Who Own The Media?"

The nine firms that dominate the media

Columbia Journalism Review CJR's online guide to what major media companies own.

Who Owns the Media?

Why is a mass communication important for democracy?
Who rules in a democracy?

To vote, to stay informed in order to make decisions in your best interest.
Democracy is founded on the idea that people are rational creatures; that when people have access to information, they are best governed by themselves. Instead of rule by few, rule by many, but you canıt have that if people arenıt informed. Who owns the mass media in America?
3 main types of media systems:
Government owned, (China, Saudi Arabia, Iran)‹state-sponsored censorship, most often in undemocratic government so ---> blatently undemocratic

Hybrid: Partial State (Public)/Corporate aka private (England, Japan, Canada):
"Public" because when a government is democratic, it is owned by the people Britain (taxes support cultural, educational, experimental programming that otherwise wouldnıt be shown because itıs not profitable enough).
Corporate (private): United States US has the largest and wealthiest media system, aggressively for-profit First Amendment - govt canıt make a law that abridges freedom of the speech/religion/ press. Press was originally seen as a watchdog, as a check on govt power.
But does First Amendment make censorship illegal?
No, because it only applies to government action. The First Amendment doesnıt prevent businesses from censoring things.
Understandable, at the time:
When First Amendment? (1791)
There was no such thing as a corporation until the 1800s.
II. HINKLEY, "HOW CORPORATIONS INHIBIT SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY"
Whatıs the first goal of a corporation?
To earn a profit

AOL/Time Warner
What they really do:You've Got Porn There's money to be made off those chat rooms and porn sites, and AOL is not to be left out of that picture.
"Hungry for sex, we crowd into AOL's sweaty chat rooms, those thousands of niches in cyberspace with names that belie the company's apple-pie image. Picking our way across aol's servers, we huddle in dark corners like "Smack Smack Oooooo" and "Seeking WFSubs2Breed," where we swap fantasies, nudie "self pics," and recycled photos from hardcore newsgroups carried by AOL."

Disney
Disney's overriding objective is to create shareholder value by continuing to be the world's premier entertainment company from a creative, strategic, and financial standpoint. (That's their stated philosophy!)

How much did Disney really make?

Bertelsmann
Business Areas Book publishers and clubs; music labels and clubs; professional information; magazines and newspapers; television, film and radio; print and media services; online services, multimedia and E-commerce.

Viacom 1999 Earnings: 12.86 Billion.

News Corporation
1998 Statistics
Revenues: $21,206,000,000
Income: $ 8,342,000,000
Headed by Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation owns 20th Century Fox, the Fox broadcasting network, the Fox News cable channel, 25 magazines including The Weekly Standard, 132 newspapers including the New York Post and the London Times, HarperCollins books, a number of sports teams, and assorted other business operations.

Sony

TCI - Now part of the AT&T Conglomerate

Universal Corprate Partners: Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Discover, Kodak
NBC
NBC is mixed up with Microsoft (MSNBC). Need we say any more about THAT empire?

Yes, we do.

FAIR

FAIR is the national media watch group that offers well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship. Seeking to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press they scrutinize media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints.

Michael Moore
Yes, this is the Michael Moore of "Roger and Me" and "Downsize This!" as well as other films and commentaries. Visit the site and join the mailing list and receive his newsletter.

The World Trade Organization
What the WTO has done for us and for the corporations that own it!
These are the same people that own the media.

Corporate Welfare

Forget the welfare momma and her cadillac. Forget the nickel and diming and "Back to Work" nonsense that has been shoved at us. This is the BIG time Billion Dollar Give-away.

Walt Disney Corp., whose profits in 1995 exceeded $1 billion, received $300,000 in federal assistance last year to perfect fireworks displays. But Joseph and Phyllis Fagone of East Boston, who are in their mid-80s and struggling on a fixed income, were among 1,000 state residents whose federally funded fuel assistance ran out before Christmas.<

Why They Whine

HOW CORPORATIONS PREY ON OUR CHILDREN
by Gary Ruskin

The Branding of Harry Potter

"In the time it takes to read this sentence, another 24,000 people will have reached for a Coca-Cola. It is the most familiar product name in the world, recognised by nine out of 10 people, and regularly tops the list of the UK's biggest-selling soft drinks. "

With the phenomenal success of Harry Potter books and now the movie parents, teachers and children should be made aware of what Ms. Rowlings has done: Sold out to Coca-Cola for approximately $15 million. Coca-Cola paid $150 million to advertise their product with Harry Potter. Please Save Harry!

"Whatever next? Charlie and the Cadbury's Chocolate Factory? James and the Giant Cape Peach? Or Oliver Twist, with gruel supplied by Quaker Oats? You can hardly blame us for worrying: for Harry Potter, the boy wizard who has magically turned the world's children into bookworms, has been signed up by global behemoth Coca-Cola. In a $103m deal, the soft drinks company has won the world marketing rights to Harry Potter: The Movie. When the film is released, the young sorcerer's face will appear not only be seen on screens the world over, but also on cans of Coke, Minute Maid and Hi-C. "

Quoted from The Guardian

Rich Media, Poor Democracy
The Media conglomerate controls more of the Media and Democracy suffers for the dumming down of the news, the stories, and the dialog among people.

Advertising Age

The Advertising Industries journal of what they are up to and describes how the Industry works!