When I take a moment to think about what kind of media I use and who controls it, this is what I come up with; I use Facebook, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, I read magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar(ACP Magazines) and Frankie Magazine (Morrison Media) and I now have a wordpress.com blog (Automattic). In these media platforms there exits an underlying measure of control from their owners.
Frankie Magazine
Within these platforms and the media they publish, for example fashion articles in Harper’s Bazaar, there are underlying ideologies of the media, which are being conveyed through the glossy articles and ad campaigns that are published within the magazine. Even the advertisements and news supplied on Facebook contain these ideologies for the public to see and respond to.
For myself as an avid user of these media platforms it is important to me to understand and recognize these ideologies in the ads and what they are conveying in terms of cultural divides within society and develop my own in response to those projected by the media in order to understand my position in society and where I stand.
Harper’s Bazaar
A good example of this critical thinking was developed by a group during the 1930’s by the name of “The Frankfurt School” whom where are group of like-minded Marxist thinkers headed by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. They developed a way of viewing and analyzing the role of the media in terms of researching it in a cultural and critical way, in order to deduce the ways in which the society it was conveying was incorrect and how to correct it.
The role of the media is continually being blown-up as just appeasing the wishes of those who control it and that it’s an “ideological state apparatus”, which in a way is damaging its overall image. But does it really matter who controls the media? If we concentrate on Australia’s media ownership we can see that 11/12 capital city newspapers are owned by Fairfax Media and Newscorp, both of which are companies owned by Rupert Murdoch. Seems a bit od, am I right?
If I consider the media I use everyday and ask myself do I actually trust these sources, the answer for some would be no, which is sad but true. Take Facebook again, the operators of Facebook own everything you post, comment, private message including photos and to me this just doesn’t seem right. One false move and your online image is ruined; forever to be owned by Facebook.
Aiyana Levin 
I can tell you’ve done a lot of research, and incorporated your own opinion into the post. It was engaging and easy to read, whilst still providing essential information about the idea of media ownership. I like the way you recognised yourself as part of the public affected by this issue, It really puts things into perspective. Well done.
I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts! I must say that I also have trust issues with the media… It’s lied to the world so many times. We frequently hear in the news of stories being made up and posted in the media just because they are ‘a good read.’ You make it clear that its interesting to try and wrap your head around the whole concept of media controller and that it does effect us because its a part of our everyday lives. Cheers!
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