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

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Nevertheless, the loss <strong>of</strong> public interest values, particularlyin the public sector <strong>of</strong> European broadcasting, could havea devastating effect, not only on the work <strong>of</strong> journalists andother cultural workers but also on the quality <strong>of</strong> democraticexchange in Europe.<strong>The</strong> sample <strong>of</strong> journalists in this study to whom the questionnaireshave been sent, only includes within those eight countries,those working for daily newspapers. However, quite anumber <strong>of</strong> filled in questionnaires were sent in by journalistsfrom electronic media, radio, television, magazines, or newsagencies. A number <strong>of</strong> respondents also worked for more thanone paper or company: freelancers working for radio stationsas well as newspapers, for weekly magazines as well as dailies,writing for news agencies as well as feature stories for differentmagazines, and increasingly working for Internet publicationin addition.<strong>The</strong> phenomenon <strong>of</strong> media concentration and foreigninvestment is, <strong>of</strong> course, not limited to print media. Unfortunatelythe study in hand had to restrict itself to daily newspapersand thus can only serve as a first oversight on media concentrationand the impact on pr<strong>of</strong>essional journalism. Notincluding journalists from other sectors does not mean theydon’t have any problems, nor does it mean that the work <strong>of</strong>the OSCE Representative does not include them.“I am working for German Television and I ask myself whyyou are only looking into the newspaper market. Sorry, butI think that television is more important in influencing people’sminds than newspapers, and therefore special attentionshould be paid to the quality and independence <strong>of</strong> TV journalists.<strong>The</strong> effects <strong>of</strong> concentration, cost control and pr<strong>of</strong>itmaximisation are devastating, both to the quality <strong>of</strong> programmesAND the working conditions <strong>of</strong> journalists. Duringthe last two to three years, working conditions have68 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
een going from bad to worse. Working an 80 hour weekis no exception, wages are in free fall, and people are hiredand fired at random – these are <strong>of</strong>ten illegal practices butnobody cares. Instead <strong>of</strong> employing experienced journalists,editors-in-chief prefer placement students – because theyare cheaper. I know people who have been told on a Thursdaynight in April that they need not come back on Monday– although they had a contract until the end <strong>of</strong> the year.Placement students, who do not know whether Arafatis Palestinian or Jewish, edit the news about the peaceprocess in the Middle East ...As I see it, this is a return to brutal early capitalism,when the small people depended completely on the mercy<strong>of</strong> the big bosses. It is a danger to democracy – and thedestruction <strong>of</strong> a pr<strong>of</strong>ession. I personally do not know anyTV journalists who still love their job. Most want to leave.”Anonymous German JournalistIn addition, this study does not ignore that foreign investmentis not limited to the respective country’s print media. <strong>The</strong>re arevarious degrees <strong>of</strong> cross-ownership between print media andelectronic media. In Germany, for example, local and regionaldaily newspaper publishing houses are very much linked toregional commercial radio stations, whereas Lithuania wasreported to have a rather distinct differentiation between theowners <strong>of</strong> newspapers and electronic media. But while in Lithuaniavirtually all TV stations are owned by foreign capital, the TVlandscape in Germany is to a large extent in the hands <strong>of</strong> Germancompanies. In Romania a lot <strong>of</strong> vertical cross-ownership canbe seen: the same company owns TV programmes, radio stations,newspapers and magazines, printing plants and distributionnetworks. <strong>The</strong>n again, this phenomenon <strong>of</strong> vertical concentrationis not a Romanian peculiarity.This is to say that the results <strong>of</strong> this study mainly reflectanswers from journalists from dailies, but that the trends shownTHE SURVEY 69
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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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 and 24: Such independence, however, comes a
Page 25 and 26: and mirror of the
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 70 and 71: may well be true for journalists fr
Page 72 and 73: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 74 and 75: will go to television, this being t
Page 76 and 77: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 78 and 79: Good relations with the business co
Page 80 and 81: Further, how can a newspaper, whose
Page 82 and 83: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 84 and 85: The Norwegian medi
Page 86 and 87: Have you ever been put under pressu
Page 88 and 89: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 91 and 92: 4. Number of Title
Page 93 and 94: 5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
Page 95 and 96: Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
Page 97 and 98: publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
Page 99 and 100: A three directional strategy is wha
Page 101 and 102: 5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104: Cross-ownership has also increased
Page 105 and 106: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234515,
Page 107 and 108: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115 and 116: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 117 and 118: 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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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
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Do you feel free to voice and write
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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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
Page 184 and 185:
Strengthening of d
Page 186 and 187:
Do you feel threatened in your posi
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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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