Political, Cultural, Economic and Legal/Administrative Factors Affecting the Process and Structure of Mass Media in Kenya
THE POLITICAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND LEGAL/ADMINISTRATIVE FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROCESS AND STRUCTURE
OF MASS MEDIA IN KENYA
Mass Media provide an arena of debate and a set of channels for making policies, candidates, relevant facts and ideas more widely known as well as providing politicians, interest groups and agents of government with a means of publicity and influence (McQuail, 2005).
Politico-economic influences on the media
Politico-economic factors that affect media include the idea of media ownership, media market and financial support. The manner in which the media operates is shaped by their owners, market environments and financial support. In this environment, the media manufactures culture content that sustain the system ‘capitalism’. (Curran 2000b: Chomsky, 2003). The media is in the business of maximize profit just like any other business organization in capitalism. (Williams, 2003; McChesney, 2003; Mosco, 1996, Hesmondhalgh, 2007)
McChesney (2003) and Williams (2003) argue that Economic factors/market forces impact on the media in ways in which it becomes an industry, the media therefore, operates as an economic institution in the business of cultural production.
Owners of media too can affect the media to only air their political biases. Edward Herman argued in the early 1990s that there were five politico- economic filters through which news passed before it was presented in the mainstream media.
First is the size and ownership of the mass media. Here issues such as media convergence, concentration and the free market come in. Depending on the media ownership patterns, the bosses can choose to sponsor or fund some programmes while neglecting others. This will affect the operation of the media as some of the programmes neglected may not be considered as important and might even be forced to be pulled out of the programming schedules. However, media can take a stand on issues by using the opinion columns and programmes to present the view of
OF MASS MEDIA IN KENYA
Mass Media provide an arena of debate and a set of channels for making policies, candidates, relevant facts and ideas more widely known as well as providing politicians, interest groups and agents of government with a means of publicity and influence (McQuail, 2005).
Politico-economic influences on the media
Politico-economic factors that affect media include the idea of media ownership, media market and financial support. The manner in which the media operates is shaped by their owners, market environments and financial support. In this environment, the media manufactures culture content that sustain the system ‘capitalism’. (Curran 2000b: Chomsky, 2003). The media is in the business of maximize profit just like any other business organization in capitalism. (Williams, 2003; McChesney, 2003; Mosco, 1996, Hesmondhalgh, 2007)
McChesney (2003) and Williams (2003) argue that Economic factors/market forces impact on the media in ways in which it becomes an industry, the media therefore, operates as an economic institution in the business of cultural production.
Owners of media too can affect the media to only air their political biases. Edward Herman argued in the early 1990s that there were five politico- economic filters through which news passed before it was presented in the mainstream media.
First is the size and ownership of the mass media. Here issues such as media convergence, concentration and the free market come in. Depending on the media ownership patterns, the bosses can choose to sponsor or fund some programmes while neglecting others. This will affect the operation of the media as some of the programmes neglected may not be considered as important and might even be forced to be pulled out of the programming schedules. However, media can take a stand on issues by using the opinion columns and programmes to present the view of
References: Belsey, A. & Chadwick, R.F. (1992). Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media. Routledge, CliffsNotes.com. The Structure of the Mass Media and Government Regulation. 7 Jan 2013 . Herman, E. (1999). The Myth of the Liberal Media, New York: Peter Lang Publishing. McQuail, D. (2005) Mass Communication Theory, Sage Publications Ltd. Report of the Task Force on Migration of Terrestrial Television from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting in Kenya (2007)