Final Report of the Special Policy Research Team
on Media Issues
Cultural Diversity and The Media
In modern society the media plays a significant role in peoples
everyday life and it is in many ways the link between different
parts of society, such as politics, social and cultural life and
economics. The general public is spending several hours per day
using different kinds of media such as reading newspapers, watching
television, film and video, listening to the radio, surfing on the
Internet and playing computer games etc. The amount of time that
people spend on these media is constantly increasing. Since the
media is, to a large extent, bearer of cultural works it needs to
be a part of the discussion on cultural diversity and globalization.
Diversity and pluralism in news and opinion moulding is also essential
in the democratic society of today and constitute the base for an
open debate and is even the foundation for democracy itself. This
is why the media market cannot be considered as just any market
- it is a necessity for the democratic society. For this reason
it is also treated differently in many aspects. The conditions for
freedom of expression and free exchange of opinion where different
views and valuations can be given and debated are granted by international
conventions and national constitutions.
The media sector also has great economic values, which have furthermore
increased considerably the last decade or so. The major importance
of the media in society is nevertheless not primarily economic,
but their role in the democratic process and for their cultural
and linguistic role in a broader sense. Hence, the democratic society
assumes that there is a diverse media content and the free opinion
moulding can certainly be harmed if individuals or small groups
of media owners are given a too dominant position in media enterprises,
at least when it concerns media that have a great impact on the
general public.
The media sector is very complicated to its organisation and structure
- apart from the different democratic, cultural, social and economic
parts there are also differences within each of these parts and
furthermore the national structures, and it is not possible to discuss
every angle of the media sector in this paper. However, the discussion
of concentration of ownership of the media sector can be divided
into two main issues - on the one hand it is a question of distribution
and accessibility of the media and on the other the media content
as such. The issues are certainly linked to each other, but it could
be practical to separate them in this discussion.
The last decade the structure of the media market has changed.
The media enterprises have become more vertically organised, which
in this respect means that a company or an alliance of companies
is controlling every step in the production chain of media content.
This phenomenon is often the case when it concerns new technology.
The structure of the media sector has also become more horizontal,
which means that a company or a group of enterprises have control
over several products of the same kind. This is said to give positive
synergy-effects.
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The development has led to a situation where a small group of large
enterprises have a very strong position on the global media market
for distributors and sometimes also on different national markets.
In other cases these media conglomerates may not have that strong
position as a single market player on a national level but still
have a great impact due to exports of media content. It is not unusual
that there are only one or a few domestic operators that control
the distribution channels, which are filled with media content from
the big media companies.
Under the first issue mentioned above questions like the following
could be raised - does concentrated ownership of media enterprises
have a negative impact on the distribution systems and does this
affect the accessibility of the media for the general public? This
issue is to a large extent about market conditions such as competition
rules and financing systems and it is at the same time an issue
of both global and national interests. It is not difficult to assume
that a dominant player on the media market, whether it be as provider
of content or distribution platforms, or both, could have a negative
impact on the media content from a cultural diversity point of view,
especially when the horizontal and vertical structure is taken into
consideration.
Some examples may illustrate this. If a company acquires another
cable-network for television, and the new owners immediately change
the range of channels - e.g. replace entertainment and sports channels
with some important news channels - the diversity is certainly diminished
from a democratic point of view. Another example could be platform
distributors who deliberately are shutting out channels of general
interest from their own distribution platform. This means that certain
channels are only accessible if you are a subscriber to that particular
distribution system and that viewers are locked into that system.
To a certain extent these problems can, and are, solved by must
carry- and/or must offer-rules, but such provisions must also take
into consideration the market conditions for the distributors and
their right to decide what to broadcast.
As the technological development within the media market continues
and creates new forms of distribution platforms it is of greatest
interest for decision-makers to make sure that technical solutions
in the future are as open as possible for all kinds of media content
in order to get and maintain a diverse media content landscape.
Regarding the second issue - about cultural diversity, concentration
of ownership and the media content as such - it is often claimed
that the media market has never been more diverse than today and
that the general public never has had more access to media content
than today. Further it is said that not only is the media more accessible
than ever, but also that the general public has greater possibilities
than ever to make actual use of their freedom of expression and
their artistic creativity.
This kind of reasoning is to some extent true - there are many
new possibilities to receive media content and make your voice heard
through the media. But in the reality this may not be the case,
since a few hands e.g. often control the distribution channels and
the content that is provided. The traditional mass media, such as
television, radio and newspapers, are still the most powerful and
time consuming. Besides, these new possibilities do not necessarily
lead to a situation where the most important media content as such
have become more diverse. Just because you can watch more TV-channels
or listen to more radio stations than ever it does not mean that
these channels or stations are particularly varied to their content.
Another truth is that the commercial interests for the content providers
are the dominant factors for their decision-making, which consequences
only seem to be regimentation.
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Ten years ago Sweden created a system for local commercial radio,
where the ambition was to make sure that the general public was
offered the most diverse radio landscape as possible, both in terms
of ownership and radio content. However, it soon turned out that
neither was to be accomplished. Within a very few years the market
had formed a radio landscape with very few but strong players and
owners. Radio stations with other ambitions than playing what is
called "adult contemporary music" soon disappeared from
the market. Recently, it was also established that the content of
commercial radio stations have become more regiment throughout the
years since they are playing fewer song titles of hit-list-music
more and more often. It is therefore not surprising that other genres
of music and local, regional and cultural music have difficulties
to reach broader audiences. It is not too much to say that even
if there are more radio stations than ever to listen to, the radio
content diversity has not increased but rather become more standardized.
It is hence of greatest importance that the society in general
takes responsibility for a broad and diverse media content. For
the political society it is especially important to follow the development
of the media sector very closely and to work for good solutions
and conditions, both for the general public and the media sector.
If this is done properly there is a good chance that the democratic
values of society will remain.
To this background the following questions could serve as the base
for a further but substantial discussion on cultural diversity and
media in Cape Town:
- What are your experiences of general interest regarding media
ownership and the diversity of media content?
- What development of the media sector do you foresee, bearing
in mind the discussion of cultural diversity and media content?
- How can globalisation contribute to increase the diversity
in the media and the exchange of cultural and medial products?
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