I think they believe, even if only on a subconscious level, that media is a thing that exists somewhere and is simply gated off and sold to consumers. Like someone putting up a dam and charging for the water. To them, there's no actual design, they're just repackaging something that already exists.

This dovetails with the same people that shout "there's no such thing as an original idea" and obsess over TV Tropes. They have no original thoughts, so clearly nobody else does.