"Owning" in the Media and Doing It Independently

As I started taking courses such as this one and media studies, the topic of media ownership comes up more than a dozen times to say the least. I'll be honest, it never occurred to me that a handful of companies would dominate our whole media system; what we watch, hear, and read. It's scary and amusing at the same time. Especially when it comes to various networks and channels we see on cable television, who knew that there would be a few companies behind thousands of channels we watch every day. Not to mention, they also control WHAT goes on their networks.

But first, I think this is relevant or may be going off topic but when we were discussing about minorities and diversity's absence in the FCC, I thought about Warner Bros. new CEO, Kevin Tsujihara. Tsijihara took place of Barry Meyer just last month. But the point is, HE'S ASIAN! An Asian-American to be exact! Though Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner, atleast, as a minority, he is getting somewhere! He is the first person of Asian-decent to take control of a huge company in Hollywood. 

As a journalism student, the objective for a journalist is to "seek the truth" with the news. But when you have a little more than a handful of companies whose content is not really revealing much but try and get close to it, it's mind blowing. Then again, we can also blame ourselves for letting all this ruckus happen. We are dumbed down to the point where we have shorter attention spans and patience. You know that saying "we are the future"? I think it would be relieving if someone who was just as educated and exposed about all this ownership and content-biased media would take a "leap of faith" and change the FCC. (So someone... Take the torch and run for it!)

What the FCC needs is definitely diversity. As mentioned in class where the FCC heads are probably white men (with dollar signs blinking over their eyes like Mr. Smithers), what they need is a member who is just like "one of us" media studies students, who knows what's really going on and what should be done.

Until someone seeps in the FCC and brings some good change, there has always been alternative media outlets and independent outlets.

In my Media Studies II class, two outlets are often mentioned: ProPublica and Talking Points Memo. Both outlets have a the object to serve real news in the public eye. ProPublica classifies themselves as an "independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest." They want to show a balance of opinion and fact in their stories. They also want to showcase original reporting as well and how much time they spend into covering stories that interests the general public. Talking Points Memo, on the other hand, falls into political journalism where they are titled to be "the premier digital native political news organization in the United States - covering a broad range of politics, policy and national news in Washington D.C. and beyond." Just like ProPublica, Talking Points Memo is a web-based journal adjusting well to today's digital world.

Upon doing some research, I found a list of independent media outlets that deal with different issues on Ithaca College's website. I thought it was pretty awesome. One of the websites I checked out was Bitch Magazine. (Yes, I clicked the link because it stood out.) It's a feminine-focused website that serves their female audience news, entertainment recaps, blogs, and opinions. What's great about this magazine is that it encourages women, and is open about anything and everything when it comes to content. It also comes in print and digital for subscribers!

Check out the list of independent media outlets I found at Ithaca College's website: http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/independentmedia/USindymedialist/