Media Monopolies
Once a monopoly takes control of an industry, it is very hard for it to thrive naturally again. They have been around and controlled several industries in the past, including the media today. Mainstream news is owned directly by colossal multinational corporations, and through their boards of directors are connected with a plethora of other major global corporations and elite interests (Walsh 1). There are few media companies that secure the public's attention. However these companies have many different branches of news coverage in all different fields of the spectrum. Time Warner is an excellent example of this as it owns Time Magazine, HBO, Warner Bros., and CNN, among many others (1). All of these companies are some way or another connected to the government. This is problematic as it gives the government influence over certain things that are displayed to the public. With this supremacy, the government can make certain things look better or worse, depending on what makes it and the country look better. For instance, more than 75 retired officers had been coached by government and military officials to ‘spin’ the news about Iraq, or simply lie, on countless network and cable channel news programs and talk shows (1). This is just one illustration of where the governments pull on the media is shown. With few companies producing the news, there is no variety of coverage. The spectators watch the same story multiple times, with a variety of angles. The unnerving thing is some Americans accept this and believe everything to be true. Until Americans stand together, the multimillion dollar media industry is just going to become extensively more corrupt and slanderous.