The Illusion of Choice [infographic]

It seems like in today’s world there are fewer and fewer people making choices for the greater good. What I mean to say is that everything in our world seems to be able to be consolidated. The media of course is no exception to this trend with only 6 major companies dictating about 90% of the media we have access to. In less than 30 years the number of companies providing us with our media has dropped from 50 to just 6. The six companies consisting of GE, New-corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS. If your wondering who owns the major networks its CBS of course, GE owns NBC, News-corp owns fox, and Disney owns ABC.

A reason for concern is the gross misrepresentation have so few companies controlling so much causes. According to today’s infogaphic Media Consolidaiton: The Illusion of Choice there is one media executive to every 850,000 subscribers. It’s kind of like representative government except you don’t get to choose who represents you and there is no better option.

If the free market had truly decided who was the winner and loser I would have no problem with there just being six companies running our media. However the path to success for these companies was not so honorable. Some of these companies even though they’re some of the most profitable in the world don’t even end up paying taxes. Crazy how the average citizen who probably only makes enough to get by has to pay more proportionately than one of these powerhouses. [via]

As a dad (and blogger) I’m concerned with the integrity of the news and entertainment my family and I consume every day. Who really produces, owns and airs the shows my kids are glued to every evening and which companies select the stories I read with such loyalty each morning? I’ve always advocated for critical consumption, and what could be more important than an awareness of the sources of our families’ daily info and entertainment diets? And today, most of our media is controlled by one of six companies. Check out Frugaldad’s infographic on the state of media consolidation in the U.S.:


Source: Frugal dad