Media concentration

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Media concentration

• Is it harming democracy?Or are worries overblown?

2
Under the Big Apple

• Boston Globe (1993)
• Worcester Telegram Gazette (1999)
• Boston.com
• New England Sports Network (14 percent)
• Boston Red Sox (17 percent)
• Boston Metro (49 percent)

3
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox

4
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Game coverage

5
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Game coverage
• Stadium

6
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Game coverage
• Stadium
• Ancillary businesses such as travel

7
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Game coverage
• Stadium
• Ancillary businesses such as travel
• NASCAR

8
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Game coverage
• Stadium
• Ancillary businesses such as travel
• NASCAR
• Unflattering feature stories

9
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• Media coverage

10
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• Media coverage
• Media scandal

11
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• Media coverage
• Media scandal
• A two-way street

12
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• New England Sports Network
• Whats a TV critic to do?

13
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• New England Sports Network
• Boston Metro
• Boston Heralds antitrust case

14
Possible conflicts of interest

• Red Sox
• Worcester Telegram Gazette
• New England Sports Network
• Boston Metro
• Boston Heralds antitrust case
• Putting the Herald out of business

15
Elsewhere in Boston

• Boston Herald is largest independent daily in New
  England
• GateHouse Media of Fairport, N.Y., owns 100
  papers in Eastern Mass.
• Nearly all TV and radio stations owned by
  out-of-state corporations

16
A.J. Liebling

• Legendarymedia critic forthe New Yorker
• 50 years ago, warned of one-ownership towns
• A publishers paradise Good, better, bestest

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Death of commercial radio

• Telecommunications Act of 1996 removed most
  ownership restrictions
• Clear Channel (Minot, N.D.) and Cumulus (Dixie
  Chicks) become symbols
• Why is broadcast different from print?

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Danny Schechter

• The News Dissector
• Warns against the mediaocracy a political
  system tethered to amedia system
• Example Run-up to war in Iraq

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Setback for monopolists

• Michael Powells FCC proposes more deregulatory
  goodies inJune 2003
• A left-right coalitionfights back
• Congress, courts put FCC planon hold

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Back to Liebling

• Lieblings concern was the one-city monopoly
• Fewer dailies today than 50 years ago
• What has changed?

21
Back to Liebling

• Lieblings concern was the one-city monopoly
• Fewer dailies today than 50 years ago
• What has changed?
• More concentration, yet more diversity

22
Time Warner

• CNN, AOL, HBO, and magazines such as Time,
  People, and Sports Illustrated

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Viacom/CBS

• CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, plus numerous
  broadcast stations

24
Walt Disney Company

• ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, movie studios, and
  radio stations

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News Corporation

• FNC, Fox network, worldwide satellite TV, Wall
  Street Journal, NY Post, and HarperCollins

26
Bertelsmann

• Major American book publishers such as Knopf,
  Doubleday, and Random House

Reinhard Mohn
27
General Electric

• NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, television stations, Telemundo
  and cable channels such as Bravo

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Tracking media monopolies

• Columbia Journalism Review has an online tool at
  www.cjr.org/resources