An Alternative American Communications System

Abstract

ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS reporting are both treated the same as any other commodity in the United States: the product that sells is produced, that which doesn't sell isn't. To make money in the mass media, entertainment and news have to attract the kind and size of audience that advertisers are willing to pay big money for. Five million readers or viewers might like a magazine or program, but if it doesn't generate enough advertising money it is dead. The management of news and entertainment is viewed as a business decision similar to a style or color change in next year's automobiles, made for the purpose of maximizing profit. Entertainment and news are truly a part of the marketplace of commodities. The people are given choices among products that can produce a profit. But entertainment and news are also important channels, if not the most important, for transmitting political ideas. Therefore, they are a vital part of the marketplace of ideas as well as the marketplace of commodities. This creates a seemingly insoluble problem because a free marketplace of ideas does not and cannot exclude viewpoints representing alternatives to the status quo simply because they don't appeal to the majority or bring in advertising revenue. Nor can a free marketplace be subject to monopolization by managers and advertisers with the power to censor any views opposing their ideological interests, as is the case under our present system of private corporate ownership and sponsorship. What democratic alternatives to our present commercial communications system are conceivable? Any alternative is apt to entail a paternalistic, elite model of management operation, where objective professionals try to make decisions fair to all viewpoints, or a spectrum-sharing model of management, where each representative viewpoint programs and produces its own mass media entertainment, news, and public affairs. At this point it is relevant to survey what kind of systems and management theories have been adopted by the various democratic nations. In all democracies, the publishing of daily newspapers is left mainly to the commodity marketplace, and these papers tend to support the prevailing political and economic system. However, in most democracies other than the United States, unions and political parties representing the entire spectrum also publish daily newspapers with or without advertising support. This provides a real choice of political perspectives in daily newspapers rather than a limited