Media Issues : Corporate control |
Information on the influence of advertising and other commercial influences on the way the news is reported; increasing consolidation of media in media mega-corporations; attempted development of “public access” and other alternative media.
12/6/09
INTERNATIONAL
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Analysis & views: 8/9/08 Many "local" Scottish radio programs are now getting their material from London. 7/12/0 If Americans are brain-washed (by their corporate media), then Austrailians are brain-bleached: Ghali Hassan's description of Rupert Murdoch's total domination of Australian print media and his use of that domination to promote PM Howard's neo-liberal agenda and support of anti-Muslim actions within the country and in Palestine and Iraq. http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan110707.htm
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NATIONAL
Websites: Center for Digital Democracy Media Consolidation: http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/mediaownership/index.php Media Reform Information Center: http://www.corporations.org/media/
Analysis & views: 12/6/09 12/18/08 THE STATELY "PUBLISHING HOUSES" OF YORE HAVE MORPHED INTO "THE SUBBASEMENT OF GIANT ENTERTAINMENT CONGLOMERATES." Tom Engelhardt assays the situation of print media (books and newspapers) and finds the same tendency toward concentration and employee insecurity that one finds in the rest of corporate America. http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175015/the_time_of_the_book 8/14/08 Cox Enterprise newspaper conglomerate is trying to sell off all its papers except those in Atlanta, West Palm Beach and Dayton, Ohio. 8/12/08 Big media is about to engineer through its sock puppet at the FCC still anorher move toward media monopoly: So says Black Agenda Report editor Bruce Dixon, referring to FCC decisions that would allow existing licence holders for TV channels to pull under their control the explosion of new channels that will become available as the digital TV revolution proceeds. Dixon argues that only an aroused "media justice" movement, born of another FCC effort in 2003 to allow media monopolies in U.S. cities, can effectively mount again a "Stop Thief" movement against this operation. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=736&Itemid=1 2/2/08 ln its ongoing corporate competition with Google, Microsoft makes a $44 billion "hostile takeover" offer to Yahoo. The Sun State Activist uses all three internet modalities; the big guys will have to fight it out. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/technology/02yahoo.html?th&emc=th 12/22/07 Recent FCC decisions raise controversy about whether its actions are opening up media outlets to larger use and competition or restricting same by granting increasing media monopolies in local communities. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1221/p02s02-usgn.html 12/6/07 Talk about your media concentration: Better look at the internet. Steve Anderson describes the process by which a few cyperspace giants, like Google and Microsoft, have obtained control of the fast-growing sector of internet use, social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube and are using that control to their corporate advantage by, for example, using personal information about visitors to those websites for demographic "targeting" of those "pop up" message that bounce around your computer screen. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/our-web-not-theirs/ 10/18/07 Head of the FCC is proposing a change in decades-old regulations that would permit one party to own both a television station and a newspaper in the same community. Faced with the usual prospect of 3 Republicans on the FCC for the proposal and 2 Democrats again, the chairman is seeking "consensus" on the matter. Any such change would make permanent a "temporary waiver" of the current rules that allow the Tribune Company to operate such TV/newspapers combinations in five U.S. metropolitan areas, including Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/business/media/18broadcast.html?th&emc=th 8/1/07 As Rupert Murdoch is set to obtain control of Wall Street Journal, speculation begins on how the paper might change under his control. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/business/media/01murdoch.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 6/30/07 Study of right wing bias in radio talk shows indicates that this bias is propelled not so much by "consumer demand" for this type of programming, but by media consolidation, as conglomerate-owned stations are more likely to carry such shows. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062907F.shtml 4/26/07 Critics say changes in U.S. Postal Service mailing rates will favor large circulation periodicals at the expense of smaller ones. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4741 1/2/07 New York City's "media corridor" is growing: as media ownership consolidation proceeds apace, mega-companies are increasingly opting to go or stay "downtown" while the high rents tend to drive out "independent" companies. 12/24/06 Popular protest in Madison Wisconsin leads a Clear Channel radio station to abandon its planned shift from progressive Air America program to Fox Sports Radio. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1222-06.htm 10/19/06 Bill Moyers and Scott Fogdall: Corporate media is looking to extend its empire by incorporating the internet into its controlled "free market." http://www.alternet.org/story/43127/ 9/18/06 FCC whistleblower says the agency ordered destruction of a report showing that TV stations owned by absentee corporations provided less local news coverage than those stations that were locally owned. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3672 4/24/06 House Commerce Committee expected to vote to turn over internet control to firms in the telecommunities industry: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042306G.shtml 4/14/06 Top investigative reporter, James Ridgway, fired by Village Voice after the paper's merger with New Times syndicate: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/13/145245 4/6/06 Watch Dog media group criticizes TV practice of presenting packaged PR material from corporations as if they were news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_go_co/feingold_gay_marriage_1 3/25/06 Does competition foster journalistic excellence? Columbia U. study shows that, as the number of media outlets grows, the amount and quality of news coverage declines: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0324-33.htm 3/13/06 A.T.&T's takeover of communications utilities threatens to overwhelm competition from cable companies: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/business/13cable.html?th&emc=th 3/11/06 Alternate newspapers go corporate: New Times conglomerate acquires Village Voice: http://www.counterpunch.org/strausbaugh03112006.html 3/11/06 New Virginia law may increase competition in the cable industry: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001930.html?referrer=email 3/9/06 As new Telecommunications Act looms, the ground rules for corporate domination of electronic media are changing: from media consolidation to controlling the internet: http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2524/ 2/24/06 Bill in Congress would provide greater access to internet service http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=57&ItemID=9735 to the less wealthy: http://www.zmag.org/content/newstandard.cfm?itemid=2844 2/14/06 Consolidation of radio media encourages increase in payola to promote corporate interests: http://www.freepress.net/payola/ 2/8/06 Bush proposes slash in funds for public broadcasting: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0207-04.htm 2/7/06 Knight-Ridder newspaper group for sale; public information may be the loser: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060205/EDITORIALS0101/202050333/1097/editorials 2/2/06 TV and cable companies lay plans for privatization and control of internet communications: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
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FLORIDA:
STATEWIDE
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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Analysis and views: Miami: 3/5/09 A "scrappy" Miami weekly, the SunPost, is about to close. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2009-03-05/news/the-sunpost-is-setting/ Gainesville: 8/26/08 Gainesville SUN and Ocala STAR BANNER plan an operational merger in which each paper will maintain its local identity. Miami: 2/21/06 South Florida plans for programs of public access for wireless internet are countered by efforts of private industry forces: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13914895.htm Miami: 2/14/06 Expansion of Spanish-language newspaper publishing is expected in South Florida: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13865715.htm
2/1/06 Hillsborough County negotiating with Verizon on public cable TV access channels: http://www.tbo.com/news/opinion/editorials/MGBSX40I3JE.html Orlando: 2/1/06 Orlando based Spanish paper La Prensa acquired by new conglomerate,. ImpreMedia: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_IMPREMEDIA_LA_PRENSA_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
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