Serving the Public and Serving the Market: A Conflict of Interest?

The freedom to be silent? Market pressures on journalistic normative ideals at the Nation Media Group in Kenya

“…Corporate ownership and control of the media has long been criticised on public interest grounds (Bagdikian 2000;Croteau and Hoynes 2006;Herman and Chomsky 2002;McManus 1992). McManus (1992McManus ( , 1997 argued that in market-driven journalism, there is an inherent conflict between the logics of 'maximising returns' for the shareholders and 'maximising public understanding'.…”

“…McManus (1992McManus ( , 1997 argued that in market-driven journalism, there is an inherent conflict between the logics of 'maximising returns' for the shareholders and 'maximising public understanding'. In the new commercialised media environment, McManus observes that journalistic ethics relies less on codes and more on mechanisms for dealing with 'the growing influences of forces outside the newsroom such as the executives of corporations that own news media, the interests of corporate "siblings" and the markets for investors, advertisers, sources and consumers' (McManus 1997, 6).…”

Trust and the Economics of News

“…Yet this is one element of the problem. Consumers do not have the ability to accurately assess news content (McManus, 1992). Journalists may well be loathe to market themselves or their news products and may see such a thing as beneath them or counter to the objectivity standard when in fact the traditional objectivity standard is seen by many as outdated and no longer serves the needs of professional journalism (Christians, 2008).…”

Introduction: Exciting Times in the Shadow of the ‘Post-Truth’ Era: News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World : An Nguyen, Bournemouth University, UK

“…• In journalism, there is an inherent conflict between serving the public and serving the market (McManus, 1992). Discuss the nature of this conflict, using the various journalistic challenges of web metrics as a case in point.…”

“…The problem is that the kind of news that can maximise audiences is often the so-called "news you can use" -news that caters to the lowest common denominator of all tastes, addressing the most basic, least sophisticated and least sensitive level of lifestyles and attitudes. In practice, it often means soft news with high entertainment and low information values (McManus, 1992). People want this news in massive numbers partly because they can be consumed at ease.…”