Blog #10 - EOTO - Media Consolidation

    As a broadcast journalism major, I have learned to appreciate the media for all that it is. Whether it is a controversial show or a "biased" news broadcast, there always seems to be something wrong with the media in the eyes of the public. While sometimes the media gets a lot of backlash, whether we like it or not, it is something that has grown to be an integral part of our society. Media is found in almost every pocket in America, so it is impossible not to talk about it. Something that is not talked about as much, however, is the process of media consolidation.

    Beyond politics, there are many pros and cons that come with media consolidation. One positive impact is that these multimillion-dollar corporations are able to have higher budgets for their productions. Therefore, the actual quality and production value is much better than if the organizations had to fund themselves. This is also true when you think about the diversity of production. Because these companies have so many different smaller groups, they can allow each group to become more specified, offering a more diverse media menu. However, these positives become shadowed when thinking about the cons of media consolidation.
    According to Free Press, media consolidation is classified as "A process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media". Right off the bat, the general definition sounds quite similar to a monopoly, and while it's not, some might say it might as well be. Over the last century, the amount of media organizations have gone from the hundreds to only about six as of today. Obviously, this is a drastic change and one that brings some concern along with it.

    The biggest concern of media consolidation is the fact that the nation's news outlets are only controlled by a very small number of companies. Therefore, if one of these company owners supported a particular political figure, they could sway an incredibly large portion of the media in support of this politician. One recent example of this was when Sinclair Broadcast Group announced a deal to buy Tribune Media. By buying Tribune, Sinclair would have owned more than 200 news stations and would have been able to broadcast its conservative-leaning news to about 70% of the country. Luckily, this deal was terminated before any news stations were handed over to Sinclair.
    While it may seem as if the media is a diverse culture of differing viewpoints, this is an illusion because ultimately, everything is under the jurisdiction of only six viewpoints (And some of them aren't even very different from each other). Not only are these companies giving a false sense of diversity, but they are also hiding the fact that they do not care about the public interest. At the end of the day, the companies are only making the rich richer and empowering the powerful (I really liked that statement from one of my peer's presentation). These companies are worth upwards of 500 Billion dollars altogether and it would not surprise me if this number only increased. As much as I love the media, my research into media consolidation has given me a whole new perspective and I hope that my peers and others learn to see the media under this light as well.