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

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will go to television, this being the prime choice media sector<strong>of</strong> the average consumer.Newspapers on the other hand have few chances to reducetheir operating costs if they want to stay in quality journalism.In order not to jeopardize their income generated by advertisement,they will be reluctant to publish anything which mightstrike at the interests <strong>of</strong> their advertising clients. And – bang! –goes editorial independence.One has to decide for oneself which version <strong>of</strong> editorialdependence is worse. <strong>The</strong> Romanian version, where pr<strong>of</strong>essionaljournalists are forced to write “big articles about fashion,because fashion firms buy lots <strong>of</strong> advertisement space”, or theBritish version, in which “One major advertiser contacted ourprevious manager to ask him not run a story about a consumercomplaint. <strong>The</strong> story was pulled”.Twenty-six per cent <strong>of</strong> the journalists contacted during thissurvey admitted that advertisers have an influence on the editorialline <strong>of</strong> their newspaper. (Fig. 3) This means that when itcomes to information concerning advertisement clients and theirenvironment, only three out <strong>of</strong> four newspapers can be trusted.<strong>The</strong> sarcastic comment <strong>of</strong> a British journalist to the question,whether the editorial line <strong>of</strong> his paper was independent fromadvertisement influence, simply read: “Money talks!”It would be extremely short sighted to consider a situationas satisfactory, in which the editorial line <strong>of</strong> “only” one-quarter<strong>of</strong> the newspapers is influenced by advertisement funds. Asnobody can be absolutely sure which information to trust, credibility<strong>of</strong> daily newspapers as a whole will suffer!Does advertisement influence the editorial line<strong>of</strong> your newspaper? Fig. 3Yes 26No 740 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10074 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
When it comes to the rating <strong>of</strong>How important are the following criteria for the editorial line<strong>of</strong> your paper on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 stands for ”veryimportant” and 5 stands for ”not important at all”?journalists seem to have little doubt. Good old pr<strong>of</strong>essional standardsappear to be still very much en vogue. <strong>The</strong>re are, however,a number <strong>of</strong> contradictions which suggest that quite a few<strong>of</strong> the answers received were dictated more by wishful thinkingthan reality.Even though 11.6 per cent <strong>of</strong> the participants <strong>of</strong> this surveyadmit openly, that “truth” is not an important factor for the editorialline <strong>of</strong> their papers, for the vast majority <strong>of</strong> journalists the“truth” factor remains a top priority. This judgement is absolutelyin line with all ethical standards <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>ession. (Fig. 4)Truth (%) Fig. 4123453,68,010,720,557,10 10 20 30 40 50 60This impression seems to be confirmed by the ratings for “objectivity”:83.3 per cent <strong>of</strong> the answers to this survey labelled thisfactor as being important to very important for the editorial line<strong>of</strong> their newspaper. (Fig. 5)Objectivity (%) Fig. 5123457,98,72323,836,50 10 20 30 40 50GENERAL SURVEY RESULTS 75
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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
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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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 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
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
Page 119 and 120: 5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122: • Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124: 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
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Strengthening of d
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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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