pluralists

• audience controls and consumers have market power
• power and control: pluralists argue the media does not reflect the views of the owners as Marxists suggest, media content reflects the views of the audience and public demand. the public have freedom of choice and can read and watch what they want
• changes in the media are due to public demand e.g there are tv channels dedicated to ethnic minorities as this is what the audience demands
• market mechanism is the idea that content of the media is determined by audiences through supply and demand
• citizen journalism = g20 protest, ian tomlison assaulted
• media has to constantly compete with each other e.g failure of blackberry, demand for the product declined so apple took over, reflecting the needs of its consumers and their ability to pick and mix
• katz and lazarsfeld : we are influenced by the people around us on whether to believe the media or not