Advertisement

Break up Microsoft? . . . Then how about the media 'Big Six?'

The push by federal regulators to break up Microsoft is big news. Until recently, the software giant seemed untouchable -- and few people demanded effective antitrust efforts against monopoly power in the software industry. These days, a similar lack of vision is routine in looking at the media business.

Today, just six corporations have a forceful grip on America's mass media. We should consider how to break the hammerlock that huge firms currently maintain around the windpipe of the First Amendment. And we'd better hurry.

The trend lines of media ownership are steep and ominous in the United States. When The Media Monopoly first appeared on bookshelves in 1983, author Ben Bagdikian explains, "50 corporations dominated most of every mass medium." With each new edition, that number kept dropping -- to 29 media firms in 1987, 23 in 1990, 14 in 1992, and 10 in 1997.

B.R.E.A.D. says 'Bring Housing Home'

Watch out Christian Right! B.R.E.A.D. rises and means serious business. Acting on the belief that faith in action builds justice and power, a coalition of local churches and synagogues is “Drawing together people of faith to act powerfully on issues of justice and fairness.”

On Monday, March 27th, B.R.E.A.D. (Building Responsibility, Equality, and Dignity) held an action meeting to present their Jubilee Housing Plan and to solicit Mayor Coleman’s response. The meeting, held at the Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, was attended by over 1600 people from B.R.E.A.D.’s 38 member congregations and local social justice activists.

Elian - This is how we do things here

There is a sound case to be made for dropping a tactical nuclear weapon on the Cuban section of Miami. The move would be applauded heartily by most Americans. Alas, Operation Good Riddance would require the sort of mature political courage sadly lacking in Washington, D.C., these days. Meanwhile, we can marvel at the shock with which many supposedly well-informed citizens are discovering that no well-dressed federal enforcement officer would dream of going out on assignment without an automatic weapon, full camo, hand grenades, a CS tear gas canister, handgun, knife, goggles and a backup SWAT team.

Last Saturday, Chris Matthews was excitedly telling his MSNBC audience that the famous AP photo of the Elian snatch perhaps proved "the black-helicopter crowd" might be right when they said America was turning into a police state. Welcome to America, Chris. Where have you been for the past 30 years? Don't you know that every day, somewhere here in the Land of the Free, squads of heavily armed men looking exactly like the fellow in the AP picture are bursting through someone's front door, screaming at the terrified occupants to lie facedown on the floor, trashing the furniture,

Yes, Virginia, there was a warrant

Your friendly media have distinguished themselves once again by providing a fountain of misinformation during two days of almost nonstop coverage of the raid on the Miami home of Lazaro Gonzalez and the transfer of Elian Gonzalez to the custody of his father.

The frenzy has now surpassed even the Dead Diana and JFK Jr. Missing cases, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

The frequent misstatements of fact, both by TV newspeople and the people whom they interviewed, constitutes compelling evidence for the case that TV news must find a way to correct factual errors.

Many of these errors occurred during "analysis," "commentary" or "discussion," but they are still errors -- and misinformation poisons the well of public debate.

Perhaps the most astonishing was the consistent reporting of rumors -- clearly identified as such: "There is a rumor that ..." -- with no apparent effort to follow up as to the truth of the rumor.

The Easter season

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

Easter, it seems to me, is a good time to consider the gospel, and Silicon Valley seems like a good place to start.

Think "Silicon Valley," and what do you get? Multi-zillionaires, mansions, fancy cars and the heartbreak of Suddenly Acquired Wealth Syndrome -- that's the tragic dilemma afflicting those who become billionaires before they're 30 and are left trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives.

Would it surprise you to learn that seven out of every 10 jobs being created in Silicon Valley pay less than $10,000 a year? How much have you heard about that 70 percent of the residents?

The news media supposedly hold up a mirror of our society, but it seems more and more like a funhouse mirror. Headlines and great stretches of air time are devoted to the gyrations of the stock market, yet 50 percent of us own no stocks.

"(Be) not greedy of filthy lucre."

"Thy money perish with thee."

When Corporate Media Cover 'Independent Media'

During the recent protests in Washington against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the leading cable news network became fascinated with "independent media." Journalism free of huge economic interests -- what a concept!

"Modern-day demonstrators say you just can't trust folks like us, the so-called corporate media," a CNN anchor explained, introducing a report that aired repeatedly over a two-day period. Correspondent Brooks Jackson took it from there. "They call themselves the independent media," he said, and that means working without ties to the large corporations of the media world.

"Global corporate media? Gee, that would be us," Jackson deadpanned, "CNN, owned by Time Warner, soon to be merged with America Online. They don't like us very much. They want to tell their story their way."

Raising Cain

Sometimes bad things do get fixed. As part of a quick round-up at the old optimism corral, let's look at the current state of immigration law, which was plunged into disastrous cruelty by the Gingrich Congress in 1996.

It was a classic example of Mean Politics, nativist hysteria fanned by wildly exaggerated tales of illegal immigrants coming here to live on Easy Street on our generous American welfare payments, etc. Ever since then, civil libertarians who tried desperately to stop the bill at the time have had the sour satisfaction of saying, "We told you so -- we told you so."

NPR and NAB ally to crush low power radio

Trust the broadcasting industry to recoil in horror at the prospect of more choices for the American people, who -- be it never forgotten -- actually own the airwaves this same broadcasting industry claims as its own.

In a shameful vote on April 13, just before the Easter recess, and after furious lobbying by the National Association of Broadcasters, the House of Representatives voted 274-110 to scuttle one of the few creditable rulings issued in recent years by the Federal Communications Commission. If the U.S. Senate concurs, Congress will have issued a brutal "No" to free speech and democratic communications, just as ruthlessly as any dictator sending troops into a broadcasting station.

The broadcasting lobby has been on a lobbying rampage ever since the FCC voted on Jan. 20 to authorize low-power, non-commercial FM with power anywhere from 1 to 100 watts. The new stations -- for which license applications have been pouring into the FCC -- have been available to non-profits and local educational associations, which would then be able to start broadcasting to their communities for as little as $1,000 in start-up costs.

Protests in Washington clash with media spin

Converging on the nation's capital in mid-April, thousands of protesters set out to do more than simply disrupt high-level meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Demonstrators were eager to help build a movement for economic justice that can prevail over those powerful institutions. But America's mainstream news outlets were ill-positioned to shed much light on the underlying issues.

The standard media lexicon is filled with buzzwords that snap together as neatly as Leggo plastic blocks. Terms like "economic reform," "free markets" and "eliminating trade barriers" appear with such frequency and assurance that they seem to be noting the only rational economic path for less-developed countries. In reporting on the World Bank and the IMF, as well as the kindred World Trade Organization, familiar media jargon has long depicted the wisdom of their "reform" edicts as a no-brainer.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS