Media & DemocracyPart 1 of 2

What is Democracy?

1. Government by the people; a form of government in which the power resides in the people and is exercised by them either d i re ct ly o r by means of e le cted representatives; a form of society which favors equal rights, the ignoring of hered itary class d is t inctions, and tolerance of minority views.

(Oxford English Dictionary)

Democracy:

In a democracy, who has the right to have their voices heard?

Ideally, in a democracy, our cultural discourse would be set by “the people” and for “the people.”

Occupy Wall Street Protests, NYC 9/27/2011

And guess who “We The

People” are?

So, the questions become: “Do we the people have the right to have

our voices heard?”

And: “If we do not, then what obstacles prevent us from having

our voices heard?”

I n Am e r i ca To da y , mo s t o f t h e in fo rmat io n t hat we consume i s controlled by only SIX corporations. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, a Tea Partier or a member of t h e G re e n Par t y , mo s t o f yo u r information comes from one of these six corporations.

By default, these six corporations now set the rules for “our” public discourse.

These companies are:

General Electric ($157,000,000,000)

They own: NBC

Telemundo Universal Pictures

Focus Features 26 local television stations

MSNBCBravoCNBC

The Weather Channel and SYFY.

They own:

ABC, ESPN The Disney Channel

SOAPnet, A&ELifetime

277 radio stations music and book publishing companies

Touchstone, Miramax Walt Disney Pictures

Pixar Animation StudioDisney Mobile,

Websites like Go.commultiple theme parks around the world.

($36,100,000,000)

They own:

($30,400,000,000)

Fox Broadcasting CompanyFox Television Fox Business ChannelNational Geographic FX

The Wall Street Journal The New York Post

TVGuide

Magazines like Barron’s and Smart Money

HarperCollins 20th Century Fox

Fox Searchlight PicturesBlue Sky Studios

websites including MarketWatch.com National Rugby League.

Until 2011: Myspace.com

($25,800,000,000)

Networks: CNN the CWHBOCinemax Cartoon NetworkTBSTNT

Web:America Online

MapQuestMoviefone

the Huffington PostWarner Bros. Pictures

Castle Rock New Line Cinemas

More than 150 magazines including: Time Sports IllustratedFortuneMarie ClairePeople

($13,600,000,000)

Paramount PicturesParamount Home

EntertainmentAtom Entertainment

music game developer HarmonixViacom 18

The own: MTVNicelodeonNick at NiteVH1BETComedy Central

($13,000,000,000)

They own: CBS Television NetworkCBS Television Distribution the CW (a joint venture)ShowtimeSimon & Schuster

30 television stationsCBS Radio which owns 130

stations.

CBS is now the leading supplier of video to Google’s Video Marketplace.

In 2009 these six corporations had a combined net worth of:

$275,900,000,000

In the same year the US Department of Education

had a budget of$45,400,000,000

In our next class we will look at one example of how this consolidation of

media prohibits free speech and censors the terms of our national

discourse.