Transformations  in
Business & Economics

BUSINESS INFLUENCE ON THE MASS MEDIA: A CASE STUDY OF 21 COUNTRIES
Inna Cabelkova, Wadim Strielkowski, Michal Mirvald

ABSTRACT.This paper tackles the issue of business influence on the mass media either via various forms of corruption or via the use of force and persuasion. In most capitalist countries, business communities attempt to exert their direct or indirect influence over journalists either directly or by purchasing the news and media companies. The authors of this article examine the role of factors that relate to the perceived influence of owners on journalists practices using the data from the Worlds of Journalism survey conducted in 21 countries in 2007-2011 and comprising over 2100 journalists from over 400 news organizations. The authors of this article found that in most of the countries from the sample, business organizations attempt to seize the control over the mass media with a purpose of ameliorating their positive role in the society and creating a favourable image of themselves. Moreover, the business influence on the mass media in some countries (e.g. Israel or Germany) is less ubiquitous than in the case of other countries (e.g. Chile, the Russian Federation, Pakistan, or Turkey). The journalists who work longer hours perceive more subjective influences from the owners; the more hours journalists spend on investigative reporting, the less influence from the owners they perceive; journalists, who typically work on specific stories as opposed to those covering different types of stories, perceive more influence from the owners; the more likely journalists accept money or presents from the people or institutions they cover, the larger is the subjective influence of the mass media business owners.

KEYWORDS: media economics, business, mass media, corruption, economic systems.

JEL classification: L82, M20, P12, P26.