MEDIA: LIBERAL PLURALISM

From a pluralist viewpoint, modern capitalist societies are democratic, which means everyone has a say, we have choice and there are a range of view point. The mass media are seen to be an essential component of this democratic ideal, because most people obtain their knowledge about politics from newspapers and television. Pluralists, therefore, argue that media owners are objective, responsible and impartial facilitators of this political process.

Pluralists believe that concentration does not matter for reasons such as consumer control - the audience can set up their own channel or voice their opinion via new media, e.g. twitter and the ability to vote by 'pressing the red buttton'. They also believe that media concentration does not matter as there is a large number of media outlets, resulting in a lot of choice and diversity for viewers, catering to different needs and viewpoints. An example is how Murdoch owns The Sun and The Times, which tend to be very different.

This theory argues that the range of media products avaliable is extremely diverse and…