mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-11 00:34:28 -05:00
50 lines
3.0 KiB
XML
50 lines
3.0 KiB
XML
<xml><p>THE INFORMATION MONOPOLY</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> The rapidly increasing concentration of media ownership in
|
|
the U.S. raises critical questions about whether the public has
|
|
access to diverse opinion. And not surprisingly, the impact of
|
|
this information monopoly continues to be ignored by the mass
|
|
media.
|
|
In 1982, when media expert Ben Bagdikian completed research
|
|
for his book THE MEDIA MONOPOLY, he found that 50 corporations
|
|
controlled half or more of the media business. By December 1986,
|
|
when he finished a revision for a second edition, that figure had
|
|
shrunk to 29 corporations. Six months later, when he wrote an
|
|
article for the media publication EXTRA, the number was down to
|
|
26. Some Wall Street media analysts predict that by the 1990s six
|
|
giant firms will control most of our media.
|
|
Bagdikian notes that of the 1700 daily papers, 98 percent
|
|
are local monopolies and few than 15 corporations control most of
|
|
the country's circulation. A handful of firms control most of the
|
|
magazine business, with Time, Inc. alone accounting for about 40
|
|
percent of that industry's revenues. The three broadcasting
|
|
networks -- Capital Cities/<ent type='ORG'>ABC</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>CBS</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>NBC</ent> -- still have
|
|
majority access to the television audience, and most of the book
|
|
business is controlled by fewer than a dozen companies, with major
|
|
categories like paperback and trade books dominated by still fewer
|
|
firms.
|
|
The situation is exacerbated by the conflict of interest
|
|
caused by interlocking boards of directors. An earlier study, by
|
|
<ent type='PERSON'>Peter Dreier</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Steven Weinberg</ent>, found this phenomenon in major
|
|
newspaper chains like <ent type='ORG'>Gannett</ent>, which shared directors with Merrill
|
|
Lynch, <ent type='ORG'>Standard Oil</ent> of Ohio, 20th Century Fox, Kerr-McGee,
|
|
McDonnell Douglas, McGraw-Hill, <ent type='ORG'>Eastern Airlines</ent>, Phillips
|
|
Petroleum, <ent type='ORG'>Kellogg Company</ent>, and <ent type='ORG'>New York Telephone</ent>.
|
|
The most influential newspaper in <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>, THE NEW YORK
|
|
TIMES, shared directors with <ent type='ORG'>Merck</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Morgan Guaranty Trust</ent>,
|
|
Bristol-Myers, Charter Oil, Johns-Manville, <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>n Express,
|
|
<ent type='ORG'>Bethlehem Steel</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>IBM</ent>, Scott Paper, <ent type='LOC'>Sun</ent> Oil, and First Boston
|
|
Corporation.
|
|
Bagdikian's warning is ominous: "A shrinking number of large
|
|
media corporations now regard monopoly and historic levels of
|
|
profit as not only normal, but as their earned right. In the
|
|
process, the usual democratic expectations for the media --
|
|
diversity of ownership and ideas -- have disappeared."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Sources: EXTRA!, June 1987, "The 26 corporations that own our
|
|
media," and <ent type='ORG'>MULTINATIONAL MONITOR</ent>, September 1987, "The Media
|
|
Brokers," both by Ben Bagdikian; UTNE READER, Jan./Feb. 1988,
|
|
"Censorship in publishing," by <ent type='PERSON'>Lynette Lamb</ent>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>From: UTNE READER, September/October 1988, pp. 84-85.
|
|
</p></xml> |