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50 lines
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50 lines
3.1 KiB
XML
<xml><p>THE INFORMATION MONOPOLY</p>
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<p> The rapidly increasing concentration of media ownership in
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the U.S. raises critical questions about whether the public has
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access to diverse opinion. And not surprisingly, the impact of
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this information monopoly continues to be ignored by the mass
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media.
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In 1982, when media expert <ent type='PERSON'>Ben Bagdikian</ent> completed research
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for his book THE MEDIA MONOPOLY, he found that 50 corporations
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controlled half or more of the media business. By December 1986,
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when he finished a revision for a second edition, that figure had
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shrunk to 29 corporations. Six months later, when he wrote an
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article for the media publication EXTRA, the number was down to
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26. Some Wall Street media analysts predict that by the 1990s six
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giant firms will control most of our media.
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<ent type='PERSON'>Bagdikian</ent> notes that of the 1700 daily papers, 98 percent
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are local monopolies and few than 15 corporations control most of
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the country's circulation. A handful of firms control most of the
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magazine business, with <ent type='ORG'>Time</ent>, Inc. alone accounting for about 40
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percent of that industry's revenues. The three broadcasting
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networks -- Capital Cities/ABC, <ent type='ORG'>CBS</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>NBC</ent> -- still have
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majority access to the television audience, and most of the book
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business is controlled by fewer than a dozen companies, with major
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categories like paperback and trade books dominated by still fewer
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firms.
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The situation is exacerbated by the conflict of interest
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caused by interlocking boards of directors. An earlier study, by
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<ent type='PERSON'>Peter Dreier</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Steven Weinberg</ent>, found this phenomenon in major
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newspaper chains like <ent type='ORG'>Gannett</ent>, which shared directors with Merrill
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Lynch, <ent type='ORG'>Standard Oil</ent> of Ohio, 20th Century Fox, Kerr-McGee,
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McDonnell Douglas, McGraw-Hill, <ent type='ORG'>Eastern Airlines</ent>, Phillips
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Petroleum, <ent type='ORG'>Kellogg Company</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>New York Telephone</ent>.
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The most influential newspaper in <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>, THE NEW YORK
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TIMES, shared directors with <ent type='ORG'>Merck</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Morgan Guaranty Trust</ent>,
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Bristol-Myers, Charter Oil, Johns-Manville, <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>n Express,
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<ent type='ORG'>Bethlehem Steel</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>IBM</ent>, Scott Paper, Sun Oil, and First Boston
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Corporation.
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<ent type='PERSON'>Bagdikian</ent>'s warning is ominous: "A shrinking number of large
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media corporations now regard monopoly and historic levels of
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profit as not only normal, but as their earned right. In the
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process, the usual democratic expectations for the media --
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diversity of ownership and ideas -- have disappeared."</p>
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<p>Sources: EXTRA!, June 1987, "The 26 corporations that own our
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media," and <ent type='ORG'>MULTINATIONAL MONITOR</ent>, September 1987, "The Media
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Brokers," both by <ent type='PERSON'>Ben Bagdikian</ent>; UTNE READER, Jan./Feb. 1988,
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"Censorship in publishing," by <ent type='PERSON'>Lynette Lamb</ent>.</p>
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<p>From: UTNE READER, September/October 1988, pp. 84-85.
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</p></xml> |