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Freedom of Press Challenged: Media
Consolidation and Corporate Control
Censorship plagues the media today, as corporate America settles for profit over free speech. In the summer of 2001, CBS shelved five episodes of its prime-time show, Family Law, after a leading advertiser pulled out, labeling the show’s content concerning gun control, the death penalty, abortion and interfaith marriages too controversial.
Advertising dollars now demand control over what we see, hear and think about, said Robin Andersen, Ph.D., associate professor of communication and media studies and director of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Fordham. Andersen opened a Jan. 16 lecture featuring Robert McChesney, Ph.D., and John Nichols, authors of Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate America (Seven Stories Press, 2002).
“Media today consists of lousy journalism and hyper commercialism,” said McChesney, professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the host of Media Matters on WILL-AM in Illinois. “Policies governing the media are made in our name, but not with our informed consent.
“The notion of media regulation goes right back to the founding of this republic; our founding fathers knew the importance of free press. They also knew that if free press was left up to itself, it would die. If you want a free press, you’ve got to make it happen.”
With five conglomerates controlling more than 85 percent of what we view on television, little is being done to preserve the free press, said McChesney. Political action is difficult with powerful laws protecting corporate media, resulting in what amounts to corporate welfare and granted monopoly rights. Also, policymaking is divided up among the powerful corporate components and media systems to serve their profitmaking interests, not the public’s, he said.
“Media has become a fully dysfunctional player in democracy,” said John Nichols, editor of the editorial page for The Capital Times. “Our media no longer does serious journalism; our media no longer covers politics. When the media failed at covering the 2000 election of the president of the United States of America, that was a pretty serious indictment.”
According to Nichols, the media has committed additional offenses with its failure to effectively cover international news events. He said the media failed the public by brushing over such stories as the scandals involving Enron and WorldCom while focusing in depth on Martha Stewart. The media continues to disappoint with its coverage of war by dispensing popular information instead of anecdotal stories that cheerlead dangerous and unnecessary action. Irrelevant subject matter is being forced on the American people, instead of the serious issues that face the country, said Nichols.
“It’s time for a media reform movement that says we must fundamentally change how this whole thing works,” said Nichols. “We must reassert that fundamental notion of democracy that our founding fathers spoke about. This is our mission.”
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According to the authors,
“Policies governing the
media are made
in our name,
but not with our
informed consent.”
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