Use the following links to connect to a couple of charts that diagram who owns the major media outlets in the United States. After reviewing this information, what's your reaction to these charts? Is too much power over the media concentrated into too few companies or does this not really matter? How does this affect the news an average "media consumer" receives? Explain your response.
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main
http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html
The media isn't run by just one, and there isn't just one media network. different media networks are owned by different companies. In my opinion Disney owns most of the media networks.
ReplyDeleteI do think that government and others have way to much power over the media. How do we Americans know that the information the media is giving us is actually true? Why does the media say "We Tell All"? when actually the media hides things. or does the media not even know things that the government isn't saying? Will these questions ever be answered?
The small amount of companies that run the media isn’t something to be too concerned about. The fewer the companies, the more organized the overall media can be. With that said, there could be some misleading or persuasion going on based on the small number of producing companies. But, that would happen whether there was one-hundred companies or six. There are pro’s and con’s to either side of it; big or small number of people reporting on and distributing news to people. The power and responsibility of being in charge of the media is distributed within the bigger companies to the several smaller companies.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the information about the different companies that the media is owned by, I am actually kind of surprised. There are so many sources of media and so much to be presented to the public, that I would've never thought that the entire media is controlled by only 6 companies.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the amount of companies that run the media really matters, because, like JillB said, no matter how many companies the media is run by, there will always some misleading or persuasion in the media. But as long as the public receives the information that they need, it doesn't matter how they get it or who they get it from.
This really doesn't affect the news an average "media consumer" receives because as long as there are at least several different companies, they will be competing against each other to win over the most viewers, so they will all try to present the newest and most interesting or relative news to their consumers which will lead to a large variety of stories being shared on the news, internet, etc.
I was surprised when I saw that only six companies run almost all of the media. I think JennyM and JillB both have valid arguments but i think there is too much power in too few companies. It said on one of the links that some of these major companies own 50-100% of each smaller company. This means they control 50-100% of the things that happen in that company. The huge amount of power in these six companies could end up leading to good competition but it could also lead to corruption. Overall, I think the power in the media should be distributed to more than just six companies. The news an average "media consumer" receives is affected the same way, no matter how many companies own the media. There will always be bias and there will always be untold news.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing that only six companies run almost all the media, I was surprised because I couldn't believe that of all the media that is out there, only six companies own it.
ReplyDeleteI think that too much media is controlled by too few companies. This is because in the links it says that the "big companies" control the media/shows/movies ETC... that they own, from start to finish. This means that the companies are vertically integrated, controlling the initial production, to the final distribution. Therefore, there is a lot less diversity in the things we watch than there could be, because most of the things we watch are controlled and produced by the same company.
This also applies to what the average "media consumer" receives. Because, if there is any kind of bias in the "big company", then the same bias will be watched by the consumer in many different shows due to the fact that the big company could own both of the shows the consumer watches. Therefore, the consumer wont get both sides of the story most of the time.
i think the media network is fine as is. my reason of thinking is that every thing is going so smoothly it seems. just because walt disney is larger known doesnt meen its a bigger corporation so i think it is fine how it is and if the other networks dont like it they need to go do more networks for them selfs.
ReplyDeleteThis information surprised me. I thought that a single company would only own a few stations or networks at most. I wouldn't have guessed that about 6 companies controlled that large of a percentage of what we all see on a daily basis. Because the media we see is owned by such concentrated groups, we won't get broad ranges of information. This allows the media to be biased far more easily, and for the consumer to receive potentially false facts. If the owner has a bias, it will likely be expressed in the media.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely surprised that our media is only owned by a few companies. I also think that these companies have way too much power. If you think about it, almost every person in the United States is somehow effected by the media. Some people even depend on the media. So, in my opinion, these companies can control the way that the people of America act, and can even influence their decisions.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the media is owned by a select few companies. It is something that I had never really thought about, because it was hidden. This is one of those problems where whether or not there is a problem, there is no logical fix to it. The only true issue with a few companies owning such a large asset of the world is that if one company is biased, they can skew information at their will without anyone knowing. There is almost literally no way to stop this.
ReplyDeleteBefore I looked at these charts I didn’t realize that someone actually owned the media. It was a weird concept to me to wrap my head around the thought that companies control what is shown in the media. When I think of the media I usually think about stories on other people’s lives. Obviously Disney doesn’t own people and allow them to share certain stuff and not others, but I never took the time to think about who controls the media. I think that there should be many sources that own the media. If we only have 6 then there is a lot of potential for media bias. If 6 sources own the media then people won’t really get a good view about what is happening, and they won’t get perspectives from a variety of places. I think that as a courtesy to “media consumers” the media need to have more companies own it so that we get a large diversity and selection of media that we want to consume.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that only six companies control the media! I think too much power is in the hands of too few companies. It’s important for various companies with various ideas to control the news; this way, many opinions are expressed from multiple view-points. Hopefully it’d create less bias since more views would be shown to the public. Since there are only a few companies in control of the news, the information coming from news stations are most likely very similar since they are controlled by some of the same companies. Therefore, media consumers hear the same story from different news channels. This causes them to believe the story/opinion is accurate and truthful since it came from multiple stations. In reality, though, these different news stations are all controlled by the same over-riding company, so of course the information broadcast is the same. The average consumer does not hear as many views as he/she should.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at these charts I am truly shocked to see that only 6 companies which in my opinion is a too small of range for what all the media has to cover. There is so much the public eye is exposed to (good or bad) and for companies such as Walt Disney to own a large portion of the media is very surprising.
ReplyDeleteI think these certain companies have too much power over the media. They own everything from every step of the media. Yet, if you look at the problem through the consumers eyes Brian Solis has a good viewpoint. He says, “It’s the customer who owns it.” This is true because each individual can take the media into their own perspective.
This doesn’t really affect an average "media consumer" receives because with the big company corporations each news channel will want to get the most viewers with interesting/bating them with the top headline stories. They will be competing so this system may help the viewers in a positive way.
After looking at these charts, I am surprised to see that only six companies are part of the news world. I however don't think any of this is a big deal but the companies can take it too far. I completely agree with julies, and with various ideas to control how the news is represented. I also think that the more media companies there are, the harder it would be for one news station to create bias on one subject, or there could be misleading or persuasion going on based on the small number of producing companies. All in all, I think that the news should be distributed beyond just six companies. The way the average “media consumer” watches the news won't affect them them because it will always be the same way with biases, and stories that will never be told because that is how life always was and how it is.
ReplyDeleteI don’t find it all too surprising that the media is controlled by so few. It is not necessarily a bad thing that the media is controlled by the “big six”. These six companies are all trying to make the most money possible. To do that they must get the most viewers possible and because of this their power is greatly limited. The stations have to cater to society. People are only going to watch what they like and agree with. American society is greatly diverse in beliefs and ideas. Since the media outlets try to maximize their total number of viewers and the pool of viewers is highly diverse the media outlets must show a highly diverse number of shows. If one network is showing only cartoons at a certain time then another station will show things catered to adults at the same time to pick up the other viewers. If a news station shows leftist news then another station will show rightist news to get the other viewers. This means that the different news stations will be different from each other in an effort to get different audiences. This gives the average "media consumer” a verity of news with different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteLooking at these charts really opened my eyes. I had no idea that these companies actually owned parts of the media and to me it's a terrifying thought. The media is what gives us information on the outside world and it can easily influence a large group of people. Reading through these charts reminded me of 1984 by George Orwell. In the book, the government had complete control over the media and forced people with different opinions and beliefs to conform to society.
ReplyDeleteAlthough today people may hear the same stories and viewpoints from the media, that does not mean that they have to accept their stance on the subject. People have their own opinions and can make their own decisions despite what the media tells them. Even so, there should not be just 6 major companies dominating the media. It gives these companies far too much power.
It was a shock to find out that all the information we get about the world is controlled by so few companies. This definitely seems like a bad thing to me because if a head of one of those companies is biased on a certain subject, that view is spread to everyone who watches the news they control. Too much power in the hands of one person or company is never a good thing. This is especially frightening when considering how we get almost all of our information from some source of media. Outside of personal experience, it seems like these six companies control everything we know, or think we know, about what goes on around us. So if we can’t trust the news, internet, or newspapers, who can we trust?
ReplyDeleteAfter looking over the charts, I am very surprised. Having out entire media based off of 6 companies is kind of scary. The worlds news is based off of 6 oppions. There is no way to get arond bias news. Walt Disney is one of the main companies. Disney makes me think of Hannah Montana, or That's so Raven, not news broadcasts. People bash the news all the time, and now I am starting to understand it. The media is very repetitive and that is once again because of the 6 oppions. The media is just a few oppions that went big, now when I watch the news I will watch more closely the views of the information.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that only 6 major companies own the media, can be surprising, due to the fact that they are the source for almost all of the information the average citizen knows. These large companies can and often do, show one side of the story, and that can be disappointing. The one thing that we can be thankful for is the First Amendment of The US Constitution. This shows that even though the media may be biased toward one side, it is controlled by civilians and not the government. This free press helps keep an honest check on the government that we live under, however, there is still biased views that are expressed sometimes toward and sometimes against the government. I'm not sure that biased news will ever be truly neutral, however, we can work toward getting a more neutral media base possibly by distributing the power of the media to smaller, less political companies.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at these charts I am very surprised. The media is a huge thing to our society and the fact that is it only run by 6 companies is mind blowing. I would have thought it would be a lot more. However in my opinion it really does not matter who owns the media or who puts out the facts because news is news and it doesn't matter who owns it. I do think that there is a lot of power upon these 6 companies but it is nothing to be worried about. They are all trying to do the same thing and it really just comes down to who does it better. I personally don’t think that this could possibly affect the news an average “media consumer” receives because they are all going to give news stories out on way or another and which one that person believes is all up to them and the media is not involved with that.
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising that only 6 companies control all of the media. However, it is important to note that it seems that most channels are owned by more than one company. On the chart, it showed that most channels are owned by two or more of the media empires, so I think that leads to a relatively fair take on their content. However it is important for the average American to realize that our media is controlled by such a select few companies so they understand that many media outlets are biased and will present an issue with favor towards one side or the other. As long as Americans take their news from more than one source, however, they can safely form an accurate understanding of what is truly happening in the world.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always thought the media was spread out and full of many owners/partnerships. But to see this, where 6 companies own the majority of our free time- T.V., Movies, Music etc. Its grim but true, 6 people own our means of entertainment, lifestyle, and sources for information. I find this to be wrong, because it just looks like a monopoly. Yes they may not own %80+ of the business, but when one examines GE for example they own far more than just the media. They own most of our household items and they make what’s backing up the United States military. Yes independent media exists but its so small, its like one lone tiny goldfish swimming in an ocean only populated by overly-excessive hungry large whales. But I guess I should settle down because they do provide good entertainment, and hey even if they are running the world, we the people can just sit back and watch Family Guy all night not having a care for what’s happening outside our gaze into the almighty boob tube.
ReplyDeleteAfter reviewing the charts that were posted on the links, I was surprised that only six companies that control all of our media. I think that this is reasonable because so far we have not had any big problems with the control of media. I think that having a small amount of companies running our media is a good way to keep it organized. Also, if there were more companies controlling the media, there would be more opportunities created to send out false information. On the other hand, maybe if there were more companies that shared the media, they could show different views of how to do the things other than the way things are run now. If there were more companies controlling the media, the power could be shared equally, therefore preventing corruption. I was also very surprised about how much of the media that Disney controlled.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing both sides, I think that overall it doesn’t really matter who controls the media because either way we all view the same information and there will always be untold stories.
I never would have guessed that only six companies own the media. There are so many different types of media and so many different opinions on those types that there's no way you would guess that six own it. I've always really thought that the people control what those medias do and say, though. TV, for example, you choose your favorite shows and all the channels are competing to have the better show that everyone will watch and hopefully knock out some competition. But the problem with only six is that it's six different versions of the same variety. Each company , it seems like, will have their own drama, their own comedy, etc. So if the amount of media companies increases, then the variety of categories of the media will expand.
ReplyDeleteWow! I was very surprised at the companies that owned the media. I mean when I think of Disney I think of Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Snow White, and furthermore; when I think of GE I think of the washer and dryer in my house. To see the variety of media controlling companies was a shock to me. To me I feel that even though the media is concentrated into only six companies, the companies are so diverse that this hardly affects the average media consumer since nearly every view point is represented. By having all viewpoints represented the average media consumer has less bias in what he/she watches, therefore; making the news more objective in its news casts.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the information, I was surprised that only six companies own the media. It was almost disappointing to see that the media is so influenced by only six companies. Because I have never known this before, I look at the media differently now that I do know. Even though its not exactly what I thought the media would be, I still think that it seems to work just fine. There is really no way that wee could change this at all, but what we can do is decide for ourselves what to believe.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading, I was shocked to learn that the media is run by just six companies. But while it makes me look at the media a little differently, it doesn't really concern me too much. They're obviously very diverse in the way that they interpret things in the media, and I think that that's all that really matters. Besides, with less companies running it, it will be more organized.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the charts, i was very surprised to find out that most of the media is owned by only 6 companies. By such few companies owning most of the media, it is going to cause some biases towards the information we are learning about. If something bad happens to one of the multiple businesses theses companies owns, we have a smaller chance of learning about it because they won't run the story if it hurts a business they are connected to. I think that there is too much power focused on too little businesses because there is not much competition or variety. This affects the news an average person sees because the average person probably only watches the major news outlets, they are going to be restricted to what the owners of those companies what them to hear.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the charts, I was very surprised to find out that most of the media is owned by only 6 companies. By such few companies owning most of the media, it is going to cause some biases towards the information we are learning about. But while it makes me look at the media a little differently, it doesn't really concern me too much. They're obviously very diverse in the way that they interpret things in the media, and I think that that's all that really matters. Besides, with less companies running it, it will be more organized.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is too much power focused on too little businesses because there is not much competition or variety. This affects the news an average person sees because the average person probably only watches the major news outlets, they are going to be restricted to what the owners of those companies what them to hear.
It was interesting to me that only six companies run all the media. It does concearn me a little bit. I do think that too much power is concentraited into only six companies. I believe that this could be an issue because if one company lies about one part of a story and another about a differnt think you get caught up in it and have a completely different story that what it really is. Also since there is only six there is a lot of competition between the huge companies meaning that they will do anything to keep you hooked even if that means putting out bias news.
ReplyDeleteIt surprised me how many companies run the media. In my honest opinion I think disney runs the media.But then also i think alot of companies like feed info and news to eachother.Also i think a majority of people believe what they hear on the news it's like if it intrest them there going to believe it. But i dont know who truely runs/controls the media.
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