Public Media.

   First off, let me just say that this is the first lecture I have actually been able to go to! Hurrah! Because fortunately, the lecture I usually go to at this time was cancelled. And I must say, this lecture was a pleasant experience in comparison. I've never had a lecture in the John Hay building and I liked the room. It's quite intimate so it was easier to keep my focus.

So anyway, this week's lecture was on public media. One might also refer to it as commercial media's sworn enemy. But whatever floats your boat. Public media does have a more genuine feel about it because they're not so much about the money as commercial media is. Whatever monetary value they bring in, is only put back into the system to bring the public more news in more ways. Public media is not for profit. It is there to serve and engage an audience all with the pure purpose of giving the public news as best they can. Public media has to have a universal appeal and cater for all kinds of tastes - now that would be tricky! - it must also have geographical universality and it must be distanced from all vested interests. Public media should liberate a broadcaster, not restrict them. 

Although I admire public media's purpose - purely to serve and inform the public - I consume about zilch of it. When I consume media it will be commercial media about 99.9% of the time. Why? Because it's a lot more entertaining. I would say that commercial media places a greater importance on entertaining and selling rather than informing, whereas public media would be the opposite. 

If you were to go onto ninemsn.com.au (a website that is currently my homepage), it would be very probable that there would be at least a few stories on celebrities, television shows and whatnot. But if you were to go onto http://www.sbs.com.au/, you would only come across "real" news stories that contain substantial and quality material. Just compare their homepages, you can already clearly see the difference.

I suppose whether you like public media or commercial media would have something to do with age groups and what your interests are. But I would definitely prefer Ninemsn to SBS. I'm not gonna lie, putting the SBS link there was the first time I've ever been on that site.