Who IS Running The Show?

I don't much care whether you think that popular media is too conservative or too liberal or right where it needs to be, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it's wrong. But the broohaha over the funding of public radio has me thinking that we need to get some definitions clear, and we should probably start with the word "public."

Taxpayer dollars go to support National Public Radio because it is PUBLIC. That is what public means. Public = taxpayer owned/supported. That's as opposed to private, which means "owned and operated by an individual or private corporation." Therefore, PUBLIC radio is, by definition, taxpayer supported. We don't have to like it, but we should at least get the definition straight.  The real question, though, is why should Americans support public media at all? 

THE DEATH OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA 

Which leads us down the rabbit hole of wondering how much of the media in the U. S. is public, and how much is owned by private interests? The easiest way I know to answer that question is to explore the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of us know it through its connection with National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Don't let the world "corporation" mislead you, this is a public corporation, meaning that our taxes support it.

And don't let THAT fool you into thinking that you're paying for all of NPR and PBS's programming - they receive only about 10% of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Currently the House of Representatives seems to think that 10% is too much and would like to slash it drastically, so there's that whole debate going on. But it's best we remember that the majority of these programs' funding comes from individual donors, which is why they don't have commercials for toothpaste but do have those pesky telethons several times a year. So basically, they operate by providing programming that members of the public like well enough to call in and shell out some dough to keep it on the air.

So that takes care of NPR and PBS.

But really, how much of your news comes from NPR and PBS? And what about the rest of the networks - NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, CNN, books, magazines, newspapers? Private. All private. So if you don't like what NPR and PBS have to say, don't call in and give them your donation, and that's how you have a voice in their programming. If you don't like what pretty much everyone else has to say - too bad. It's not your station.

So whose is it? That's the bad news. According to the Media Reform Information Center, in 1983 approximately 50 different stations owned the remainder of the media in the U. S. So 50 different corporations can't possibly all be in each others pockets, right? But they merged, and bought each other out, and engaged in hostile takeovers of each other, and as of 2004 virtually all the rest of the media in the United States was owned by exactly 5 companies. CBS has since joined in the fun, leaving us currently with 6, count them, 6 possible sources for our information. 

So unless you listen to NPR or PBS or search out independent media via the internet, you get virtually ALL of your news, radio, print, and programming from a total of 6 companies: Time Warner, Disney, NewsCorp owned by Rupert Murdoch, Viacom, General Electric, and CBS. And if you think those six companies would rather fight each other and compete for your advertising dollars that just share total monopolization of the entire media market, think again. They are not the government or the Public Broadcasting Corporation, you did not vote for them and you do not get a say in what they produce. They are in business for one reason and one reason only - the almighty dollar. So if sensationalized or skewed news gets more viewers (hence, more advertising dollars), then sensationalized and skewed it shall be.

And don't think they're not THRILLED to see this debate over whether the Public Broadcasting Corporation should continue to be supported by tax dollars. It is a win-win situation as far as they are concerned. Either we continue to bicker over whether we should support 10% or less of the independent, public media in the U. S., or we decide we should stop supporting independent, public media altogether. Either way, they continue controlling the vast majority of the market and we're all too busy pointing fingers at each other and our own government to look at who is really, literally, running the show.