Contemporary journalism has come under scrutiny as various studies have analysed the social roles and effects of it in the modern world.

Contemporary journalism has come under scrutiny as various studies have analysed the social roles and effects of it in the modern world. Journalism and the presentation of news worldwide have changed in nature over the last twenty years as news is far more easily accessed now as opposed to 1984. Most of us can now access news at the click of a button through the internet, mobile phones, digital television and teletext. We have more channels to obtain news from than ever before but how do we use this news or maybe the question is how does this news use us?

Many different theories exist as to what role journalism plays in the modern day. Each theory has merits but each one is also very questionable.

The development of media moguls beginning in the 1970’s and covering the vast majority of the 1980’s and 1990’s and the power they yield in news circles has grown as an important issue in analysing journalism and it’s content. Figures like Rupert Murdoch have become key players in the news world. Murdoch owns many news providers the world over. A close look at Murdoch’s empire would show that his view of the world would be to the right. Murdoch has never been as blatant as Robert Maxwell who on purchasing ‘The Mirror’ declared ‘I have bought a megaphone and I intend to use it’ but at the same time has used his holdings as an agenda setting tool. The Columbia Journalism Review published a scathing opinion on how Murdoch operates ‘Murdoch uses his diverse holdings, which includes newspapers, magazines, sports teams, a movie studio, and a book publisher, to promote his own financial interests at the expense of real news gathering, legal and regulatory rules, and journalistic ethics. He wields his media as instruments of power with politicians who can aid him, and savages his competitors in his news columns. If ever someone demonstrated the danger of mass power being concentrated in few hands, it would be Murdoch.’ So if we are to believe that ‘news is a window on the world’ then surely nit is very dangerous that men like Murdoch have chosen the position of this window. The most popular 24 hour news channels on both sides of the Atlantic (Sky News in the UK & Ireland and the Fox News Channel in America) are owned by Murdoch and as an estimated 75% of people get there news from television this is a worrying statistic. The general belief is that Americans are more likely to believe what they see on the news as fact (News Matters) so the position of power Fox News holds especially in an election year is worrying. The fact that those who run and operate the Fox News channel are republicans may well lead to another stolen presidency. ‘And then something called the Fox News Channel called the election for the other guy’ is the line used by Michael Moore in his highly controversial film ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ as an entry point into the debate over Florida in the 2000 presidential election in the USA. Was this election an example of powerful media not just reporting the news but making news happens in a way that benefited them? How can a channel with such a right wing bias, not to mention a candidate’s cousin at the controls, scare everyone around to their way of thinking? The seed of doubt over Gore’s tally in Florida cast by Fox News may well have swung the election in Bush’s favour(numerous independent recounts post Florida 2000 have shown Gore won any state wide recount) and the fear is John Kerry may fall victim to the same fate this November. It may be well worth remembering this quote on November 4/5 if Bush gets re-elected ‘For better or for worse, editing is what editors are for and editing is the choice and selection of material’.  Is it any wonder with the sort of power yielded by Murdoch that he is widely regarded as the inspiration for the character of Eliot Carver in the 1997 Bond film ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’. Carver is a media mogul who starts a war to raise the profile of his newest cable channel and the actor who plays him resembles Murdoch in the film.