Media concentration
Is it harming democracy?Or are worries overblown?
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)
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox
• Red Sox– Game coverage
Possible conflicts of interest
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox– Game coverage– Stadium
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox– Game coverage– Stadium– Ancillary businesses such as travel
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox– Game coverage– Stadium– Ancillary businesses such as travel– NASCAR
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox– Game coverage– Stadium– Ancillary businesses such as travel– NASCAR– Unflattering feature stories
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette–Media coverage
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette–Media coverage–Media scandal
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette–Media coverage–Media scandal– A two-way street
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette• New England Sports Network–What’s a TV critic to do?
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette• New England Sports Network• Boston Metro– Boston Herald’s antitrust case
Possible conflicts of interest
• Red Sox• Worcester Telegram & Gazette• New England Sports Network• Boston Metro– Boston Herald’s antitrust case– Putting the Herald out of business
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
A.J. Liebling• Legendary
media critic forthe New Yorker
• 50 years ago, warned of “one-ownership towns”
• A publisher’s paradise — “Good, better, bestest”
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?
Danny Schechter• “The News
Dissector”• Warns against the
“mediaocracy” — “a political system tethered to amedia system”
• Example: Run-up to war in Iraq
Setback for monopolists• Michael Powell’s
FCC proposes more deregulatory goodies inJune 2003
• A left-right coalitionfights back
• Congress, courts put FCC planon hold
Back to Liebling• Liebling’s concern
was the one-city monopoly
• Fewer dailies today than 50 years ago
• What has changed?
Back to Liebling• Liebling’s concern
was the one-city monopoly
• Fewer dailies today than 50 years ago
• What has changed?• More concentration,
yet more diversity
Time Warner
CNN, AOL, HBO, and magazines such as Time, People, and Sports Illustrated
Viacom/CBS
CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, plus numerous broadcast stations
Walt Disney Company
ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, movie studios, and radio stations
News Corporation
FNC, Fox network, worldwide satellite TV, Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and HarperCollins
Bertelsmann
Major American book publishers such as Knopf, Doubleday, and Random House
Reinhard Mohn
General Electric
NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, television stations, Telemundo and cable channels such as Bravo
Tracking media monopolies
• Columbia Journalism Review has an online tool at www.cjr.org/resources