You can plop down on that couch and flip through every one of those channels and chances are you will find nothing on, well that is if you're looking to learn something. I don't care if you got satellite TV, Digital TV, regular cable, and a hanger hanging out the back of your set, the blueprint holds. Why you might ask, well the first thing you have to ask yourself is what the purpose of television and the programming that oozes out of it is. Then you have to ask WHO controls the programming. Once you answer these very important questions you begin to look at television, film, radio, newspapers, and sometimes the internet, in a whole new way.

Although this has not always been the case, television today, exist almost exclusively as a commercial venture to market products and ideas. The programming exist simply to hold your attention so you'll watch the commercials. As the programming has become more commercial orientated the ad times has increased, the programs move faster, and the American attention span has decreased. Things have gotten so bad that that according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, younger people are turning away from TV news in greater numbers than older people. At the same time, they spend more time watching MTV or playing video games than reading or studying. In a nutshell, thanks to a number of factors with the media being a big one, Americans young and old simply can't follow a storyline if it involves many factors or much thinking.

In their never ending quest for the Benjamins, the media giants biggest concern is to make "journalism" directly profitable. They do this by first, firing as many reporters as possible, replacing them with less expensive online services like Nexis that are used to access background information for stories (From my understanding and conventional wisdom, the Nexis service does little more than summarize the same Associated Press and New York Times stories seen in newspapers throughout the country). Second they concentrate upon stories that are inexpensive and easy to cover, like celebrity lifestyles (i.e., O.J., J-Lo, M.J., Puffy), court cases(i.e. O.J.), plane crashes, and crime stories (preferably with people of color as perpetrators, i.e. O.J.). Not only are these stories cheaper to cover and air, they almost never involve their parent company in any controversy, as would "hard" news stories

Television is also a means of social control, basically a distraction. The hope being that after an unnecessarily long day of work you will come home, sit in front of the TV, see advertisements for the products you should be working to buy, and then be misinformed by the "news" after the pure entertainment shows go off. Due to the excessive commercialism and corporate control there comes an almost natural political bias regarding content. Consumerism, the stock market, materialism, class inequality, and individualism tend to be viewed as normal if not positive, while political activity, civil values, and anti-market activities tend to be ignored if not outright denounced.

If you're really paying attention you may also notice there is an overall sense of helplessness that pervades TV programming. To the powers that be, what could be more pleasing than a de-politicized population made to feel helpless about their current situation, and that the political and social workings of this country are beyond change, as if run by magic. Sure you can vote but the population is diverted from information access and the public forums necessary for meaningful participation in decision making. As the Washington Post once put it modern "democracy" works best when both political parties essentially agree on most of the major issues. Or as best put by the late billionaire head of Mexico's Televisa, when talking about the purpose of television in Mexico: “Mexico is a country of a modest very fucked class, which will never stop being fucked. Television has the obligation to bring diversion to these people and remove them from their sad reality and difficult future”.

And don't think you can escape by simply turning the channel, to one of those "educational channels" like PBS. Sure you may find an informative or useful program occasionally, but television programming as a whole is controlled by money and those with a lot of it. Needless to say PBS has been affected, or should I say infected. By the 1990's U.S. public broadcasting stations received only 15% of their revenues from federal subsidies. The rest came from listener/viewer donation, foundations, and increasingly, corporate sponsorship. Already PBS allows corporate sponsorship of prime-time programming in a manner similar to commercial networks. By 1998 PBS had over 150 corporate sponsors spending a total of over 80 Million, and PBS executives targeted the area as a place of future growth.

Along with the basic problems in the design of the modern commercial TV system you have a trend of mergers and consolidation helped along by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (under everybody's favorite Democrat Bill Clinton). In the United States virtually all media communications whether through TV, Newspaper, or Radio are basically controlled by a small group of media companies. The 1st Tier of Big Dogs include AOL-Time Warner, Disney, Viacom (CBS, also owns BET,VH-1,MTV), Seagram (Universal), Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and Sony. All are connected to the big six FILM STUDIOS. The remaining 1st-tier of big dogs include General Electric (owns NBC), and AT&T(in 1998 purchased cable giant TCI which already had vast media holdings). The Second tier of media giants include the largest newspaper chains such as Gannett, Knight-Ridder, New York Times Company and cable giants such as Comcast and Cox Enterprises. To give you an idea of what we're dealing with, here is a PARTIAL listings of what some of the biggest dogs owned as of 1998.

Time Warner: majority interest in the WB television network; largest cable broadcasting system operator in the U.S.; controlling interest in CNN and CNN derivative programs (Headline News, CNNfn, CNN international, CNNSI), TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Court TV, HBO, HBO International, and Cinnemax; partial interest in Comedy Central; minority stake in satellite TV service Primestar, Warner Brothers Film Studios, New Line Film Studios; the largest U.S. magazine publishing group including Time, People, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune; Warner Brothers Music Group; leading global book publisher with 42% sales outside the U.S.; Atlanta Hawks basketball team and Atlanta Braves baseball team; Hanna-Barbera Animation Studios; 10% stake in France's Canalsatellite, a digital TV service; Citereseau and 49% of Rhone Cable Vision, both French cable TV companies; one of the largest movie-theater-owning companies in the world with over 1000 screens outside the U.S., 20% of Midi Television the 1st private South African TV network; 40% stake in Nippon TV, 25% stake in Titus, 19% stake in Chofu, all Japanese broadcasting companies; minority stakes in Germany's N-TV, European Music channel VIVA, and Asian music Channel Classic V; and 50% stake in Columbia House Record Club. (And this is before the merger with AOL, I can only imagine now.)

Disney: ABC television and radio networks; 10 U.S. TV stations and 28 radio stations; Disney Channel (duh), ESPN (and derivative ESPN programs) and ESPN international, major stakes in Lifetime, A&E, E! Entertainment, and History Channel; 43% percent of InfoSeek internet portal service; Miramax, Touchstone, and Walt Disney Pictures; Buena Vista; magazine publishing through its Fairchild and Clilton subsidiaries; book publishing through Hyperion Press; music recording through the Hollywood, Mammoth, and Walt Disney labels; Worlds largest theme parks and resorts, including Disneyland, Disney World, and a stake in EuroDisney; Disney cruise line; Anaheim Might Ducks and Anaheim Angels Professional Sports teams; 660 Disney stores worldwide; 50% stake in Super RTL, a joint venture with Bertelsmann; 20-33% in the following media companies: Eurosport TV Network, Spain's Tesauro SA, Germany's RTL2 and TM3, Brazil's TVA; and a 33% percent stake in an Argentina's film studio Patagonic.

News Corporation: FOX TV network (and it's derivative fx, fxM, Fox Sports Net, Fox kids); 22 U.S. TV stations covering 40% of the U.S. population; Family Channel TV; 33% stake in Golf TV channel; Twentieth Century Fox film studio; 20th TV, U.S. and international TV production and distribution groups; over 130 daily newspapers, including The Times (of London) and The New York Post, controlling 70% of Australia's newspaper circulation (Rupert Murdoch is an Australian Citizen); 23 magazines; 40% stake in TV Guides publisher; 30% in Echostar U.S. satellite TV company; book publishing through Harper-Collins; Los Angeles Dodgers baseball teams; minority stakes in the New York Knicks and Rangers and 10% of Los Angeles Lakers pro sports teams; controlling interest in British Sky Broadcasting satellite TV service; partial stake in Music Choice Europe TV channel; Latin American TV channels El Canal Fox and Fox Sports Noticias; 30% stake in Latin Sky Broadcasting satellite TV service, a joint venture with AT&T-TCI, Televisa, and Globo; 66% stake in Munich TV station TM3; 50% in German Vox TV network; controlling interest in Italian pay-TV venture Stream; FOX TV Netherlands; the following European Radio Interest: 71% in Sky radio; 42% in Radio 538; 28% in Sky radio Sweden; 80% stake in New Zealands Natuaral History Unit, the worlds leading producer if nature and wildlife documentaries; Heritage Media the leading U.S. direct marketing company; Asian Star TV satellite Service; 50% in Indian's Zee TV, El TV, and Zee Cinema; partial stake in Indonesian pay TV venture Indovision and Film Indonesia; and an assortment of other joint and partial ventures in China and other parts of Asia.

I could go on but my hands are tired of typing (you can click here for a more up to date and complete listing) and this should be more than enough for you to get the picture. The bad news doesn't stop there though, let's take a brief look at the membership of the board of directors of the media giants, the people who legally run the companies. Just looking at a select few media giants, let's say Time Warner (before AOL), Disney, Viacom, News Corporation, and GE. At last check (late 1998) these companies had approximately 80 directors on their boards. These 80 or so held an additional directorship on the boards of 104 Fortune 1000 companies. The boards of these few companies plus the 5 largest newspapers at the time (New York Times, Washington Post, Times-Mirror, Gannett, and Knight Ridder) had directors who served on 144 of the Fortune 1000 companies. These combined media giants (newspapers included) also had more than 30 direct links (two people who serve on different media firms boards and also serve on the same board for another fortune 1000 company).

This type of good’ol boy networking and back-scratching behavior was only helped along by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which relaxed ownership restrictions so that a single firm can own up to 8 stations in a single market. This legislation was so sneaky, corrupt, and anti-democratic that columnist William Safire (a Conservative who one would expect to toe the line) blasted it as corporate theft and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) called it “one of the great scams in American History”. Through this 1996 Act TV stations were awarded FREE "digital" spectrum (supposedly so they could broadcast in HDTV), with an estimated worth of 40 to 300 Billion Dollars. This free spectrum was handed over with virtually know assurance or reason to believe that the PUBLIC, who is supposed to own the airwaves, receive any public interests benefits.

In addition, virtually the same problems exist in radio. According to Advertising Age, by September 1997 three firms controlled over 50% of radio revenues in the fifty largest markets and in each of the 30 largest U.S. markets, the largest radio-station-owning firm controlled 40% of the radio revenues. For example Clear Channel Communications (remember that name) owns about 1000 radio stations Nationwide. Ever wonder why you keep hearing the same songs over and over. The bottom line is the media in the United States (and many other places) is run for profit, and the programming represents the interest of corporate America!

Meanwhile TV pundits, most of them "political conservatives", continue to repeat and perpetuate the myth of "The Liberal Media". Even on a so-called public interest and supposedly "left leaning" station like PBS, a recent study originally printed in the February 1997 issue of The Nation showed how few "leftist" or citizen activist actually turn up on the PBS. In terms of party affiliation, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 53 to 47 percent. On PBS documentaries Republicans outweighed Democrats 63 to 37 percent by airtime and 59 to 41 percent by number of appearances. That’s for you folks who still believe in the whole Republican Vs Democrat fable.

Take for instance the situation with African-American Conservatives (Republican). The black community overwhelmingly votes for Democratic candidates in elections and you could probably count the number of avowed, black, political conservatives on your hands and feet, yet personalities such as Armstrong Williams make almost regular appearances on BET. This only illustrates how little things have changed (for the better) since a 1990 study by the City of New York, which showed that programming devoted to business and social elite gets on average 10 times more airtime than programs dealing with the lives and concerns of working people.

And the worst is yet to come (UNLESS YA’LL WANNA DO SOMETHING deadline or no deadline). On Thursday, September 13 2001, the Federal Communications Commission launched a proceeding designed to eliminate or dramatically weaken two longstanding safeguards designed to ensure greater diversity of media ownership. They include the rule that limits some of the power of the largest cable companies, and a safeguard that prevents one company from controlling both a newspaper and a television station in the same market. The proceedings are being overseen by none other than the new Bush-appointed FCC chair, Michael Powell (THAT’S RIGHT HE IS the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell), so guess what’s going to happen (unless ya’ll put your boots on).

By my estimation this is some pretty important news, so is it any surprise that the "News" fails to cover it? This slow, quiet, takeover and clampdown process has been happening over the last 20 years. Large media companies, primarily through the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) have been running well-funded and organized lobbying campaigns in Congress, using the "elected officials" they paid for and often endorsed, to push through legislation. Meanwhile, most of the rest of our elected representatives sit meekly in the corner like a bunch of herbs. Maybe they’re worried that if they complain one of those broadcasters may get even by doing an expose on those half woman-half adolescent prostitutes they like so much, or maybe it will be kiddy porn, or they might just want to get re-elected.

Oh, and one last note, don’t think you can just go running to the internet either. Sure the net beats the hell out of TV for useful information, but the most effective (and eventually, the primary) means of accessing the internet are services like cable modems and other high speed access services. At last check a lot of these media giants were, or had direct ties to, major cable companies or high-speed Internet service providers. Look for steady rate increases for cable TV and high-speed net services with a decrease in diversity and local content (since 1996 cable rates have risen nearly 3 times as fast as inflation). If the Internet is to continue to exist as an open medium for commerce, but much more importantly, free speech - then these measures must be challenged.

So, Keep pressing! You won’t find shit to watch! Keep turning! You won’t find jack to hear. Keep flipping! You won’t find much to read! And Keep clicking! Pretty Soon, You won’t find anything but advertisements! Trust Me!!

Released: January 2002

Suggested Websites:

http://www.fair.org

http://www.democraticmedia.org

Suggested Reading:

Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times by Robert W. McChesney

The More You Watch, the Less You Know: News Wars/Submerged Hopes/Media Adventures by Danny Schechter

It's the Media, Stupid by John Nichols

Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda by Noam Chomsky

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.