Report Outline
Concentration of News Ownership
Areas of Government Involvement
Communications Industry Outlook
Special Focus
Concentration of News Ownership
Recent Newspaper Mergers and Acquistions
Freedom of the press is a principle considered essential to the basic framework of American society. Concomitant with this ideal is the belief that a free press is fostered best by diversity of news ownership. E. B. White, the writer, expressed this belief most eloquently last year in a letter to the Xerox Corp., protesting the company's sponsorship of an article in Esquire magazine. “As long as there are many owners, each pursuing his own brand of truth, we the people have the opportunity to arrive at the truth and to dwell in its light,” White wrote. “…It's only when there are few owners…that the truth becomes elusive and the light fails.”
White's words carry a great deal of force as an ideology, and most journalists would hold them to be true. On a more practical level, however, they run head on into a hard reality: it takes money to operate a newspaper or broadcasting station, and money is something the big newspaper groups and other media conglomerates have. The image of family-owned, independently run newspapers, spread out across the country, is fading fast.
The increasing concentration of media ownership is raising new and important questions about the future of news dispersal in the United States. How much competition is required to ensure a forum for unbiased journalism? Should the First Amendment be invoked by the government to prevent monopolization of the airwaves and newsprint? Would such action be a violation of the First Amendment rights of the press? At what point does concentration of media ownership pose a threat to the free flow of ideas? Some news organizations are into both publishing and broadcasting, and even have branched out into unrelated businesses to strengthen their economic position. |
|
Journalism, Newspapers, and the Media |
|
 |
Jan. 28, 2022 |
Misinformation and the Media |
 |
Oct. 02, 2020 |
Social Media Platforms |
 |
Sep. 18, 2020 |
The News Media |
 |
Aug. 24, 2018 |
Conspiracy Theories |
 |
Jun. 09, 2017 |
Trust in Media |
 |
May 30, 2014 |
Digital Journalism |
 |
May 03, 2013 |
Media Bias |
 |
Apr. 26, 2013 |
Free Speech at Risk |
 |
Apr. 12, 2013 |
Combat Journalism |
 |
Nov. 2010 |
Press Freedom |
 |
Oct. 08, 2010 |
Journalism Standards in the Internet Age |
 |
Feb. 05, 2010 |
Press Freedom |
 |
Mar. 27, 2009 |
Future of Journalism  |
 |
Jun. 09, 2006 |
Blog Explosion  |
 |
Jan. 20, 2006 |
Future of Newspapers |
 |
Apr. 08, 2005 |
Free-Press Disputes |
 |
Oct. 15, 2004 |
Media Bias |
 |
Oct. 10, 2003 |
Media Ownership  |
 |
Dec. 25, 1998 |
Journalism Under Fire |
 |
Jun. 05, 1998 |
Student Journalism |
 |
Sep. 20, 1996 |
Civic Journalism |
 |
Sep. 23, 1994 |
Courts and the Media |
 |
Aug. 24, 1990 |
Hard Times at the Nation's Newspapers |
 |
Jan. 19, 1990 |
Finding Truth in the Age of ‘Infotainment’ |
 |
Aug. 18, 1989 |
Libel Law: Finding the Right Balance |
 |
Jun. 06, 1986 |
Magazine Trends |
 |
Oct. 12, 1984 |
News Media and Presidential Campaigns |
 |
Jul. 15, 1983 |
State of American Newspapers |
 |
Oct. 23, 1981 |
High Cost of Libel |
 |
Dec. 23, 1977 |
Media Reforms |
 |
Mar. 11, 1977 |
News Media Ownership |
 |
Jun. 21, 1974 |
Access to the Media |
 |
Dec. 20, 1972 |
Newsmen's Rights |
 |
Aug. 16, 1972 |
Blacks in the News Media |
 |
Dec. 15, 1971 |
Magazine Industry Shake-Out |
 |
Jul. 18, 1969 |
Competing Media |
 |
Sep. 02, 1964 |
Politicians and the Press |
 |
Dec. 04, 1963 |
Libel Suits and Press Freedom |
 |
Jan. 09, 1963 |
Newspaper Mergers |
 |
Dec. 20, 1961 |
Reading Boom: Books and Magazines |
 |
Dec. 02, 1959 |
Privileged Communications |
 |
Apr. 25, 1956 |
Newsprint Deficit |
 |
May 06, 1953 |
Government and the Press |
 |
Sep. 21, 1948 |
Press and State |
 |
Sep. 05, 1947 |
Newsprint Supply |
 |
Mar. 26, 1947 |
Facsimile Newspapers |
 |
Dec. 10, 1945 |
World Press Freedom |
 |
May 01, 1940 |
New Experiments in Newspaper-Making |
 |
Nov. 04, 1933 |
Press Freedom Under the Recovery Program |
| | |
|