Media consolidation is a topic that more Americans need to understand.
Basically, our media – television, news, internet, magazines, radio, etc. – are being controlled by the same 6 companies. As these giants continuously acquire new companies thus influencing the information they distribute.
Most notably, the average person spends about 90 minutes watching TV, which is controlled by these six companies: Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, News Corp, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Discovery.
And if you have cable or satellite TV, the chances are that your provider is owned by one of these conglomerates as well.
Even if you don’t watch much television, it’s likely that you still consume news from these companies in some way. For example, many people get their news from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. But did you know that both Facebook and Twitter are also controlled by these six corporations?
When this happens, the same narratives get regurgitated across various outlets. Going seemingly unnoticed by the typical news consumer.
It’s not just what we watch or read that’s controlled by these corporations. It’s also the music we listen to. In fact, 90% of the top 100 songs are controlled by just four companies: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and BMG Rights Management.
These companies have a stranglehold on our media. And this consolidated control over what we see and hear has major implications for society and way of life.
When large corporations own most of the media outlets in a country, they have the power to shape public opinion by dictating which stories get covered and how get they told.
