Dan Rather slammed the corporate media in a talk Tuesday for the erosion of quality journalism, and the corporatization, politicization, and “trivialization” of news.
He also said:
A democracy and free people cannot thrive without a fiercely independent press.
This is true, of course.
An uninformed public cannot maintain a democratic republic.
But it is also true because:
The government has allowed tremendous consolidation in ownership of the airwaves during the past decade. The large media players stand to gain billions of dollars in profits if the Obama administration continues to allow monopoly ownership of the airwaves by a handful of players. The media giants know who butters their bread. So there is a spoken or tacit agreement: if the media cover the administration in a favorable light, the MSM will continue to be the receiver of the government's goodies.
Rather pointed out that “roughly 80 percent” of the media is controlled by no more than six, and possibly as few as four, corporations.
This is only newsworthy because Rather said it. This fact has been documented for years, as shown by the following must-see charts prepared by:
And check out this list of interlocking directorates of big media companies from Fairness and Accuracy in Media, and this resource from the Columbia Journalism Review to research a particular company.
This image gives a sense of the decline in diversity in media ownership over the last couple of decades:
At least we have the Internet and independent journalists. Doesn't mean the sheep will pay attention to either one, of course.
ReplyDeleteDan Rather is well known. Why doesn't he start his own news network?
ReplyDeleteEvery dictatorship has a controlled press. Are enough of us informed and prepared to speak the facts that are before all of us to verify in order to break this evil government? Is there a split in their ranks that we can separate and use against those who remain evil, such as supporting Israel's Concentration Camp in Gaza? Are we ready to claim our American heritage and revolt against these tyrants who kill and torture under our flag with our money?
ReplyDeleteI believe we're ready. We have about a million people in the know. Hopefully we have enough of us in military leadership and local law enforcement. As I've discovered that you've written, Truth and Reconciliation is the way forward to maximize those choosing to build a brighter future TOGETHER rather than continuing to serve the fascist master race that acts in so many ways to enslave us. As Franklin said, the time has come for us to hang together, or surely we shall all hang seperately.
Well done. Important. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet allows us to bypass the corrupt corporate media, which is why corporate interests are working feverishly to overturn Net Neutrality.
ReplyDeleteNet Neutrality prevents the media corporations from censoring Internet content they don't like.
We must defend Net Neutrality.
Of course Rather has lots of credibility when it comes to "quality journalism" after reporting in 1963 that Kennedy's head "rocketed forward" from the head shot in Dallas. He'd probably still be saying that if he hadn't been disproven by the release of the Zapruder film.
ReplyDeleteConservative sheeple prefer the media consolidated like this - much less confusing to find the proper way of thinking about things. Plus, they have their authoritarian source for information anyway - FAUX NOOS. Just like the Bible, if Bill O'Really? says it it must be true.
ReplyDeleteThe corporate media is doing a great job...They always let us know what Britney Spears and Paris Hilton is wearing and saying...Who wants to know about how the Bush/Obama global terrorist crime cartel is perpetrating genocide around the world?
ReplyDelete