Media Ownership     from TCE Standard

Western societies are relying increasingly on communication through various media and relatively less on face-to-face contact to organize and co-ordinate activities, to disseminate knowledge and information, to educate and entertain. Studies indicate that some 50% of the labour force in advanced INFORMATION SOCIETIES are engaged in some form of market-based information activity.

Conditions of access to the media - the implicit and explicit rules governing who may and who may not distribute messages, the nature of the messages distributed, the terms under which messages may be received and by whom - are of vital political, social and cultural importance. Individuals and groups possessing and exercising relatively unencumbered rights to distribute messages through the media can influence large audiences and thereby help shape societal development; conversely, people prevented from so participating are muted and may be politically ineffectual.