MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA

MEDIA AND MARKETING GAMES OF THE OLIGARCHS
3 Diversity
Increasing diversity of contemporary society is reality that cannot be
ignored. Slovak society has become familiar with this phenomenon only
over the last two decades. Post-socialism development have brought
the end of social homogeneity and universalism and gradual growth of
diversity in every sphere of life: diversiication of economic structure and
ownership terms, deepening social-economic stratiication and spatial
polarisation, lood of different technologies and ways of communication
– development of new media, development of alternative ways of
education, art and culture; extensive offer of goods and services and by
that pluralism of life-styles and life aspirations, demographic changes,
annually growing number of foreigners and immigrants together with
changing ethnic and religious structure of the population. Cultural
diversity may be a driving force of development and contribute to
enrichment of the society also by means of media – human, cultural,
social and economic enrichment – only if we create conditions for its
sustainable development. Mass media, thanks to which communication
spreads, have become dominant tools of this process. Similarly, cultural
diversity is their unthinkable part.
Media diversity is one of key issues in European countries. Individual
states try to protect it primarily by means of legislature regulating
ownership terms. Thus it is based upon the assumption that concentration
of ownership decreases diversity even if empirical evidence of this thesis
is rather repugnant. One of the most important reasons of this state is,
according to our opinion, methodological complexity of the concept of
diversity.
Pluralism and diversity in media belong to key issues in democratic
states. Namely they are basic pillars of the right to information and
freedom of expression, which is besides others anchored in the
paragraph 11 in the Chart of Fundamental Rights in the EU or in the
paragraph 10 in the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Governments of European socialcultural
environment settle with the duty to provide pluralism and
diversity in the media sector mainly by means of regulation of ownership
terms. Thus, the main factor - if not the only one – affecting pluralism
and diversity of media is considered the issue of ownership. Increasing
property concentration leads to decreasing pluralism and diversity.
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