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5.Are given media in practice diverse in their information and ideas,representative of the balance of opinion in the society（McQuail（1999）?
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6.Are news products distributed to ensure extensive reach?
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Examples of media watch in the U.S.could be found at:
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·the Media Monitor of The Center for Media and Public Affairs（http://www.cmpa.com/monitor.htm）,and
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·the PR watch from the Center for Media and Democracy（http://prwatch.org/）,which seeks to“expose corporate spin and government propaganda.”
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Where content is the object of critique,content analysis and critical textual analysis（inclusive of formalist analysis,semiotic analysis,discourse analysis,narrative analysis,and genre analysis）are methods more recently used.It is informed by critical media studies（e.g.Hall,1972）and critical linguistics（e.g.Fowler,1991,1996）.
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Critique of media technology is informed by the media ecology perspective,which is also known as medium theory（Meyrowitz,1986,1994）.Postman（1985）offered a well-known critique of television news as a media genre in the U.S.from this perspective.A media genre is constituted by a particular mix of content and media format elements,the latter of which are linked to the characteristics of the media technology.
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Media Criticism
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This level of critique is the most radical of all levels of critique.It targets at the structural relationships or even the whole of the media system itself.The media system is evaluated against a vision of an alternative system structured according to some better principles.But the vision upheld by the media critic commands only a marginal position in the wider opinion of society.
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Critics contend that the entire media system perpetuates domination of the majority by a minority of power holders in the political,military,and business arenas.In the capitalist system,commercial journalism is critiqued as pursuing revenues and returns for its investors,while failing to provide information to citizens for helping democratic self-government（McChesney & Scott,2004）.Key questions asked by media criticism in capitalist systems are:
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·Do owners,advertisers,or governments have undue influence on content,especially where this is concealed?
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·Are higher degrees of media concentration associated with lower levels of diversity of opinion and information in a given media market?
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·Is there a relationship,positive or negative,between media concentration and media quality,however defined（McQuail,1999）?
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In countries with state-controlled media systems,media criticism would be directed towards issues arising from the mechanisms and processes of state control.With the central concern focused on media institutions,media criticism treats content,work processes,and influence of media on society and culture almost as automatic result of the structural problems being critiqued.
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This level of critique corresponds roughly to what is sometimes called radical media criticism（Berry,2006;McChesney and Scott,2004）.In this tradition,the Marxist political economy perspective is highly influential.Herman and Chomsky’s works around the propaganda model（1988）is a prominent example.Other examples could be found on Free Press（http://www.freepress.net/）.However,radical media criticism could be launched from political positions on the left,center,or right.An example of other perspectives given by Berry（2006）is the Buddhist radical perspective.
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Given its fundamental negation of the media system,changes advocated by media criticism could be accommodated within existing institutions only to a limited degree.
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Effectiveness of Media Critique
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The ultimate goal of media criticism is explicitly stated as change to the media system.However,the nature of media criticism,that it is deviant of the values and institutions of society,makes it inherently difficult to effect change.Orlik（2009）dismissed the recommendations of those critics in the U.S.who ignore the capitalist condition（that media institutions need to support the power structure that funds them）as futile.Short of effecting change to the entire system,media critics working on this level often advocate change in media policy.They tend also be advocates and activists in alternative media operations.
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On a longer term,by exposing the structural interrelationships of the media with other powers in society-either as a system or over individual cases-media criticism could serve to educate the public about the limitations of the media system.It also helps to open up imagination for alternative ways of organizing the media.
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The function of educating the citizenry is no less important in media watch.As stated earlier,media watch works on the level of legitimate controversy.Media watch could serve the function of helping the public to think through an issue and re-affirm consensus values in a fresh perspective.A piece appearing on the home page of The Media Institute’s web site on 10 May 2009“Policing hate speech
:Not the government’s job,”for example,involves the controversy regarding government’s policy over the implementation of the First Amendment in the U.S.Constitution.Some,like the author of the piece,favor no government control.Others would support government action in forbidding the dissemination of hate speech.In real politics,media watch would have the effect of swaying those who are not yet decided on the issue.
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Discussions about the effectiveness of media critique often steer towards the mechanism of formal regulation,particularly government control and professional discipline.The above discussion shows that media critique could also effect change through influencing individual media workers and citizens（who are informal regulators）,and consumers（formal regulators in the market mechanism）.
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Like the other two levels of media critique,media review also exerts effect through education of media workers and members of the public.Unlike the other two levels of critique,media review faces an easier task over the formal regulators.Professional conduct and product quality-the standards used by media review-are the ones most likely to be regulated by law or other formal sanctions.In Hong Kong,for example,broadcasting organizations are governed by codes of practice on technical standards,and program services respectively issued by the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority,involving formal sanctions such as financial penalty,and censure.Given the resonance with widely accepted values,media review is also the level on which informal sanctions could easily be applied.As such,media review is the level of critique that could achieve the most obvious effects in the nearest term.Constraints on the exercising of influence by media review would mainly be technical,involving:
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·access of the critique by the regulators
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·soundness of the critique
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·timeliness of the critique
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