Media Meritocracy: A Question of Preferences- Interpretations of the Context of Need Decide on the Supply Policy of Mass Media

Harald Rau ()
Additional contact information
Harald Rau: Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences

A chapter in Handbook of Media and Communication Economics, 2024, pp 189-209 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Are (mass) media per se merit goods? No! Fundamental statements which, for example, describe “the press” in its entirety as a merit good (cf., e.g., Haller, M., Informationsfreiheit und Pressevertrieb in Europa. Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2004, p. 61), cannot basically be formulated in this way, especially since both daily newspapers and journalistically oriented online media prove that, in addition to the content-related aspect, the (required) market-balancing aspect of the definition for merit goods is not fulfilled. After all, regulatory intervention is not necessary for daily newspapers – not yet, one might add. Instead, it must be said: media can possess both – aspects of merit and of demerit goods (cf. Heinrich, J., Medienökonomie. Band 1: Mediensystem, Zeitung, Zeitschrift, Anzeigenblatt. überarb. Neuaufl. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 2001, p. 101), or, perhaps even better: media offerings are able to meet merit wants. This article gives emphasis on that fact that for the media industry meritocracy requires a demand-led concept. This means: media can satisfy merit wants such as “being informed” or “being encouraged to form own opinions”; they are an important pillar of sustainable forms of society ruled by democracy. Accordingly, mass media communication does not a priori create offers for to stabilize democratic societies, but it might be able to satisfy merit wants as well as action-guiding preferences. From the author’s point of view, the literature on media economics – although originally conceived in this way by financial science – has not adequately comprehended this to date.

Keywords: Meritocracy; Externalities; Economy of Journalism; Higher Order Preferences; Merit Goods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-658-39909-2_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783658399092

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-39909-2_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().