The fact is that the media is never free; it is always regulated.

The media can be classified into three broad categories. First, we have commercially-run media: most of our mainstream dailies and TV channels fall in this category. Second come the state-owned outlets, for instance PTV, Radio Pakistan and in the past publications under the banner of the National Press Trust. Third, we have alternative media: ideologically motivated, not-for-profit media such as the Jamaat-e-Islamis Jisaarat, or the fortnightly Tabqati Jeddojuhad issued by the Trotskyists. With these categories in mind, we can understand media in two interlocking ways. First, through itsr ideological role and second by diagnosing the political economy of the media. Ideology, as Belgian economist Ernest Mandel pointed out, is a product of a class society. To justify class exploitation, the ruling elite has to popularise an ideology (caste system, religion, free market) to the point where it becomes common sense. For instance, it is commonsensical that classes have always existed (even if history negates this commonsensical worldview). As the French philosopher Althusser pointed out, a social formation that does not reproduce the conditions of production at the same time as it produces does not last. What he meant was that a ruling class must ensure a ruling ideology as well whereby a slave, a hari, a factory worker, or an office employee internalises the philosophy propagated by the ruling classes. Hence, the workers viewing exploitation as the will of god, or the natural scheme of things, acquiesce in reproducing the system. Revolutionary moments, when exploited classes question the prevailing wisdom, are few and far between. The reproduction of conditions is granted, according to Althusser, through Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs) as well as Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). The RSAs include the government, the administration, the army, the police, the courts, the prisons, etc, which function by violence while the ISAs consist of the education system, the family, the legal system, the political system, the trade unions, the media, and culture. We can understand the ideological role three three types of media will play in various conditions. For instance, commercial media will help reproduce conditions necessary for perpetuating capitalism. State media, both in socialist Cuba and puritan Saudi Arabia, will try to reproduce ideologies that help consolidate the state they are serving. Likewise, alternative media will either try to popularise the ruling ideology or propagate discourses that counter the ruling (hegemonic) ideology. The medias ideological role is further demystified when viewed through its political economy. The medias political economy helps us determine who owns and controls it. While ownership is easy to establish, it is an understanding of the control that helps demystify the myth of independent media.

Independent media, unlike state-run and alternative outlets, depends on advertisers. Hence, its audience is not readership/viewership but advertisers; and its product is not media content but audience. For instance, The Washington Post does not win readership for ideological reasons as would be the case with the state-run Pravda or the ideologically motivated Socialist Worker, published to influence public opinion. On the contrary, The Washington Post will use its readership as a product to be sold to interested advertisers. Since it is believed that The Washington Post is read by US policymakers, advertisers interested in reaching/influencing policymakers in Washington would advertise with the Post. However, even in this pure commercial logic behind the Post, an ideological role will be implicitly played by it: The Washington Post will not popularise socialist ideas which will hurt its commercial logic. Researchers have gathered piles of evidence to show that independent outlets refuse to play their libertarian role if an expose can annoy an advertiser. Of course, there are other factors that restrict media freedoms, depending on the state and society we are talking about. However, there is a universal rule: commercial media meekly acquiesces to advertisers in much the same way as state-run or alternative outlets are subservient to their respective states and parties. There is nothing independent about it. The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: mfsulehria@hotmail.com