Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We W

[chuckiechan]

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

Back in 1983, approximately 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States. 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.

As we throw terms around like MSM, etc, we really ought to look into what MSM's are all about. As it stands today, Disney can get on the phone to ABC news and tell them to go for the jugular on candidate "X" because it affects their bottom line. This is what is wrong with the MSM today. There are six CEO's who can shoot memo's to 90% of our media players and tell them how it's gonna be.

We are not in a healthy place as a nation increasingly owned by concentrated power.

 

[Ikari]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

There used to be a rule, I believe, that prevented anyone from owning two broadcast stations in the same area, or something to that effect. I believe that it was Clinton's Telecommunications Act that opened the door for these huge mergers to begin. I think we should go back to how it was.

 

[calamity]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read



As we throw terms around like MSM, etc, we really ought to look into what MSM's are all about. As it stands today, Disney can get on the phone to ABC news and tell them to go for the jugular on candidate "X" because it affects their bottom line. This is what is wrong with the MSM today. There are six CEO's who can shoot memo's to 90% of our media players and tell them how it's gonna be.

We are not in a healthy place as a nation increasingly owned by concentrated power.

Does this really matter in the age of the internet? There must be over a 1000 news sources out there that can be accessed with a few keystrokes.

As far as I am concerned, those 6 corporations are holding onto money losing propositions. I would not buy an old school media company today for $1.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

No, there is little to no authority granted to the federal government to break up private owned media along these lines. Puts things to close to a 1st Amendment fight on perception of the reason for the break up.

 

[chuckiechan]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Does this really matter in the age of the internet? There must be over a 1000 news sources out there that can be accessed with a few keystrokes.

As far as I am concerned, those 6 corporations are holding onto money losing propositions. I would not buy an old school media company today for $1.

Well to put it another way, those six companies are sucking up 90% of the national advertising budget, denying revenue to competing upstarts.

 

[DaveFagan]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

No, there is little to no authority granted to the federal government to break up private owned media along these lines. Puts things to close to a 1st Amendment fight on perception of the reason for the break up.

And how does the presence in all Media of USA Intelligence Agents affect 1st Amendment rights. They are not in the MSM to correct typing errors. They are paid first by USA gov't and second by the MSM. Their sworn allegiance is to the gov't. Their job must be to adjust news to fit the gov't agenda. Since it is done covertly, it must be to fit a covert agenda. Goebbel's type agenda comes to mind. The concentrated control of MSM works to the advantage of the covert agenda and may be the driving force behind it. Yes. Break them up. Break up the communications concentrations. Break up the Banking concentrations. Too big implies out of reasonable control, especially in a crash situation like 2008. We have Corporatized our gov't to our own detriment.

 

[chuckiechan]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

No, there is little to no authority granted to the federal government to break up private owned media along these lines. Puts things to close to a 1st Amendment fight on perception of the reason for the break up.

Free speech is one office, anti trust is another, SCOTUS is in another.

I think it can be done someday.

 

[<alt>doxygen]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read



As we throw terms around like MSM, etc, we really ought to look into what MSM's are all about. As it stands today, Disney can get on the phone to ABC news and tell them to go for the jugular on candidate "X" because it affects their bottom line. This is what is wrong with the MSM today. There are six CEO's who can shoot memo's to 90% of our media players and tell them how it's gonna be.

We are not in a healthy place as a nation increasingly owned by concentrated power.

We have those same mega corps with their hands in other types of businesses. They can and do use the "media" businesses to push the interests of the other businesses. There is nothing "free market" about monopolies.

 

[<alt>doxygen]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

And how does the presence in all Media of USA Intelligence Agents affect 1st Amendment rights. They are not in the MSM to correct typing errors. They are paid first by USA gov't and second by the MSM. Their sworn allegiance is to the gov't. Their job must be to adjust news to fit the gov't agenda. Since it is done covertly, it must be to fit a covert agenda. Goebbel's type agenda comes to mind. The concentrated control of MSM works to the advantage of the covert agenda and may be the driving force behind it. Yes. Break them up. Break up the communications concentrations. Break up the Banking concentrations. Too big implies out of reasonable control, especially in a crash situation like 2008. We have Corporatized our gov't to our own detriment.

Yes. Regarding the banks, "too big to fail" implies that a single corporation is so large that its failure can bring down the state (the USA). Nothing should be allowed to get that big.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

And how does the presence in all Media of USA Intelligence Agents affect 1st Amendment rights. They are not in the MSM to correct typing errors. They are paid first by USA gov't and second by the MSM. Their sworn allegiance is to the gov't. Their job must be to adjust news to fit the gov't agenda. Since it is done covertly, it must be to fit a covert agenda. Goebbel's type agenda comes to mind. The concentrated control of MSM works to the advantage of the covert agenda and may be the driving force behind it. Yes. Break them up. Break up the communications concentrations. Break up the Banking concentrations. Too big implies out of reasonable control, especially in a crash situation like 2008. We have Corporatized our gov't to our own detriment.

That does not start and stop with any administration. Going back to Clinton, as far as I can remember, there were efforts to bury into whatever legislation some effort to handle dealing with the media. However, it was not until the final months of the Obama administration and the 114th Congress that buried into a Military spending bill was a small piece related to dealing with "disinformation."

"Too big" when it comes to the media implies only one thing... control. It has nothing to do with crashing a market.

The pieces are in place, it is only a matter of time before key parts of the 1st Amendment are just as constrained (or made irrelevant) as the 4th Amendment has become.

 

[danarhea]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read



As we throw terms around like MSM, etc, we really ought to look into what MSM's are all about. As it stands today, Disney can get on the phone to ABC news and tell them to go for the jugular on candidate "X" because it affects their bottom line. This is what is wrong with the MSM today. There are six CEO's who can shoot memo's to 90% of our media players and tell them how it's gonna be.

We are not in a healthy place as a nation increasingly owned by concentrated power.

You can blame Republicans and Democrats alike for this monstrosity. The Communications Act of 1996 allowed just a few corporations to buy up almost all the media. The bill was sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, passed overwhelmingly by Republicans and Democrats, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. And people have the audacity to say that we shouldn't vote third party? This is one of many reasons I ALWAYS vote third party.

 

[chuckiechan]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

You can blame Republicans and Democrats alike for this monstrosity. The Communications Act of 1996 allowed just a few corporations to buy up almost all the media. The bill was sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, passed overwhelmingly by Republicans and Democrats, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. And people have the audacity to say that we shouldn't vote third party? This is one of many reasons I ALWAYS vote third party.

You got your third party. His name is President Trump.

Remember, the Republicans would have put a bullet in his brain if they thought they could get away with it and the democrats would have helped!

Enjoy. You are watching a third party candidate in action. It's isn't pretty but we will all be better off for it.

 

[jet57]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

There used to be a rule, I believe, that prevented anyone from owning two broadcast stations in the same area, or something to that effect. I believe that it was Clinton's Telecommunications Act that opened the door for these huge mergers to begin. I think we should go back to how it was.

Yeah, I think that was it. Reagan got rid of fairness and accuracy in media.

 

[jet57]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

You can blame Republicans and Democrats alike for this monstrosity. The Communications Act of 1996 allowed just a few corporations to buy up almost all the media. The bill was sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, passed overwhelmingly by Republicans and Democrats, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. And people have the audacity to say that we shouldn't vote third party? This is one of many reasons I ALWAYS vote third party.

Nope; the one we blame is - money.

 

[danarhea]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

You got your third party. His name is President Trump.

Remember, the Republicans would have put a bullet in his brain if they thought they could get away with it and the democrats would have helped!

Enjoy. You are watching a third party candidate in action. It's isn't pretty but we will all be better off for it.

Not the right third party for me. Most authoritarian crap I have seen in my entire life. Reeks of Benito Mussolini.
I will stay Libertarian, thank you.

 

[chuckiechan]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Not the right third party for me. Most authoritarian crap I have seen in my entire life. Reeks of Benito Mussolini.
I will stay Libertarian, thank you.

When you are dealing with entrenched institutional power, you need to come out with hammer and tong to get their attention.

 

[danarhea]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

When you are dealing with entrenched institutional power, you need to come out with hammer and tong to get their attention.

Which is what Mussolini did. The results were disastrous, as evidenced by history.

Sorry, Trump is not the man to make America great again. In fact, America is the laughing stock of the world at this time.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

When you are dealing with entrenched institutional power, you need to come out with hammer and tong to get their attention.

Tong not sickle?



Joke by the way

 

[Thoreau72]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Does this really matter in the age of the internet? There must be over a 1000 news sources out there that can be accessed with a few keystrokes.

As far as I am concerned, those 6 corporations are holding onto money losing propositions. I would not buy an old school media company today for $1.

That may be true, but it is also true that most people get their news, fake or legitimate, from the TV and newspapers.

 

[roughdraft274]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

As we throw terms around like MSM, etc, we really ought to look into what MSM's are all about. As it stands today, Disney can get on the phone to ABC news and tell them to go for the jugular on candidate "X" because it affects their bottom line. This is what is wrong with the MSM today. There are six CEO's who can shoot memo's to 90% of our media players and tell them how it's gonna be.

Unless you have evidence that this is actually happening then it's just paranoia. We have nearly 100 times over more media outlets now than ever with the advance of the internet and cable news etc. In the past NBC or ABC might be able to completely lead the news narrative by force. Now, not at all. The media, for all it's faults, is doing well. The problem more in lies I think with the average person only having a small amount of time for actual news digestion and there just being too much of it and much of it is tailor made to what they want to hear. If you are a political saavy person that wants different honest perspectives you can find it in spades.

 

[KevinKohler]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Which is what Mussolini did. The results were disastrous, as evidenced by history.

Sorry, Trump is not the man to make America great again. In fact, America is the laughing stock of the world at this time.

Difference being, after Trump breaks **** up, we get to choose to replace him with someone else to put it all back together.

 

[roughdraft274]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

That may be true, but it is also true that most people get their news, fake or legitimate, from the TV and newspapers.

I'm not so sure about that. Last time I looked, Drudge report gets something like 40 million views a day. And that's just one site. If the internet hasn't passed up TV and newspapers, then they are closing in for sure. No one is even remotely close to a monopoly.

 

[Thoreau72]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

I'm not so sure about that. Last time I looked, Drudge report gets something like 40 million views a day. And that's just one site. If the internet hasn't passed up TV and newspapers, then they are closing in for sure. No one is even remotely close to a monopoly.

I don't doubt that number, but that doesn't necessarily reflect on what percentage of the population gets their "news" from where.

I just had blood drawn this morning, and in a conversation with the staff there, they commented that so many of their older customers don't even have a computer to fill out online questionnaires and such. I know a few people that don't even have a computer.

 

[roughdraft274]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

I don't doubt that number, but that doesn't necessarily reflect on what percentage of the population gets their "news" from where.

I just had blood drawn this morning, and in a conversation with the staff there, they commented that so many of their older customers don't even have a computer to fill out online questionnaires and such. I know a few people that don't even have a computer.

Some of the older ones I'm sure. But 100% of the middle aged and younger ones do. The only people I know with a newspaper subscription are my wifes family. They get the local paper to see who died each week and local sports scores and opinion. Not for real news.

I'm just saying, with in the next decade or two the most watched news program will probably be online, The shift is going too hard and too fast. Newspapers will be barely available in print I would imagine. It's already far more competitive than in the past and going more and more that way. To worry about media monopolies is silly as long as we have a free and open internet. That's really where citizens should be placing their flag.

 

[Thoreau72]

Re: Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything

Some of the older ones I'm sure. But 100% of the middle aged and younger ones do. The only people I know with a newspaper subscription are my wifes family. They get the local paper to see who died each week and local sports scores and opinion. Not for real news.

I'm just saying, with in the next decade or two the most watched news program will probably be online, The shift is going too hard and too fast. Newspapers will be barely available in print I would imagine. It's already far more competitive than in the past and going more and more that way. To worry about media monopolies is silly as long as we have a free and open internet. That's really where citizens should be placing their flag.

Mostly I agree, but I think you're being very damn naïve to think we don't have to worry about media monopolies. As the OP has already mentioned, when it gets to the point (and it's probably already there) that CEO from corporation X can summon the editor of mainstream media outlet and tell him what agenda shall be advanced, or what agenda shall be suppressed, we have something to worry about.