MEDIA LITERACY

Case Study

From Fifty to a Few: The Most Dominant Media Corporations

When Ben Bagdikian wrote the first edition of The Media Monopoly, published in 1983, he warned of the chilling control wielded by the fifty elite corporations that owned most of the U.S. mass media. By the publication of the book’s seventh edition in 2004, the number of corporations controlling most of America’s daily newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books, and movies had dropped from fifty to five. Today, most of the leading corporations have a high profile in the United States, particularly through ownership of television networks: Time Warner (CW), Disney (ABC), News Corp. (Fox), CBS Corporation (CBS and CW), and Comcast/GE–owned NBC Universal (NBC).

The creep of consolidation over the past few decades requires us to think differently about how we experience the mass media on a daily basis. Potential conflicts of interest abound. For example, should we trust how NBC News covers Comcast or GE or how ABC News covers Disney? Should we be wary if Time magazine hypes a Warner Brothers film? More important, what actions can we take to ensure that the mass media function not just as successful businesses for stockholders but also as a necessary part of our democracy?

APPLYING THE CRITICAL PROCESS

DESCRIPTION To help you get a better understanding of how our media landscape is changing, look at Table 15.1, which lists the Top 10 media companies for 1980, 1996, and 2011.

ANALYSIS What patterns do you notice?

INTERPRETATION Based on what you have discovered, what do these patterns mean? How do they reflect larger trends in the media? That is, seven of the major companies in 1980 were mostly print businesses, but in 2009, none were. Why?

EVALUATION While the subsidiaries of these companies often change, the charts demonstrate the wide reach of large conglomerations. Are these large media corporations good or bad for the economy? How do they affect democracy?

ENGAGEMENT Think about how much of your daily media intake is owned by the top ten corporations and about the influence they have on your news and entertainment intake. Ask two or three others around you to do the same, and compare your responses.

Source: Ad Age’s 100 Leading Media Companies report, December 7, 1981; “100 Companies by Media Revenue, ” Advertising Age,August 18, 1997; “100 Leading Media Companies, ”Advertising Age, October3, 2011.