[Demosthenes]

The concentration of media ownership in the hands of just a few megacoorporations is yet another deeply troubling development. According to the Wiki Several troubling trends have developed that should concern anyone who understands what it means when the media is left in the hands of the few...

Highlights:

- Disney, "New" Viacom (and its former parent CBS Corporation, the former "Old" Viacom), TimeWarner, News Corporation, Bertelsmann AG, and General Electric together own more than 90% of the media holdings in the United States.

- Among other assets, Disney owns ABC, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, ESPN, and Miramax Films.

- CBS Corporation owns CBS, CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Radio), Simon & Schuster editing group, a 50% ownership stake in The CW, etc.
- Time Warner owns CNN, Time, AOL, a 50% ownership stake in The CW, etc.
Bertelsmann owns Arvato, Direct Group, RTL Group (which owns VOX and Five and a part in M6 TV channel), etc.

- Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate, apart of News Corp., also owns British News of the World, The Sun, The Times, and The Sunday Times, as well as the Sky Television network, which merged with British Satellite Broadcasting to form BSkyB, and SKY Italia; in the US, he owns the Fox Networks and the New York Post. Since 2003, he also owns 34% of DirecTV Group (formerly Hughes Electronics), operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, and Intermix Media (creators of myspace.com) since 2005. See also Murdoch Newspaper List.

- Triton Media Group is rapidly consolidating assets in the radio industry, acquiring Dial Global, Waitt Radio Networks and Jones Radio Networks, three major satellite music radio providers.

- Vivendi owns Canal + Group, Universal Music Group and 20% of NBC Universal.

- Modern Times Group, quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, owns Viasat TV network and Metro International, which is the world's largest chain of free newspapers, publishing 57 daily Metro editions in 18 countries.

Many will simply say, "So what? It's just a business like any other, isn't it? Let business handle it unfettered!" I'm afraid the issue of the media is simply too dangerous to be left to the whims of the market. What other business has one of the bill of rights assigned to it? Obviously Freedom of Speech was so paramount to our "beloved" founders that they took the time to do what they thought would ensure that this right would be preserved, by including it as the first guarenteed right in the American Bill of Rights.

Frankly, once you understand the ways the Bill of Rights has been subverted over the years, using it as a reference point is bit...useless. Still, it is supposedly the basis for US law and since there is nothing else to go on, we may as well start there.

So, How does the current media structure subvert the Bill of Rights? Specifically when referring to the very first article?

Some examples are, again, contained in the wiki:

It is important to elaborate upon the issue of media consolidation and its effect upon the diversity of information reaching a particular market. Critics of consolidation raise the issue of whether monopolistic or oligopolistic control of a local media market can be fully accountable and dependable in serving the public interest. If, for example, only one or two media conglomerates dominate in a single market, the question is not only that of whether they will present a diversity of opinions, but also of whether they are willing to present information that may be damaging to either their advertisers or to themselves.

If it is in the best interests of the media conglomerates not to run a story or allow a particular opinion, but in the best interests of the public interest to run it, it arguably makes better business sense to opt for the former over the latter. On the local end, reporters have often seen their stories refused or edited beyond recognition, in instances where they have unearthed potentially damaging information concerning either the media outlet's advertisers or its parent company. For example, in 1997, the Fox Broadcasting Company O&O in Tampa, Florida fired two reporters and suppressed a story they had produced about one of the Fox network's major advertisers, Monsanto, concerning the health effects of Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH). Monsanto took action after Fox and threatened to sue over the story.

Another example would be the repeated refusal of networks to air "ads" from anti-war advocates to liberal groups like MoveOn.org, or religious groups like the United Church of Christ, regardless of factual basis. A recent famous case was Super Bowl XXXVIII wherein CBS refused to air an ad criticizing the growing federal budget deficit but aired a spot celebrating the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Quote continued in Part II