Rich Media, Poor Democracy
According to McChesney, there are three "tiers" of the media industry. The first is made up of all of the most powerful companies (or as he called them, the "huge giants"). This includes business organizations such as Viacom, Time Warner, Disney, and Sony. The next consists of smaller organizations like Comcast, General Electric, and newspapers such as The New York Times and Tribune. The last includes companies that exist in towns and communities.
McChesney talked about "the logic of corporate enterprise that flows from the top" and how this determines what viewers see. An example of this work being done would be the synergy that he mentioned. He gave an example about how if the workers Paramount Pictures produced a movie, they would probably utilize the companies that they own to advertise their work. He also mentioned cross-production, which includes making franchise that goes along with a movie that was released. This "logic" can also be seen every day when businesses such as Viacom, Time Warner, and Disney decide what television shows and movies they want to premiere to the public and what topics they decide to not write about. It can be seen in the control they have over smaller corporations: they can buy them out. For example, Disney demonstrated their monetary power about a month ago when they bought Lucasfilm.
McChesney claims that media is supposed to expose consumers to "...a garden-place of ideas in which the truth will win out and we'll have a healthy vibrant political democracy" (page 3). Unfortunately, this isn't happening because conglomerates have so much control. He later goes on to say that "...our media system is the direct result of government policies that created it" (page 6). The Federal Communications Commission is supposed to look out for the public and stand for what's best for the people. However, this commission does not have enough influence to be able to do this. Next, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was was designed to promote competition between businesses through deregulation. McChesney states "What we really mean by deregulation is simply regulation on behalf of private interests with no pretense of regulating on behalf of the public" (page 7). So, the public is being ignored and thought of as unimportant. Also, in order to live under a democracy, it is necessary for journalism to function actively. This is done by making sure those who are in control are completing their jobs in the most beneficial way possible. Then, there are questions regarding freedom of press. In other words, a decision needs to be made about who should have more power: the journalists or the businesses. In this case, the businesses do. There is clearly a lot of conflict which is made visible in the media. For example, Disney bought Lucasfilm. By doing so, they lowered the number of industries they have to compete with. Because competition is limited, viewers aren't being exposed to multiple messages or viewpoints. There were problems in the past (most recently, over the summer) with cable companies. DirecTV and Viacom had a hard time deciding what to charge their consumers. So, those who subscribed to DirecTV were unable to view several channels for a period of time.
Mark Crispin Miller stated how media conglomerates figured out that in order to keep their viewers faithful, they need to show things that interest them and capture their attention. Sensationalistic stories are popular among the masses, so that's what is being aired. By doing this, not only do companies keep their viewers, they get to save money as well. McChesney said that many years ago, there were rules that prevented conglomerates from being able to join forces and buy out other businesses. Now, companies are able to do that if they want. He also stated that in countries other than the United States, a large variety of stories are discussed in the news. Their journalists function differently than ours.
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