Facts on Media in America: Did You Know?

I've been reading Jim Marrs latest book "Above Top Secret". In it he says that almost everything you see, hear or read in America is controlled by 6 MNCs(multinational corporations).

I've been trying to verify some of this info he writes about. Best link I found was this one.

Common Cause

FACT: Viacom owns CBS; General Electric owns NBC; Disney owns ABC; and News Corporation owns Fox Broadcasting Company. ABC's corporate parent is the Walt Disney Company.

Interesting site in general, it does prove that these corporations are in command of nearly all MSM in America.

A search on ATS and Google brings up a list of problems regarding these Corporations, its fairly easy to find these articles and stories so I'll let you find them. Here's one to get started.

General Electric

Do you trust them to give unbiased, independent reporting? That sort of journalism doesn't make the most profit.

Yo that junks be crizz-azy dawg!

But seriously that is pretty messed up. Thank God for sites like this where the truth can come out.

Look at who they hire and what party they donate to, and you will see that their money goes mostly to one party.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

The following 143 journalists made campaign contributions from 2004 through the first quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records studied by MSNBC.com.

Key:

(D) contributed to Democrats or liberal causes.

(R) to Republicans and conservative causes.

Click on "details" next to each name to see the amounts and what the journalists have to say.

I counted 123 out of 143 journalists contributing to the Democrats....that's 86%

Instead of looking at who donated to whom, I think the main point of this thread is to point out that ALL information that's gleened from the Mainstream media, and yes, that includes FOX, is being spoon fed to us by a select few.

It should also be noted that not only do these few mega-corporations own the Television media, but those same corporations also pwn other media sources, such as newspapers, news-magazines, et cetera.

The point IS NOT whether they're right or left, the point is that the news we get, is the news they want us to have, nothing more.

Right, left or in the middle, that SUCKS.

reply to post by uaocteaou


Well said. Thats why you can't trust anything you see on TV.
This is the most over-looked subject in society today. All I see and hear are how this news said this, or that show said that. Its never what really happened...its what they want you to think happened.

--->MSM

Also look at the boards of directors. They contain corporate executives as well as people from the mainstream colleges, universities and thinktanks.

They put out pro-government stories because they are actually running the government. It's simply advertising for their own product.

reply to post by uaocteaou


Exactly, its not really about left/right though the information on the donations was interesting.

Mainly I'm trying to point out that the MSM in the US is ruled by corporations drive for profits and power.

This info's important so I'll bump it.

2nd line.

Originally posted by Chilled Zen
This info's important so I'll bump it.

Chilled Zen -excellent thread and you're right that its very important information.

If you've not seen it before then this documentary is essential viewing.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Cheers.

Yes, this information is important, and so few know this stuff. Has everyone read 1984 by G. Orwell? We are very close to State television when it comes to news, they all report on the very same things, and if it's "newsworthy," it's an all day, or several day event, as if nothing else happened during that time. I watch the ABC evening news each night, force of habit, and I get my news from the internet. Here are a few good sources...
www.americanfreepress.net...
www.drudgereport.com...
dissidentvoice.org...
www.indymedia.org...
www.informationclearinghouse.info...
www.gwu.edu... (FOIA Archive)
www.opensecrets.org...
Best Alternative News Links
www.alternativenews.net...

reply to post by karl 12


Thanks for the comment + praise.

I'm a big fan of George Orwell's work especially 1984 +Animal Farm which I feel is important reading for older children, it may be a little dark but boy would they start questioning things more.

Looking forward to viewing that video after I finish the JFK case review.

Edited to say thanks for the links autowrench, the more info the better.

[edit on 1/9/09 by Chilled Zen]

Originally posted by Chilled Zen
reply to post by uaocteaou

 

Exactly, its not really about left/right though the information on the donations was interesting.

Mainly I'm trying to point out that the MSM in the US is ruled by corporations drive for profits and power.

What would you rather have, though?

Should the government own the news? Would you really trust a government-run news opperation to report honest news about the government?

reply to post by Jabronie


Government controlled news would be plain dangerous to freedom of information, that's a step towards totalitarianism.

Having news company's being non publicaly traded is one idea, so they would be free from corporate influence to an extent. Non profit news might be a good idea as well.

I do think it would be a good idea to make a thread which catalogs each news station and its bias/owners + provide better news sites.

www.freepress.net...

reply to post by Finalized


Good link my friend, so many popular news sources there its quite worrying that these companies have such a large market share.

reply to post by Chilled Zen

That is a great book by Ben H. Bagdikian by the name of The Media Monopoly. The last edition I read came out in 2000. It does a great job at illustrating the control of the major corporations that you mentioned. When any company decides what can be published or broadcasted, it automatically becomes biased. It is up to the public to figure out a way to stop these monopolies before it becomes to late. Many people believe it is to late. The time to stop it would have been in the late 80's.

reply to post by sjb7w6


You mean when they were growing and beginning to expand there influences? Yeah I guess it would have been the right time, but I think people were too hypnotized by the profits and trade these MNCs were creating to see what could happen in the future.

As to whether they can be stopped now, if people knew the info in this thread it would be a good start, boycotting their products could work.

I feel the important thing when it comes to the media is to get as many independent viewpoints as you can. Unfortunately, since so much of the media is owned by the same few people, or else uses each other as sources, that's easier said than done. It's one reason I come to ATS so much, but even ATS is never my sole source for anything important, though it is one of the best.

It isn't even about politics...it is about money.

Money is what leads.

Play poker? More money, the easier the control. The losers can hold on for a bit, but MOST of the time, they do fall off.

I fear that there is no perfect system to prevent such abuse. Unless we start speaking of a Utopia...

Originally posted by FritosBBQTwist
Play poker? More money, the easier the control..

FBT -yes its certainly about control- whether its through precision propaganda,editorial censorship or media manipulation -the reality of the situation is that we are living in a highly cynical and agenda driven
mediocracy.

The feature length documentary below is a good example and has been called 'one of the most important films of the last 25 years':

Footage you were never supposed to see

Artist Brian Springer spent a year scouring the airwaves with a satellite dish grabbing back channel news feeds not intended for public consumption. The result of his research is SPIN, one of the most insightful films ever made about the mechanics of how television is used as a tool of social control to distort and limit the American public's perception of reality.

Take the time to watch it from beginning to end and you'll never look at TV reporting the same again. Tell your friends about it. This extraordinary film released in the early 1990s is almost completely unknown.

www.brasscheck.com...
Cheers.