Wednesday, August 10, 2016

6 companies control 90% of the news you watch and read

Six corporations control 90% of what you watch on TV (cable and broadcast), at the movie theater and in magazines.

And they're working their way into controlling more and more of what's on the Internet.

I’m not concerned about who owns the Cartoon Network, but I am worried about a handful of companies pumping news information and political agenda into your mind 24/7.

For example:

Comcast owns CNBC and MSNBC.

The Walt Disney Company owns ABC.

News Corporation owns Fox News Channel, which is to the right of Attila the Hun because it is run by Rupert Murdoch, Fox Business News, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Smart Money and Barron’s.

Time Warner owns CNN, Headline News and Fortune magazine.

CBS Corporation owns CBS, CW network, Simon and Schuster and Westwood One Radio Network.

Viacom doesn’t own any news outlets among the big 6, which means the other 5 can form an unofficial cartel and pile on with their agenda.

The Internet isn’t immune, either. 10 publishers with their 60 news sites account for 47% of total online traffic to news content. The next 140 publishers in size account for the rest. That’s 53% split into 140 pieces compared to 47% split into 10 parts.

I’m not big on guilt by association, but these are interesting facts provided by those out of scuttle Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign:

ABC News executive producer Ian Cameron is married to Susan Rice, National Security Adviser. 

CBS President David Rhodes is the brother of Ben Rhodes, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications. 

ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman is married to former Whitehouse Press Secretary Jay Carney 

ABC News and Univision reporter Matthew Jaffe is married to Katie Hogan, Obama's Deputy Press Secretary 

ABC President Ben Sherwood is the brother of Obama's Special Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood 

CNN President Virginia Moseley is married to former Hillary Clinton's Deputy Secretary Tom Nides. 

When there’s a Republican president, you see the same incestuous relationships, so it’s not a Red or Blue State thing. It's a bad-for-democracy thing.

Ask yourself: It is good for a democracy when 90% of the news come from a handful of conglomerates? If those five/six put their heads together, they could elect a ham sandwich as President.

Republicans or Democrats aside, is that what you really want for America?

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