Market Model, Public Sphere Model Two approaches to the analysis of media

MARKET MODEL Basic principles: Society’s needs best met through unregulated supply and demand Media are like all goods and services Private, unregulated ownership best Consumers, not regulators, call the tune

Advantages of markets Promote: efficiency responsiveness flexibility innovation Markets can deliver media like any other product

Market structures Level of ownership concentration Number of firms supplying a product Amount of product differentiation Types of entry barriers facing new competitors Extent of vertical and horizontal integration

Public Sphere Model Basic principles: Society’s needs not met entirely through market system; Consumer power is not democracy; Media are not like other products; Profitability not sole determinant of value Government has necessary role.

Vision of public sphere model Media as primary information sources and storytellers; Media as forums for social dialogue; Need open mass media system that is fully accessible; Ownership/control should be diverse; People citizens first, then consumers.

Citizens need from media: information about personal rights about public political choices to voice criticism, register alternatives to recognize themselves in media representations

The Limits of Markets Markets: are undemocratic: one dollar one vote reproduce inequality are amoral do not meet all social needs do not meet all democratic needs

“Toasters with pictures?” Market OK for media consumers, not for media citizens; Advertising inserts itself between product and consumer; Media are resources for citizenship; Media have unique role in democracy, recognized in US legal protections

Basic Dilemma Mass media are businesses But they also are providers of information and conduits of culture Tension between profit & public interest

First Amendment Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . . e.g., news media as the “Fourth Estate,” as a “watchdog”