Slightly off-topic, but very relevant - From
http://justiceblind.com/
MEDIA CONSOLIDATION IN THE UNITED STATES: BASIC CONCEPTS
VERTICAL INTEGRATION
- A single corporation owns multiple companies that contribute to the production and distribution of a product or service in one sector of the economy.
- EXAMPLES: (1) Carnegie Steel Corp owns steel mills, iron ore mines, coal mines, shipping companies and railroads. (2) Exxon Oil Corp controls oil exploration, extraction, transportation, refining and distribution of oil products.
HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
- A single corporation owns multiple companies either in one sector of the economy or in multiple sectors of the economy.
- EXAMPLES: (1) Gap, Inc owns Banana Republic and Old Navy; (2) General Electric owns companies that manufacture everything from military/commercial engines and appliances to banks, healthcare companies and media giants(NBC).
INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES
- Members of the Board of Directors’ from one company serve as Board members of other companies.
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MEDIA CONSOLIDATION
HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
- In 1945, 80% of U.S. newspapers were independent; by 1980, 80% were owned by corporate chains.
- By 1990, just 20 corporations controlled almost the entire business in daily newspapers, magazines, television, books and motion pictures (source: The Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian, 2004).
- In 1983, there were 50 major media companies; by 1987 there were 29; by 1990 23; by 1992 14; by 1997 10; by 2000 6; and by 2004 just 5 (AOL-Time Warner, Disney, News Corp, Bertelsmann, and Viacom (with GE a close sixth). These companies control the majority of media in the U.S. (source: The Media Monopoly…).
- General Electric owns NBC Universal, a major media conglomerate. Once known as a manufacturer of appliances, GE Corp is now divided into six major sectors: (1) Infrastructure (35% of profits) that includes military and commercial airline engines and related technology; (2) Commercial Finance (20%) that includes real estate and banking; (3) Consumer Finance (15%); (4) Health Care that includes related technology and pharmaceutical research and production; (5) Industrial (10%) that includes the production of appliances and other consumer products; and (6) NBC Universal (10%) (source: General Electric website).
- Time Warner (CNN) has over 200 subsidiaries world wide, including TV stations, music companies, book and magazine publishers, movie theaters, cable TV companies, theme parks and professional sports teams (source: Global Media Giants by Robert McChesney, Extra, Nov-Dec 1997).
INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES
- ABC/Disney: City National Bank, FedEx, Staples, Edison Internationl, Xerox, Boeing…)
- NBC/GE: Anheuser-Busch, Avon, Chase Manhattan, Coca-Cola, Internet Security Systems, Knight-Ridder, Texaco, New York Stock Exchange…)
- CBS/Viacom: American Express, Chase Manhattan, Honeywell, Morgan Chase & Co, New York Stock Exchange, Prudential, Rockwell International…)
WHAT? ME WORRY?
“We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only obligation.”
--Michael Eisner, then CEO of Disney/ABC,
Internal memo quoted in Media Mass
Monopoly –Disney, Childhood and
Corporate Power by
“ We are here to serve advertisers. That is our raison d’etre.”
--CEO of Westinghouse/CBS in Advertising Age, February 1997.
I already do this . I took screenshots of several charts and polls. I have a disc from 2007 that I saved lots of campaign screengrabs on.
. Was surprised to guess my acct and pwd on the first try!
