Today, ownership of the news media has been concentrated in the hands of just six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many of our favorite websites. Sadly, most Americans don’t even stop to think about who is feeding them the endless hours of news and entertainment that they constantly ingest. But they should.
Good advice. The New York Times tells us how much those six companies control:
…in 1983, 50 companies owned 90 percent of the media consumed by Americans. By 2012, just six companies — including Fox (then part of News Corporation) and Time Warner — controlled that 90 percent…
FreePress cautions about why this should matter to us. Any lover of truth will immediately spot the problem with what’s happening on our news and information front:
Massive corporations dominate the U.S. media landscape. Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases, these companies control everything from initial production to final distribution.
Both FreePress and PBS offer interactive charts showing which channels and portals are owned by each of the six media conglomerates. Then, there’s the fabulous graphic by Jason at Frugal Dad from which the smaller graphics in this post were pulled. Changes must have occurred since it was created in 2011 – in the form of corporate merges, re-branding and similar transactions – but the overall situation it illustrates has not changed.
If we want change, we need to seek out better news and vote politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren into office, who are not afraid to stand up to major corporations and demand that they stop abusing the lives and trust of the American people.
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