Discuss and Critique the News Media as an Industry. What Are the Various Roles Played by the Participants in the News Industry? How Does Management Differ from Journalists in Their Perspectives on What Constitutes the

Question #3: Discuss and critique the news media as an industry. What are the various roles played by the participants in the news industry? How does management differ from journalists in their perspectives on what constitutes the who, what, where, and why of a story? Who and what controls the media in the 21st century and why?

News media outlets have a responsibility to society to provide the general public with news worthy items that affect both people’s lives and the society in which they live and also plays a role in addressing nonmarket issues. Along with that comes the responsibility to present the news in a fair, balanced, accurate, and unbiased manner

Because of their influence over the public, news reporting agencies can be used by special interest groups, politicians, as well as nonmarket entrepreneurs to address issues and influence and sway the public’s opinion one way or the other on various topics. An organization’s managers must use foresight to anticipate how their organization’s affairs will be treated by the media and have an action plan in place that will either show their organization in a positive way or at the very least downplay any negative coverage their firm may experience.

Two theories of media coverage that managers should consider is the theories of intrinsic audience interest and societal significance. Intrinsic audience interest stories covered by the media is determined by how much revenue can be generated by audience interest in items such as celebrity news, professional and local sports coverage, weather forecasts, etc… Societal significance news items are those that affect society on both the national and local levels. This can include environmental issues, homeland security, unemployment rates, income tax increases, or other issues that affect the society as a whole.

The path that the media follows in the 21st century is largely controlled by journalist themselves. A journalist’s living is made by having their news stories presented to their audience. Therefore, they have incentive to cover news stories that will capture the intended audience’s interest. Unfortunately, in order to make their stories more stimulating, they may be tempted to falsely report, show bias, or omit factual evidence that is contrary to their personal agenda. An example of this is MSNBC who, for the most part, will only show a political party in a positive light and fail to cover any events that may be viewed as damaging to that particular political party, and on the other hand, there is FOX news which will air damaging news about a political party, yet give it only limited coverage on its positives actions.