Monday
Sep202004
Stop the Media Mergers - Majority of media are controlled by just Five companies
Monday, September 20, 2004 at 08:34AM
Democracy is in crisis -- not in far parts of the
world but right here in the United States. As with most democracies,
the greatest threat to ours is internal. The danger within is the loss
of our Fourth Estate -- an independent and free press that is essential
if Americans are to be knowledgeable and engaged in the democratic
process. Walter Lippmann said that a free press "should consist of many
newspapers decentralized in their ownership and their management, and
dependent for their support . . . upon the communities where they are
written, where they are edited and where they are read." From thousands
of independent media outlets during Lippmann's heyday in the middle of
the past century, media ownership dropped to only 50 companies by 1983.
Today what was a concern has become a nightmare: The majority of our
media are controlled by just five companies. [more 
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]- Who owns CNN? or MSNBC? ABC? [more]