Strength in numbers

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This essay discusses the concept of audience as a media commodity and their power as citizens of the digital media age.

For two years running, Australians have ranked politicians higher than journalists in ethics and honesty (Roy Morgan, 2007 & 2008). In 2006, Roy Morgan’s ‘End of Year’ survey found that 59 per cent of respondents “don’t trust journalists to tell the truth”. Based on these results, Roy Morgan’s Executive Chairman, Gary Morgan commented:

“Although there is a heavy reliance on media organisations to inform Australians of what is happening at home and abroad, the fact that 74% agree that ‘media organisations are more interested in making money than informing society’ raises major questions about the integrity of the entire media industry.”

Consumer confidence of the media is down, but the commercial relationship between advertisers, the media and their ‘consumers’ still remains. By classifying their audience as passive commodities, the role of the audience as stakeholders in the economic viability of the media industry was overlooked.

With the rising popularity of digital media, a shift in the ‘public sphere’ occurred. “One of the biggest factors changing our world is the falling cost for like-minded people to locate each other, share information, trade impressions and realize their number,” which Journalism Professor Jay Rosen argues is the cause of media authority erosion.

The growth of citizen journalism websites is an illustration of the public sphere in which civic society fosters communication through an online medium. According to Bowman & Willis (2003), “news media and consumer non-profits no longer have a monopoly on serving as a watchdog on government and private industry. Individuals and citizen groups are stepping in to fill the void they believe has been created by lapses in coverage by big media”.

The argument put forward by the media industry lies in the quality of information disseminated by the citizen journalism movement. “As a bit of a reality check”, The Age Online Community Editor, James Farmer, asks citizens on his blog: “When was the last time you encountered a "citizen doctor", valued a report by a "citizen researcher", took off in a plane flown by a "citizen pilot" or saw justice meted out by "citizen policeman"?

Helium.com is once such website encouraging citizens worldwide to “Learn what you need, share what you know”, by publishing user generated articles as part of an online community. Helium positions its audience through the use of branding strategies containing key messages targeting the citizen in onsite banner ads and copy. Statements such as: “Helium Debates. Civilized Discourse”, and “Helium brings civility back to the Internet” target the citizens’ need for a public sphere where independently sourced information can be published and subjected to open ‘real time’ evaluation.

Through classifying the audience as passive consumers, media credibility has deteriorated along with declining profit margins currently plaguing the global media industry as digital media revenues increase, growing by 17 per cent last year and predicted to rise close to 25 per cent in 2009 (AIMIA, 2008).

Without citizens investing their time and money in the media industry, advertising revenues fall and media production becomes an unviable economic enterprise. It would seem these trends demonstrate that the audience is not just a ‘commodity’ of ‘consumers’ but indeed a driving force behind the existence of the media industry itself.

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