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 1,700 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/ABC, CBS, and NBC -- 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
Peter Dreier and Steven Weinberg, found this phenomenon in major
newspaper chains like Gannett, which shared directors with Merrill
Lynch, Standard Oil of Ohio, 20th Century Fox, Kerr-McGee,
McDonnell Douglas, McGraw-Hill, Eastern Airlines, Phillips
Petroleum, Kellogg Company, and New York Telephone.
The most influential newspaper in America, THE NEW YORK
TIMES, shared directors with Merck, Morgan Guaranty Trust,
Bristol-Myers, Charter Oil, Johns-Manville, American Express,
Bethlehem Steel, IBM, Scott Paper, Sun 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."
Sources: EXTRA!, June 1987, "The 26 corporations that own our
media," and MULTINATIONAL MONITOR, September 1987, "The Media
Brokers," both by Ben Bagdikian; UTNE READER, Jan./Feb. 1988,
"Censorship in publishing," by Lynette Lamb.
From: UTNE READER, September/October 1988, pp. 84-85.
