The Impact of Media Concentration on Professional ... - OSCE

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<strong>of</strong> the press boils down to the freedom <strong>of</strong> 200 rich people tovoice their opinions”. 16Such a restricted market certainly forces pr<strong>of</strong>essional journaliststo compromise their right on freedom <strong>of</strong> expression dayby day with the entrepreneurial expectations <strong>of</strong> their publisher.For society as a whole, however, Sethe’s hypothetical “200rich people” would guarantee the principle <strong>of</strong> media pluralismand content diversity, as long as those editorial voices can operateindependently. Such independence is the quintessentialcondition for the media to fulfill its democratic obligations.<strong>The</strong> media are not only one <strong>of</strong> the principle guardians overthe compliance with democratic rules by the elected politicalrepresentatives and other groups like trade unions and industrialentities.In reality the media has a much broader function.It is the media which enable the single citizen to first formand then to compare his own political opinion with that <strong>of</strong>others. In this way the media serve the specific interests <strong>of</strong> theindividual.At the same time, however, by gathering and divulginginformation the media fulfil the role <strong>of</strong> a “broker” between thepolitical and the private sphere <strong>of</strong> the individual. Only by beingextensively informed by the media is the individual citizen putinto the position to judge and to freely adhere to one or anotheraggregation <strong>of</strong> the political spectrum.But in a democratic system, the media do not only <strong>of</strong>fer aplatform for debate on the ideas and programmes <strong>of</strong> individualpoliticians and political parties, nor are they limited to therole <strong>of</strong> “public watchdog” over the compliance with democraticrules. Equally important the media carry a great deal <strong>of</strong>responsibility for social cohesion.<strong>Media</strong> contents do reflect the interests and necessities <strong>of</strong> thesociety at large. <strong>The</strong> media, being at the same time, propulsion24 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
and mirror <strong>of</strong> the entire society, do not only have an influenceon what we think, the media also determine what we thinkabout. 17 It is this agenda-setting function that makes the mediaindispensable in a democratic society. According to the Germansociologist Niklas Luhman it is the quintessential role <strong>of</strong>the media to <strong>of</strong>fer the necessary forum for an open debateabout social problems and ways to their solution. 18Not all media types, however, are equally well equippedto fulfil this role. Apart from an ever smaller community <strong>of</strong>diehard aficionados <strong>of</strong> spoken quality information; radiobroadcasting has become the prime choice for filling in emptyspaces <strong>of</strong> time. Radio is used whenever television is either notavailable, or not usable in one specific moment.Today, the moving pictures <strong>of</strong> television have insteadbecome the prime choice <strong>of</strong> the average media client. With itstechnological possibility <strong>of</strong> real time transmission, televisioncreates the illusion <strong>of</strong> delivering the total <strong>of</strong> essential informationon a global scale. <strong>The</strong> saying that what has not been onTV has not happened, shows the extent to which television haspermeated the general public’s perception <strong>of</strong> the world.<strong>The</strong> liberalization <strong>of</strong> European radio and television markets,which started during the 1980s, has lead to an impressiveincrease in privately owned stations and programmes. In addition,since the mid-1990s the “information highway” <strong>of</strong> theinternet has created hitherto unknown possibilities for the distribution<strong>of</strong> information. <strong>The</strong> introduction <strong>of</strong> both privatelyowned TV and the internet have lead to a dramatic shift in preferences<strong>of</strong> the advertising industry away from print media.16 Paul Sethe, Letter to the Editor <strong>of</strong> Der Spiegel (Hamburg, Germany, 5 May 1965).17 Pr<strong>of</strong>. Axel Zerdick, Thomas Simeon, Publizistik- und kommunikationswissenschaftlicheUeberlegungen zur Mediensituation in Berlin (Berlin, February 2003).18 Niklas Luhmann, Die Realitaet der Massenmedien (Westdeutscher Verlag: Opladen,1996), 169 ff.JOHANNES VON DOHNANYI 25
Page 3 and 4: REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
Page 5 and 6: ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
Page 7: 6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
Page 10 and 11: advertisement is very insecure, mak
Page 12 and 13: industrial lobbying groups still di
Page 15 and 16: 1. The Imp
Page 17 and 18: sidents” had been imprisoned. “
Page 19 and 20: determined Freedom of</stro
Page 21 and 22: co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
Page 23: Such independence, however, comes a
Page 27 and 28: 30 million rely exclusively on info
Page 29 and 30: Unchecked, concentration will reduc
Page 31 and 32: protected, a certain level
Page 33 and 34: indication of the
Page 35 and 36: time, as the concept of</st
Page 37 and 38: It appears, however, that this posi
Page 39 and 40: 1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
Page 41 and 42: owns or controls not only the three
Page 43 and 44: Target countries sometimes interpre
Page 45 and 46: independence proposed by the OSCE R
Page 47 and 48: groups to grow. And there is the in
Page 49 and 50: areas of Central a
Page 51 and 52: Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
Page 53 and 54: Yet this simple notion appears to b
Page 55 and 56: newspaper firms. Using the argument
Page 57 and 58: a contribution to democratization a
Page 59: tation of this for
Page 62 and 63: This limitation in no way indicates
Page 64 and 65: press is ridiculous. Journalists co
Page 66 and 67: But these progressive aspects <stro
Page 68 and 69: Nevertheless, the loss of</
Page 70 and 71: may well be true for journalists fr
Page 72 and 73: Is there a works council at your ne
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will go to television, this being t
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
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Good relations with the business co
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Further, how can a newspaper, whose
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
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The Norwegian medi
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Have you ever been put under pressu
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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4. Number of Title
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5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
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Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
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publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
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A three directional strategy is wha
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5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
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Cross-ownership has also increased
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Understandably all German journalis
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As also seen in Germany, the data p
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5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
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Newspaper chains were the logical r
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5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
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• Daily Mail and General Trust: D
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Is there a works council at your ne
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Page 127 and 128:
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Do you feel free to voice and write
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Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
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As regards ownership concentration,
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Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
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5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
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of those mini-comp
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for example, is very clear on this
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5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
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portfolio. In addition, as democrat
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Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
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5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
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is quite remarkable. The</s
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Lithuania is a small country with a
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Another tendency is that newspapers
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Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
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October 22 2003 was an historic dat
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5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
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y a mostly anonymous to the general
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On a daily, practical basis there
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Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
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so-called “human interest” stor
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indicated that Rodipet applies a di
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5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
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12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
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Strengthening of d
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Page 188 and 189:
emerging CEE countries with regard
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- Create in all OSCE participating
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Organization for Security and Co-op
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1. In which country are you working
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17. Who defines the editorial line
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29. How would you describe the situ
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- This common code of</stro
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Personal and business interestsIt i
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Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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