Blog #10

 EOTO #2- MEDIA CONSOLIDATION

By- Ava Daniels

Before researching and learning the true definition of media consolidation, I did not know what it was or knew the actual term for it. I also did not know an issue big enough to make me stop and think about how current events are shared was something that I believe more people should know about. 

To start, what is media consolidation? According to John Light of Moyer Media, Media consolidation is the concentration of ownership of our news sources into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations. In other words, less and less corporations are owning news sources available to the public. Because of this, the news and current events that are being shared may be censored or filtered so that these individuals in charge of these organizations can pick and choose what is broadcasted. This also means that these mass media outlets are taking away from journalists that could potentially be gathering more information and getting more information that these corporations do not want to be released. Dating back to the early 2000’s when President Bush was President of the United States, The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) was in favor of this and was “pushing a plan to gut its 30-year-old newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban”. This would allow a corporation to own multiple broadcasting networks such as local newspapers, television, and radio stations. The reasoning for more media consolidation on one end was that it would save local journalism as well as cut costs (Josh Sterns). However some argue the complete opposite; that media consolidation actually does not save local journalism and, instead, makes journalists jobs harder. 

So why should people care about this and who does this affect? The main thing to think about when looking at this issue is how many people rely on these newspapers and TV and radio stations; a lot of people. The main demographic is generally older generations seeing as social media and different forms of social communication, especially digitally, are what younger generations of people use to get updated on current events. As stated earlier, most of the news that is broadcasted to the public is filtered through. Along with this, the news is also being published by businesses that are “out-of-touch” with current events instead of journalists who are on the ground. Limiting journalists also affects the news published and personal stories reported and documented related to local and global issues. Specifically minority groups such as immigrants, females, and people of color. 

Recently, in 2021, The Federal Communications Commission was challenged about media consolidation but the appeals court upheld their decision. However, it was found insufficient that the ownership of minority and female media outlets were not considered enough (The Seattle Times) and there was not enough statistical data. I think that more people should definitely know about media consolidation and the effects that it can have on people and themselves. Because of it, journalists are not writing as much, media and news that is released to the public is filtered and important details about serious issues are being hidden from citizens.