Commercial Media; Aims to earn profit or public trust?

The last lecture before mid semester break would have to be in my opinion the most interesting lecture of introduction to journalism to date. It focused on commercial media, a topic which is certainly relatable to my age group. Due to my unhealthy addiction to television you would think I would have a vast amount of knowledge on the subject of commercial media however the majority of what was taught in the lecture was new information to me. I was never aware that all of my favourite shows are almost solely funded by commercials. The answer to the question “why does commercial media exist?” also really startled me. The idea that my favourite TV shows were essentially only created to allow advertisers to reach larger audiences is in my mind quite astonishing. A topic thoroughly debated throughout the lecture was that the social responsibility of the media is lost in commercial media as profit overrides social responsibility. It is often being argued that the quality of shows on television or articles in magazines are “dumbing-down” in an attempt to draw in larger audiences or more readers. Larger audiences or more readers allow television companies or magazines to charge more for advertising. This point certainly interests me and it is very easy to notice this happening in our society with the rise in reality TV and current affair shows (news that is often considered rather trivial however interests many people).