Just only a few decades ago American media was owned by 50 companies 1983, now that number has plummeted to just 6 companies. Theres six companies are:
1.) GE
2.) News-Corp
3.) Disney
4.) Viacom
5.) Time Warner
6.) CBS
This means that only 232 media executives control the information that is fed to 277 million Americans everyday. For ever 850,000 subscribers, there is only ONE media executive in control. These "big six" control 70% of our cable, whole 3,762 businesses contribute to the other 30%.New Corp, which is one of the “big six” owns the top newspapers on 3 different continents. These newspapers are Wall Street Journal, The Sun, and The Australian. The radio is also dominated as well. Clear Channel owns 1,200 stations around the country. Back in 1995, The FCC forbade compares from ever owning even 40 stations at the time. Furthermore, the "big six" also control movie outlets as well. They collectively hit $7 billion in box office sales in 2010, which is two times more in box office sale than the next 140 studios who only made $3.5 billion combined.
*News Article: http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6
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ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting article you found here and especially relevant given the recent talks between Disney and Fox relating to Disney purchasing most of Fox Media. I'm not sure how exactly this is avoiding being a few small monopolies but I'm guessing they are just meeting the qualifications to avoid being identified as one. That said this is something that will be interesting to see how it either will shrink or grow in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I found this blog post to be extremely fascinating. I always had an inclination that a lot of our media was set to agenda, but I never realized just how much it is controlled. And not just in the United States, but all over the world. The statistic that for every 850,000 people there is only one media executive is mind blowing to me. Daily media is a HUGE part of our lives, and the number should be growing significantly, not shrinking significantly. It is a concerning statistic considering how much in fact the media does enter and control our lives. Agenda setting is something that is definitely happening, more than we know.
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