Who Owns What

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book Navigating America: Research and Information Competency for the 21st Century, by David Moton and Gloria Dumler, McGraw Hill Higher Education, copyright 2009.


 

Every few years, you’re expected to go out and vote on everything from who sits on your local school board to who will be our next president.  This year, you’ve decided to be a model citizen and start taking American politics very seriously.  For the next presidential election, you make up your mind that instead of just voting for the person your parents and friends tell you to, you will do some serious fact finding.  You swear that you’ll vote for the one candidate who has your best interests at heart and feels the same way you do about major issues.  You have one candidate in mind already, but you’re hungry to learn more about him or her.

            You decide that you’re going to be sure you check various sources.  You plan to watch both local and national satellite news feeds, listen to radio talk shows, read newspapers from your area and other cities, and do some net surfing to top it all off.  The easiest first step for you is to start watching television news.  You don’t watch much news, but you know that there are several major cable news networks, and you pick one to start watching.  That night, you watch a news show that  has two political experts arguing about who is the better candidate.  The smarter, wittier expert supports the candidate you’re leaning toward, and so does the host of the show.   Later, you tune to some local news at 11:00 that night, and you see a story that seems to speak well of your candidate’s education plans but only has bad things to say about the other guy.

            About a week later, you tune in to a talk radio program on your way to campus.  It’s a nationally syndicated show that plays from coast to coast, and a political scientist from an Ivy League school is talking with the host.  They both seem in favor of the budget proposal your candidate supports.  You look up more details about the budget plans in your local newspaper, and it comes to the same conclusions as the radio show and even you yourself have come to. 

            As the election draws near, you do some research online and read magazine articles about your candidate.  By election day, you’ve consulted dozens of independent sources from every type of mass media you could get your hands on (even some cartoons and your favorite hobby and sporting magazines helped in some minor way to inform your decision).  You go to the polls the morning of the election, and you vote for the candidate who is best for our nation.  You know this is the case because you dug so deep getting impartial information.  Or did you?

            If you did a bit more research, you’d probably learn that the TV networks, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and even the Internet service you used to research are all owned by just a couple of larger umbrella corporations.  While you thought you were getting impartial information from dozens of unique sources, these sources could really all be owned and controlled by one large board of directors. 

Over the past decade, several multinational media corporations have started to purchase virtually every aspect of electronic communication.   If the board of directors from such a corporation ever desired to push a particular agenda, they would be able to reach the American (and global) audience through hundreds of angles and avenues of information.  We have faith that they don’t abuse their power like this, but they definitely have the power to do so.  Every time you search for a new, fresh source of information on your political candidate, however, you may just be getting the same exact perspective from a different arm of one colossal mother corporation.

Deregulation

            Until about a decade ago, all aspects of the media were highly regulated by the government’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The FCC was formed as part of the Communications Act of 1934.  Its official function is to regulate and monitor all electronic communications in America—radio, television, cable, print, satellite, the Internet, and even phones.   World War Two occurred in the FCC’s infancy, and many of the horrors of that war were encouraged by fascist propaganda.  This propaganda was unavoidable in Axis countries because the fascist governments controlled every aspect of the media.  There were no dissenting voices, no debates about the pending war, simply one side of an argument everywhere the citizens turned.  This type of continual media pressure helped support these regimes and keep them in power.  When the war ended, the Germans enacted strict laws to keep media from ever being concentrated in one group’s hands.  The FCC monitored media in America to protect us from our media being controlled by only a few people or corporations, lest we face the same kind of monopoly that allowed fascist propaganda to thrive in WWII Germany.

            Times and technology changed, however, and in 1996, The Telecommunications Act was passed, updating the FCC’s charter for the first time in over sixty years.  The goal of this act was to lessen the regulations regarding media ownership.  For example, prior to the act, a company was restricted in the amount of radio stations it could own at one time. The Act lifted all bans, so corporations could now buy hundreds of small stations and own a majority of all the airwaves in America (such as the Clear Channel corporation).  The Telecommunications Act allowed corporations to start owning multiple communications venues in order to “promote competition in the marketplace.”  The side effect of the Act, however, is overwhelming ownership of many media outlets by just a few corporations.  The new mergers that were allowed under the Act of 1996 were said to be a boon for several reasons:

Financial Gain. One of the largest of these media outlets, Disney, employs a staggering 130,000 people world wide and thus aids in the economy of certain areas around the world.  These media multinational corporations can make billions of dollars every year through their film, television, advertising, video games, and media infrastructure.  This money and these employees certainly aid in America’s economy.

Synergy. Corporations can now experience something called synergy.  Synergy allows a corporation to push one product or film through all of its different arms.  For example, when Disney releases an animated summer children’s movie, the corporation does far more than release just the movie.  It also releases a wave of media and products surrounding this film.  This wave will include a line of toys through a toy company it owns or has a partnership with.  The movie may spawn a video game from a gaming company that is owned by the corporation.  Most importantly, the corporation will engage in a cross-promotion campaign.  There will be contests on its cable stations, give-aways on the local news channel it owns, popcorn buckets advertising the film at its movie chains, and sneak previews on its networks’ TV shows, and DVD releases.  Information and products about this film will become inescapable, maximizing the size of the audience and corporate profits.

Bigger Budgets. Media mergers also create bigger budgets for some movies and television programs.  As the umbrella corporations get bigger, there is more money backing films and shows as they are produced.  Such big-budget films as the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Pirates of the Caribbean movies might not ever have been produced under the older model of Hollywood financing because of their huge price tags.  With hundreds of millions of dollars to support such projects, however, we have a chance for even bigger, more technologically-enhanced films in the future.

These benefits exist primarily as a means for these corporations to make more money and spread their reach, and that is the primary goal of any corporation.  However, critics say that these corporate benefits of media mergers are far outweighed by the negative effects on U.S. citizens.  The corporations reap the rewards and profits, but the average consumer has to pay the price in a loss of media diversity.  Below are some of the negative aspects of these media mergers:

Loss of Unique Voices. While the size of the major media corporations may create a bigger filming budget, many in Hollywood (including representatives of the Screen Actor’s Guild and Director’s Guild at a public hearing about media consolidation in 2005) think these corporations are actually harming film and television.  Instead of unique and independent minds creating new and exciting films, most entertainment created in Hollywood is churned out according to formulas and profitability, not artistic merit.  Some fans and makers of independent films, or “indies,” (small, original films that are not distributed by the major distribution companies) argue that the big companies have a stranglehold on the movie business, keeping intelligent, often quirky, small-budget films out of movie theaters and edging independent film makers out of the business.  Once, there were dozens of independent studios making film and television shows, and now there are a mere handful.  And, even these independent studies are controlled directly by the boards of directors of these overarching media conglomerates.  As well, independent Web sites are gobbled up by the media giants (such as MySpace.com’s recent sale to NewsCorp for $580 million).

Concentration of Power. Another criticism raised at these media multinationals is that there is a dangerous concentration of power over all avenues of information.  A few dozen men and women (the boards of directors and CEO’s of these companies) control most information in the modern world.  They own vast portions of the Internet, radio, television, and the printed press.  They have the power to highlight or bury any news story that occurs, and the populace has precious little resources left by which to verify or deny the mainstream information fed to us by a manipulated media.  Some critics even claim that the United States has reached levels of media concentration worse than there were in Soviet Russia under Stalin!  As citizens, we hope that these corporations are not distorting the news in a meaningful way, but we would all be hard pressed to find out if they were since they own most of the means we’d use to verify information.

Loss of Free Press. In the American Bill of Rights, citizens are guaranteed freedom of the press.  In its typical interpretation, this means the government has no power to stop people from saying, printing, or broadcasting their own opinions.  A free press must be free from more than just the government, however, and this is what critics of the recent media mergers worry about.  The news media must have the interest of the populace in mind, not only the interest of advertising revenues and sponsors.  A hard-hitting news story can offend people, and if a major corporation is also offended, it can pull its ads, costing millions of dollars to the news network.  A board of directors can kill a story if there is pressure from a major advertiser.  This is a serious form of information control.  According to the critics, some stories of sweat shops, pollution, ill health caused by products, global warming, and even corporate crime aren’t given the breadth of coverage they deserve because the media conglomerates are afraid of losing sponsors.

Death of Democracy.  The cornerstone of any democracy is the ability of anyone to run for office and for all citizens to have access to the truth regarding elections.  However, the current media system is said by many to deny us this.  Democratic elections are won and lost on the battlegrounds of advertising campaigns.  These cost millions of dollars, and whichever candidate has the most money can hire the best directors and writers and pay for the most air time—and such air time typically wins an election, leaving us with a politic of finance, not a politic of educated voters.  Whoever can generate the most campaign funding, run the deepest smear campaign, or saturate the mass media the most has a distinct advantage.  Without a free flow of reliable information, the notion of a truly free and democratic people vanishes.

 

Big Four

Four corporations own the bulk of our access to information.  They are Time-Warner (previously America Online Time Warner until the name changed), Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (the parent company of the Fox networks), Sumner Redstone’s Viacom, and the iconic Disney Corporation.   Who owns what may not seem like anything worthy of study, but when so few people own so much of the media, the possibility of free voices, unique perspectives, and fresh art diminishes in the wake of corporate profit.  Even the self-publishing aspects of the internet, such as YouTube.com and MySpace.com are now owned by these giants, and they can edit and control the content and “free voices” found on them.

Below is a list of some of the holdings of the “Big Four” multinational media corporations.  Represented here are various companies, television stations, cable networks, newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and even amusement parks and sports teams that these multinationals own or owned until recently (entire corporations are bought and sold with such frequency that some of these corporations may have bought each other out by the time you read this).  No look at information competency can be complete without a study of these corporations and their holdings.   Knowing who owns these aspects of the media is a crucial part of information competency.  Many people don’t understand where our knowledge comes from and fail to have an understanding of the power of the media.  As these media multinationals own more and more of the avenues of information, information competency is related to understanding who owns what.

 

Time-Warner. Time Warner is arguably the world’s most influential media conglomerate.  It employs over 85,000 employees, is in the top 50 of the Fortune 500, and it saw over $43 billion in revenue in 2005.  In a way, Time Warner set the stage for the business model of expanding media corporations.  While Time Magazine and Warner Brothers Films Studios both date back to the 1920’s, they remained independent corporate entities until the 1990s when they merged and were quickly bought by America Online, creating the largest and wealthiest media corporation in the world. 

Television and Cable. CNN, HBO, CNN Headline News, CW Network (50%), Court TV, TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television (TNT), Cartoon Network, In-Demand Pay-Per-View, Comedy Central (50%).

Studios and Intellectual Properties: Warner Bros Studios, WB Network, Hana-Barbera Cartoons, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Castle Rock Entertainment, Telepictures Productions, The Sopranos, Rome, Batman, Superman, The Justice League, Wonder Woman, Bugs Bunny, Space Ghost.

Print: Time Life Books; Sunset Books; Warner Books; Little, Brown and Company; over 60 magazines, including Time, People, Life, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Popular Science, Money, Fortune, In Style, Field and Stream, People en Espanol, Teen People, and Mad Magazine.

Miscellaneous: America Online Internet Service, Warner Music Group (over 40 recording labels including Elektra, Atlantic, Asylum, and Reprise), Warner Brothers Recreational Enterprises (including Six Flags Amusement Parks), Warner Bros. International Theaters (which owns and runs movie theaters in several countries), Road Runner Cable Network, Bright House High Speed Internet, AOL Instant Messenger, Netscape, Moviephone, and the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks.

 

News Corporation. The News Corporation is unique compared to the other big four media conglomerates because it was built and owned by one man: Rupert Murdoch.  Murdoch started out with two Australian newspapers and has turned that into a global corporation with over 47,000 employees and revenues of $25 billion in 2006.  Between his salary and bonuses, Rupert Murdoch typically makes around $25 million a year for his work as CEO of The News Corporation, and he has even parodied himself in The Simpsons (a show his corporation owns).

Television and Cable: Fox Broadcasting Company, FX, Speed Network, Fox News, Fox Spots, Fox Kids, Over 200 Fox Television Stations in major American markets.

Studios and Intellectual Properties: 20th Century Fox Studios and Fox Searchlight studios.  X-Files, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, 24, Prison Break, That 70’s Show.

Print: Over 20 publishing houses including Harper Collins, Morrow/Avon, Perennial, and Harper Collins UK.  They also own 16 magazines and over 30 newspapers in over ten countries. 

Miscellaneous: Myspace.com, DirecTV, and Sky Global Satellite Network.

 

Viacom/CBS. The Viacom Corporation is one of the largest media conglomerates, and this is evidenced by the fact that it owned the massive CBS network until recently when they split into two separate corporations.  This move helped streamline both corporations, though in a very real way, they are still the same entity, using their synergy and infrastructure to ensure each other’s success.  The real thing keeping these two corporations tied together is the Redstone family.  Sumner Redstone and his wife Shari Redstone are the CEO and Vice Chairman of both CBS and Viacom, running them as one corporate entity.  Under this new structure, Viacom had revenues of 9.6 billion in 2005, and CBS had $14 billion in the same time span.  With Sumner Redstone acting as both heads of this corporate hydra, CBS rose to the number one rated network in America.  The holdings below represent both CBS and Viacom collectively.

Television and Cable: CBS Network (over 40 channels nationwide), CW Network (50%), MTV, MTV2, VH1, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Nick at Night, BET, Spike TV, Comedy Central (50%), Showtime, The Movie Channel, Country Music Television, and Sundance Channel.

Studios and Intellectual Properties: Paramount Pictures, Dream Works SKG (partial ownership), Kingworld, CSI, Survivor, the Star Trek franchise, Sponge Bob Square Pants, I Love the 80’s, The Real World, Road Rules, Laguna Beach, Jackass, Total Request Live (TRL).

Print: Simon and Schuster, Scribner, Pocket Books, and The Free Press.

Miscellaneous: Over 100 radio stations nationwide, CBS Outdoor and Viacom Outdoor (roadside billboard advertising).

 

Disney. Disney is the second largest of the media multinationals ($34 billion in revenue and over 130,000 employees), and it is undeniably the most famous and endearing.  Disney aims to create brands that people will love from infancy through adulthood, ranging from Mickey Mouse to The Little Mermaid and Toy Story.  Disney is unique in that it owns not only its own cruise line, but its own city: Celebration, Florida.

Television and Cable: ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, E! (partial), A&E (partial), The History Channel (partial), The Biography Channel (partial), ABC Family, Toon Disney, SOAPnet, and Lifetime (partial).

Film Studios and Intellectual Properties: Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, Buena Vista, Pixar, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Toy Story, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal.

Print: Hyperion Books, Disney Publishing, Discover Magazine, Disney Magazine, Biography Magazine (partial), US Weekly.

Miscellaneous: Disneyland Resorts, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruiselines, Disneyland Paris/Hong Kong/Tokyo, nearly 50 radio stations in major markets, ESPN radio, Buena Vista Music, Walt Disney Records, Hollywood Records, Disney Store retail chain,

Secondary Media Conglomerates:

There are also corporations which own large portions of the American media-scape but not at the scale of the big four listed above.  Corporations such as Clear Channel own hundreds of radio and television stations coast to coast.  Entities such as the Bertelsmann group own dozens of major American publishing houses.  Below is a brief list of some other corporations that also own major stakes in our information domain.

Bertelsmann

Clear Channel

Comcast

Cox Enterprises

Gannett

GE/NBC

Hearst Corporation

Sony

Tribune Company

Vivendi/Universal

NOTE: All corporate holding information comes from Hoover’s Company Records and Columbia Journalism of Review’s “Who Owns What” website found at: http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/   or  http://www.cjr.org/resources/

 


 

This excerpt is from the upcoming book Navigating America: Research and Information Competency for the 21st Century, by David Moton and Gloria Dumler, McGraw Hill Publisher, copyright 2007.