For the preservation of their power, the ruling elites seek from media channels:

To preserve their power the ruling elites seek societal intelligence from media channels, the flow of information about what people think, feel and do across society.

Entrepreneurial partnership names business tie-ups for profit, which is not what rulers primarily draw from media to guard their authority.

Digital technology diffusion means the spread of new tools through society, a technological process rather than the elite's search for knowledge of the governed.

Voices of dissent are exactly what threatened elites tend to curb, not what they seek from media to hold power.

Knowing the mood and movements of the population lets those in authority anticipate and manage challenges.

Media thus become instruments of surveillance and control in elite hands.