Wednesday, April 10, 2013

1,000 Channels - No Options

I've never paid too much attention to media consolidation and when I did think about it - I didn't see it as an issue. After class discussions, however, my mind has truly been open to the adverse effects of media consolidation.

I am a HUGE Viacom junkie. I watched VH1, MTV, MTV2, Logo, BET, Paramount Pictures and, of course, view their websites such as MTV News and RateMyProfessor.com. As an intern with Viacom, our first day begins with a sizzle reel of all the various media outlets Viacom owns. Even in our readings from fresspress, we see the staggering numbers of how many TVs are being controlled through companies much like Viacom. The Ownership Chart reads the following: "Viacom controls over 160 networks that reach more than 600 million people around the globe". And just like Viacom, there is Disney, NewsCorp, CBS Corp, and so many more.

While I was made aware of these television companies owning so much material, I was completely unaware of telephone companies and electric companies having any stake in media ownership. As it states in the Media Ownership Chart, a company such as Comcast basically infiltrates the minds of every American. The chart states:
"Comcast’s media holdings now reach almost every home in America. It serves customers in 39 states and the District of Columbia. In addition to its vast NBCUniversal holdings, Comcast has 23.6 million cable subscribers, 18 million digital cable subscribers, 15.9 million high-speed Internet customers and 7.6 million voice customers."
This fact was what made me reconsider my original thought of companies monopolizing media not being such a "big deal". It made me question who really owns what I'm watching and it made me skeptical of what I read, see and hear in the media 10 times more than what I already do. All it takes is one company to decide what you should consume and what you shouldn't. They make the decisions for us - and that is unsettling to say the least.

I quickly began to research these "adverse" affects of media consolidation besides the obvious ones. One of the first things I learned about when discussing media ownership was the lack of diversity in media, which most of us already know about. Yet, I never knew the lack of diversity was as bad and skewed as it is. Take for instance the following from the Diversity in Media article provided by fresspress:
  • "Women comprise over 51 percent of the U.S. population but hold less than 7 percent of all TV and radio station licenses."
  • "People of color make up over 36 percent of the U.S. population but hold just over 7 percent of radio licenses and 3 percent of TV licenses."
These statistics serve as explanations as to why the images we consume do not mirror the America we experience everyday. White, blond haired, blue eyed, red heads, tall, skinny - these adjectives are what we consume on day-by-day basis and are the adjectives that we aspire to be, and why? Because of the old, white men who own companies like Comcast and Disney and who, ultimately, feed us what we watch and hear.

After reading these statistics, one question came to mind: "Well, what can I do to change this?", and the answer wasn't looking to promising. Let's face it - we're college students...who will listen to us? Sure, if we get an insane amount of people to protest we could bring light to the current situation and try to change this monopoly game of media...but who our age has time to do that? Well, as I kept researching I saw that one man had, in fact, found the time and energy to bring up the topic.

Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, has this petition on his website asking the government to stop the conglomeration of media. Listen to what he has to say in the video below and SIGN HIS PETITION!



So, I was then faced with the challenge of discovering a media source that was "underground"/ not mainstream and with the help of a fellow friend ... I have found a pretty awesome media source. BonFire Impact! 
"A ‘Network of Good’– Bonfire Impact brings you something different…. Mainstream Media is constantly pushing out stories on political crisis, celebrity drama and crime… Mostly Negativity… We want to change that. Bonfire Impact wants to show the world the best of what people have to offer.  Providing news on People doing the the RIGHT THINGS.  From young girls raising money to help the homeless to athletes building homes in Africa.  We make the world aware of IMPORTANT ISSUES.  Anytime there is a protest fighting for Civil Rights or a group of people being oppressed we report it. "
Just as we've reviewed with Naomi Klein, the media and the government want to scare us and they succeed every single day at doing so. Rapes, murders, identity theft, robberies, health issues, the list goes on. The economy is crap - your life is ruined! The news has a way of scaring people with loads of negativity making our mines preoccupied with what we're being told rather than the reality of things - and the reality of things is that with good comes bad. Is America perfect? No. Should we run in fear? No. Should we believe what a few companies are telling us? Absolutely not. Media consolidation makes it impossible for diversity to grow and blurs the lines of a real world and a made-up world.

Check out these links with info such as the Fairness Doctrine and other writers' opinions of media conglomerates. Also, check out the following info-graphic provided by http://frugaldad.com/ to further emphasize just how much of a choice we don't have.


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