Media has had a huge impact on today’s society when it comes to receiving news or information. Media Consolidation is the concentration of ownership of our news sources into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations. This pretty much means that very few large companies are able to own and control what media is out and fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. The corporations that control nearly all of US media are newspapers, magazines, tv, radio, wire services, and photo agencies. These are typically a part of everyday use when it comes to hearing about what is going on in the news. In 1983, around fifty companies owned 90% of all American media. By 2011, the same 90% of American media is now currently owned by six companies which include Disney, New Corp, GE, Viacom, CBS, and Time Warner. That is not a lot of companies let alone a lot of opportunity for media to come from different sources.
Although, there are a few implications when it comes to media consolidation. The implications include and will lead to less opportunity for the local news to gather information, less local staffing, and less opportunity for communities to interact with one another. If the media is only producing their information from one source then there is no point in communicating with others about the different opinions. When all the news outlets are owned as one collective group then the availability to access other information from other sources is no longer even an option, leaving no room for other voices, stories, theories, or opinions to be made. Typically this could be considered to be a bad thing because having one news source may not be the most reliable or credible source considering the fact that the media might not want to cover every detail when presenting to their audiences. Having many other news sources is important because other news outlets could be inaccurate or be biased which will lead to a lot of misinformation. This is not a good thing when it comes to sharing the news about what is going on in the world. People need the cold, hard truth and nothing but the truth. Corporations that own these news outlets are no longer focused on providing the real news to the public because they are focused on how their business will benefit from it. Their profits help the business therefore, they only want news that will bring them money and ratings.
This also affects society as a whole by having little to no access to diverse news sources. There is less local news and more of a left wing slant when it comes to what is being broadcasted by the media. It also depends on what source is being used whether it be Fox News or CNN when it comes to a politically biased slant. Due to the huge impact that the media has already had on society, this has also led to the public opinion being blinded from what is really going on in the rest of the world. Media consolidation will only want to show their audiences what they want to hear. This means that people in today’s society might not be able to create opinions of their own and their opinions will be made for them because they are only able to see what the media wants them to see rather than the whole story.
https://billmoyers.com/story/media-consolidation-should-anyone-care/
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