalistic integrity because they are motivated by profit (Chernov, 2024).
Additionally, broadcast media are essential for advancing social change and democracy. Broadcast media promote civic involvement and public discourse on important societal issues by giving citizens timely and pertinent information (Chan, 2023). Independent press has played a crucial role in exposing corruption and promoting legislative changes in many democracies. Nonetheless, the growing tendency of news commercialisation has sparked questions about whether broadcast media can continue to function as an impartial medium for the spread of information (Zhao, 2020).
The main factors between public and private broadcast media are editorial control, ownership, and finance. It is expected of public broadcasters, including government-owned radio and television stations, to act in the public interest. However, their editorial independence is limited due to their reliance on state funding, which frequently exposes them to government influence (Azeez, 2023). Because public broadcasters could be forced to match their news coverage with government objectives and orders, this leads to a clash between journalistic impartiality and political interests (Ugande, 2023).
Conversely, private broadcast media are commercial in nature and rely mostly on sponsorships and advertising to make money (Puhringer et al., 2022). They are more editorially independent from government meddling thanks to this funding model, but it also leaves them open to corporate control. Media outlets are frequently under pressure from advertisers to slant news reports to suit their agendas, which results in biassed reporting and a fall in investigative journalism (Huang, Davies, & Knight, 2020). In the end, this increased commercialisation has impacted the public’s access to reliable and in-depth journalism by giving priority to entertainment-based content over hard news, a phenomenon known as infotainment (Baym, 2022).
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