When an invading army marches in, one of the first things they do is take control of the airwaves--tv, radio, newspapers. They do this so they can "message" the people directly--using their own propaganda. Over the last 2 decades, American media has been stealthily invaded and the airwaves hijacked by an elite group--corporations and multi-millionaires. Gone are the small-town, small-owner newspapers. Today, information is controlled by a small cadre of folks whose interests and beliefs reflect their own socio-economic group. In the last few weeks alone, the family-owned Washington Post was purchased by Jeff Bozos, owner of Amazon.com.
"This is one final nail in the coffin of family-owned newspapers. The Chandler family once owned the Los Angeles Times, the Copley family the San Diego Tribune, the Cowles the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Bancrofts the Wall Street Journal; these families defended the independence and identity of their newspapers." 1
Why is this a bad thing? Rupert Murdoch bought the once prestigious Wall St Journal and is now a tool of far right Fox News, which he also owns. Bain Capital, a private equity firm, owns Clear Channel--half their revenue comes from radio broadcasting. They serve nearly 5800 radio affiliates and broadcast programs like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck--again, far right extremists. Comcast Corp took over a majority stake in NBCUniversal in 2011 (from GE). They now control the largest cable ownership with the biggest producer of movie & tv content. They recently entered a partnership with Verizon so they can sell each others services. 2
These major corporations and individuals have profit, power and influence as a motive for the information you see, hear or view. The owners and CEO's are not elected by you or I and can promote any agenda they see fit. Keep that in mind when listening to the news, reality tv, or talk radio.
1. Roberto Savio, http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/09/newspapers-are-becoming-the-toys-of-billionaires/
2. FreePress, http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart
No comments:
Post a Comment