Press Freedom and Globalisation - International Press Institute

Press Freedom and Globalisation
create a global culture, the United States’ role, how mass media legitimate and stabilise
existing political systems, the NWICO debates and effects of new technology.
The role media play in societies can be controlled by the few dominant owners to
protect their interests. In this sense free press is more a myth than reality. 118 When the
mighty and powerful appear as strong defenders of press freedom, 119 they defend their
interests given that ruling ideas have always been ideas of the ruling class. 120 An effect is
that despite growth in media channels, sources have been concentrated and the range of
views and ideas has narrowed. 121 Hence, the growth in the number of media and channels
has not resulted in democratic or ideological plurality. 122 In accordance with the owners
interests, an informal filter system for media content ensures that the interests of the cores’
elites prevail. 123 The concept of marketplace of ideas as a basis for press freedom has been
turned to a marketplace for content to attract audiences for advertising purposes. 124 The
‘broadcasting’ has been ‘narrowcasting’, expressed in terms of television. 125
To maintain the present liberal world order, mass media and press freedom are
intertwined with free trade and democratisation. Thus, the purpose for a free press is to
support markets because social matters have to be solved by markets. 126 In this context a
market based mass media system is regarded as the best protection for freedom of expres-
118
Parenti, Michael, Inventing Reality : The Politics of the Mass Media (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1986), pp. 27, 50 and 236-238.
119
For instance Ted Turner, Vice-Chairman of Time Warner in: van der Heijden, Barend and Tahzib-Lie,
Bahia, Reflections in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : A fiftieth Anniversary Anthology (The
Hague: Martinius Nijhoff Publishers, 1998), p. 299.
120
Abubakar, “The Mass Media and Ideological Apparatuses in Post-Colonial Africa”, p. 55.
121
Boyd-Barrett, Oliver, “ ‘Global’ News Agencies” in Boyd-Barrett, Oliver and Rantanen, Terhi (eds.), The
Globalization of News (New Delhi/London: Sage Publications, 1998), p. 33; and Paterson, Chris, “Global
Battlefields” in Boyd-Barrett, Oliver and Rantanen, Terhi (eds.), The Globalization of News (New
Delhi/London: Sage Publications, 1998), p. 79.
122
Boyd-Barrett, Oliver, “ ‘Global’ News Agencies”, pp. 19-33.
123 Herring and Robinson, “Too polemical or too critical? Chomsky on the study of the news media and US
foreign policy”, pp. 554-556; and Chomsky, “Commentary: moral truism, empirical evidence, and foreign
policy”, pp. 605-620; and Allan, Stuart, News Culture (Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2000), pp.
57-60.
124 Patterson, “The United States: News in a Free-Market Society”, pp. 253-254.
125 Joyrich: Re-Viewing Reception, pp. 10 and 17.
126 Herman, “The Media and Markets in the United States”, pp. 61, 70-73 and 78.
47