"Mom, romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece." – Lisa Simpson [1]
Growing up watching the Simpson’s, it never even occurred to me who owned them, their rights, and the network it was broadcast on. One could occasionally hear sarcastic quips about this supposed evil overlord, Rupert Murdoch, and vague allusions to his extremely right-wing tendencies. Now that I’m slightly more media literate, I’m aware of the interesting connections that left-leaning shows like the Simpson’s (in its day, I suppose) and Family Guy have to this right-wing media conglomerate, News Corporation.
It’s completely jarring to think there are eight whole corporations that dominate and are behind just about everything we see and hear. [2] The idea that there are (and this may be over simplify) in essence eight human beings, out of the hundreds of millions of human beings who are influenced by US media, who can control what we see, hear and are exposed to. As Lawrence Lessig wrote, “…one company owns more than 1,200 stations… in most markets, the two largest broadcasters control 74 percent of that market’s revenues. Overall, just four companies control 90 percent of the nation’s radio advertising revenues.” [3]
Returning to the example of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, I was going to copy-and-paste a list of assets, but it seems that would be longer than several of my blog entries, so here’s a Wiki-list of what Rupert controls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation. Freaked out yet? Lessig also talked about Murdoch in Free Culture, “Murdoch’s companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its integration. They supply content—Fox movies . . .Fox TV shows . . . Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They sell the content to the public and to advertisers— in newspapers, on the broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical distribution system through which the content reaches the customers. Murdoch’s satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV’s largest single owner, that system will serve the same function in the United States.” [3] Rupert Murdoch literally has the power to control your mind. Even the most media literate, conscious media consumer needs to get their information from somewhere. If they happen to stumble upon all of Rupert’s newspapers, TV shows, movies, etc, etc., their opinion will undoubtedly be at least partially influenced by (simplifying again), Rupert’s opinion. This is a major implication of cross media ownership – it no longer is about what the people should know, or for the greater good of the public, but rather what those eight or so corporations think we should know.
This is where the internet becomes a vital tool in fighting cross media ownership. While Rupert and his buddies (I’m sure they get together sometimes) have control over most mediums available, there will always be the internet to get every-man’s opinion out to the universe. With the internet, there will always be that one person who wants to get the truth out for the greater good – a truth that certain major corporations maybe reluctant to release that may affect their own personal good; their profitability.
Growing up watching the Simpson’s, it never even occurred to me who owned them, their rights, and the network it was broadcast on. One could occasionally hear sarcastic quips about this supposed evil overlord, Rupert Murdoch, and vague allusions to his extremely right-wing tendencies. Now that I’m slightly more media literate, I’m aware of the interesting connections that left-leaning shows like the Simpson’s (in its day, I suppose) and Family Guy have to this right-wing media conglomerate, News Corporation.
It’s completely jarring to think there are eight whole corporations that dominate and are behind just about everything we see and hear. [2] The idea that there are (and this may be over simplify) in essence eight human beings, out of the hundreds of millions of human beings who are influenced by US media, who can control what we see, hear and are exposed to. As Lawrence Lessig wrote, “…one company owns more than 1,200 stations… in most markets, the two largest broadcasters control 74 percent of that market’s revenues. Overall, just four companies control 90 percent of the nation’s radio advertising revenues.” [3]
Returning to the example of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, I was going to copy-and-paste a list of assets, but it seems that would be longer than several of my blog entries, so here’s a Wiki-list of what Rupert controls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_News_Corporation. Freaked out yet? Lessig also talked about Murdoch in Free Culture, “Murdoch’s companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its integration. They supply content—Fox movies . . .Fox TV shows . . . Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They sell the content to the public and to advertisers— in newspapers, on the broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical distribution system through which the content reaches the customers. Murdoch’s satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV’s largest single owner, that system will serve the same function in the United States.” [3] Rupert Murdoch literally has the power to control your mind. Even the most media literate, conscious media consumer needs to get their information from somewhere. If they happen to stumble upon all of Rupert’s newspapers, TV shows, movies, etc, etc., their opinion will undoubtedly be at least partially influenced by (simplifying again), Rupert’s opinion. This is a major implication of cross media ownership – it no longer is about what the people should know, or for the greater good of the public, but rather what those eight or so corporations think we should know.
This is where the internet becomes a vital tool in fighting cross media ownership. While Rupert and his buddies (I’m sure they get together sometimes) have control over most mediums available, there will always be the internet to get every-man’s opinion out to the universe. With the internet, there will always be that one person who wants to get the truth out for the greater good – a truth that certain major corporations maybe reluctant to release that may affect their own personal good; their profitability.
Before I leave you this time, here's an amazing clip from SNL's TV Funhouse which was banned from TV when one of NBC's sponsor's, GE, had some issues with it's content. Thank God for (News Corportation's) YouTube:
[1] "Lisa Simpson Quotes." Art Quotes. Artquotes.net.
[2] McChesney, Robert. “The New Global Media: It’s a Small World of Big Conglomerates.” The Nation. 11 Nov 1999. 7 Nov 2008.
[3] Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture. New York, USA: The Penguin Press, 2004.
YouTube clip URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEdDd5zsHo
1 comment:
This was an awsome post! You made Rupert Murdoch sound so evil...but it's so scary all the things that so few people own. At least we know who's trying to tell us what to think now.
I also loved that Simpson's quote! I recognized it and it made a lot more sense to me now. I also loved the vidoe. It was really entertaining...and it made a lot of things make a lot of sense. Good job!
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