The Corporate Media Monopoly


Hilbert College

Issues in Mass Communication:

The Corporate Media Monopoly

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(Note: This paper was written at the University of South Carolina)

by: Carrie Phillips

23 November, 1999

Every day American citizens turn on the television or radio or pick up a newspaper to find out what is going on in their world. Little do we consider who is writing those broadcasts and stories, and even less do we consider who controls the writers; namely, "the money": the corporations that own and keep a tight hold on their media outlets. Exactly how much control do these corporations have over their news stories, and what are their motives? We may never know completely, but the media itself can give us a good idea.

Disney's November 1999 release, "The Insider," is probably the most visible commentary on national corporate media in the limelight now. It recounts the story of Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, Lowell Bergman, and the 60 Minutes/CBS run-in with the tobacco industry. Dr. Wigand, a former tobacco executive with Brown and Williamson in Kentucky, gave an interview to 60 Minutes reporter Lowell Bergman that was featured in Bergman's expose of the tobacco industry. The most notable thing that Wigand said was that "Thomas E. Sandefur, Jr., head of the company, lied to Congress when he testified that he didn't believe nicotine in cigarettes was addictive" (Vincent, 1999). CBS pulled the story due to outrage in the tobacco industry and the controversy surrounding court cases about state-paid health claims for tobacco induced illnesses. Dr. Wigand's public accusations of corruption lead him to testify in these cases and help to win a $246 billion settlement for the states (Vincent, 1999).

Anyone who sees this movie is being faced with an excellent example of corporate control over the media. The tobacco industry tried to use their money and power to repress a very serious issue- is the tobacco industry killing people? Thanks to Dr. Wigand, the truth is coming out, but the industry is still manufacturing and selling products that are potentially life threatening. The control is still in place, and likely to remain so.

Disney has come under fire from several groups: families, because of their Miramax releases, namely "Priest" and "Trainspotting," which are not "family film" and therefore not compatible with Disney's image; and also from the Southern Baptists for extending health-care benefits to live-in partners of gay employees. Disney's holdings have backfired somewhat in the public eye, but monetarily have not made a dent (Streisand, 1997).

Disney is just one of a number of corporate media giants. Ranked by 1997 sales figures, Time Warner, at $25 billion, and Disney, at $24 billion, are the two biggest, followed by Bertlesmann ($15 billion, the only European firm on the list), Viacom ($13 billion), News Corporation ($10 billion), Sony (media-only sales $9 billion), TCI ($7 billion), Universal ($7 billion), and GE/NBC ($5 billion) (McChesney, 1997). Their holdings are enormous:

Time Warner:

WB television network; the largest cable system in the U.S.; channels: CNN, Headline News, CNNfn, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, CNN-SI, Comedy Central (partial ownership), and Court TV (partial ownership); HBO; Cinemax; partial ownership in Prime Star; Warner Brothers and New Line Cinemas film studios; 24 magazines including Time, People, and Sports Illustrated; 50% of DC Comics; Time-Life Books and the Book of the Month Club; Warner Music Group; Six Flags Theme Parks; The Atlanta Hawks; the Atlanta Braves; and uncountable retail outlets (McChesney, 1997).

Disney:

ABC; 10 U.S. television stations and 21 U.S. radio stations; channels: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, partial holdings in Lifetime, A&E, and History; Americast; Miramax and Buena Vista; Fairchild Publications; Chilton Publications; Hyperion Books; Hollywood Records; Mammoth Records; Walt Disney Records; Disneyland and Disney World; Disney Cruise Line; DisneyQuest; Anaheim Mighty Ducks; California Angels; more than 550 retail stores (McChesney, 1997).

Viacom:

13 U.S. television stations; 50% interest in UPN; MTV; M2; VH1; Nickelodeon; Showtime; TVLand; Paramount Networks; 50% interest in Comedy Central with Time Warner; Paramount Pictures; 50% of United Cinemas International; Blockbuster Video and Music; Simon & Schuster; Scribners; Macmillan; 5 theme parks (McChesney, 1997).

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation:

Fox; 22 U.S. television stations; Fox News Channel; 50% in several cable networks; Family Channel; Twentieth Century Fox; 132 newspapers including the London Times and the New York Post; TV Guide; HarperCollins; the Los Angeles Dodgers (McChesney, 1997).

These 9 corporations control 90% of "our access to information" (Greenwald, Date Unknown). Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation and Fox, himself has said that "he has a great deal of control over the media" (McChesney, 1997). That is one man who controls what an entire country sees every night at 10 o'clock. His ideas and biases can be conveyed to an entire country and perfectly placed topics can arouse public interest in his cause. The media has the most effect on the public in telling them what to think about rather than what to think about it (Greenwald, Date Unknown), so a good deal of the American public could be thinking about what Rupert Murdoch wants them to think about, rather than other important issues.

The fact that all major news outlets are businesses out for a profit makes it difficult for the American public to find out the truth about large conglomerates and corporations because that is exactly what the media itself is.

You won't see Time and Newsweek doing this, you won't see ABS, CBS, FOX, NBC or MSNBC reflecting on the power and arrogance of large corporations, given the fact that they are large corporations themselves. You will see the New York Times and the Washington Post do it only with the greatest delicacy and always with the accent on the citizens "victims" rather than the corporate perpetrators... (Prettyman, Date Unknown).

A good example of this is a story from FAIR's (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) online magazine, Extra!. Bohemian Grove is an campground in Sonoma County, California that hosts "an annual two-week gathering of a highly select, all-male club, whose members have included every Republican president since Calvin Coolidge...a virtual who's who of the most powerful men in business and government" (Author Unknown, Date Unknown). Many reporters have tried to infiltrate this highly-secretive club, and only one has ever gotten his piece published effectively (Philip Weiss of Spy). Dirk Mathison of People magazine managed to do it in the summer of 1991 until two Time-Warner (owner of People) executives recognized him and had him thrown off the campground. He had enough information to write his article and turn it in to the editors, who liked it. They killed the story soon after that. People said that it was because he did not have enough information and they were uneasy because Mathison had been tresspassing, and that it had nothing to do with the executives. Mathison says that he does not know the real reason for killing the story, and that finding the real reason would be practically impossible (Author Unknown, Date Unknown). But the fact that the story was about the "private" doings of corporate executives probably means that Time-Warner killed the story for their own reasons.

The Los Angeles Times was just recently caught in a corporate faux pas. Sunday, October 10th's newspaper included a special section on the new Staples Center sports arena, where the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings play. "But as one of the arena's 10 'founding partners,' the paper had agreed to share the issue's ad revenue with the Staples Center without telling its reporters or readers about the fiscal arangement...[which] seemed like a dangerous compromise of the paper's objectivity" (Booth, 1999). Word of the arangement got around the newsroom, however, and after an outpour of protest from reporters and editors, an apology was given by Katherine Downing, a new publisher. She canceled any future arrangements with the arena, and has commisioned an investigative report on the incident by the Times.

The media giants have taken over the national news media, and left the American public to pick and choose from the corporate opinions that they want to listen to. Thought the corporate control may never be completly ascertained by the public, its effects are visible and obvious.

The general gist of the idea is to keep 'em angry at government (which regulates corporations), distract 'em from corporate profiteering (HMO's; employing people as eternal temps with no benefits; massive sudden layoffs; misuse of pension funds; media mergers, etc), and attract 'em to corporate products (ads, commercials as such and imbedded within editorial content) (Prettyman, Date Unknown).

The American public needs to rise against these giants and support independant and local media outlets if freedom of the press is to be a reality. The corporations will always be there; our economy is too dependant on them to every be able to do without them, but we can fight their hold on the media. Independant media outlets are one way, and awareness looks to be the best. Wake up and think about it, America.

Bibliography:

Prettyman, Jane W. (Date Unknown) Commercial Media Are Not Liberal, They Are Commercial. Online: http://http://www.rain.org/~openmind/bias2a.htm/

Streisand, Betsy. (1997) It's a divisive world after all: Under attack, Disney struggles to preserve its wholesome image. Online: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970714/14mous.htm/

Johnson, Nicholas. (June 1968) The Media Barons and the Public Interest: An FCC Commisioner's Warning. The Atlantic Monthly.

Vincent, Mal. (Nov. 6, 1999) "The Insider Story: They called him a whistle blower. Now this former tobacco exec tells his story in a new movie." The Virginia Pilot.

Booth, Cathy. (1999) "Worst of Times: In Los Angeles, a newsroom erupts over a business-side gaffe." Time.

The Atlantic Editors. (1969) "The American Media Baronies, A Modest Atlantic Atlas." The Atlantic Monthly.

Banks, Louis. (1981) "The Rise of the Newsocracy: All the News All the Time." The Atlantic Monthly.

Compaine, Benjamin M., Christopher H. Sterling, Thomas Guback, and J. Kendrick Noble, Jr. (1982) Who Owns the Media?: Concentration of Ownership in the Mass Communications Industry. Knowledge Industry Publications, Inc.

McChesney, Robert W. (1997) "The Global Media Giants: the nine firms that dominate the world." Online:http://www.fair.org/extra/9711/gmg.html/

Greenwald, David M. (Date Unknown) "The Corporate Media." Online:http://www.nlspac.org/opinions/cormedia.htm/

Author Unknown. (Date Unknown) "The Story People Magazine Won't Let You Read." Online:http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/bohemian-grove.html/

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