Media Mergers Threaten Community News
Submitted: September 24, 2008 - 9:30pm
Last updated: September 25, 2008 - 8:14am
Last updated: September 25, 2008 - 8:14am
Source:
Government Technology
Author:
Sascha Meinrath
[Commentary] The federal government's media ownership policies have tremendous impact on the community media that has traditionally played an important role in fostering community awareness and involvement. The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented number of media mergers among TV, radio, film, publishing and online holdings. An oligopoly has emerged in which six massive corporations control enormous numbers of media outlets. In 2006, combined revenues from these companies were greater than many countries' economies -- even individually, the economic might is daunting.
Links to Sources
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
Ratings
Recommendation:
Informative:
Accuracy:
Login to rate this headline.
Comments
Thanks for the feedback. I’d like to think that users could take advantage of the "add new comment" feature to add a link to another resource, but I can see how that might seem like too much when all you want to do is “add a link”.
We'll do some brainstorming on our end to come up with a solution to address your request.
Jeremy Isett
Web Administrator
jeremy [at] benton [dot] org
I'd be interested in learning about diversity of news sources. (Must be Pew report.) While there's an obvious consolidation in old media there is an explosion of new media. What's the bottom line?
Perhaps Benton could stoke the explosion by highlighting postings from a greater diversity of sources. Now I'm certain that the poor fellow(s) who must read all these old media publications to come up with the current list is way overtaxed. So perhaps a participatory tech fix is called for: how about adding a button or two, e.g., "Got a Related Story?" or "Add a Related Story" in your newly upgraded service (which I love).
My work in with another (potentially) explosive development, city-TLDs. With the ICANN having approved a New gTLD policy this past June, global cities will soon be sporting sexy Internet names - .paris, .berlin, .ven, and my favorite .nyc. But note that troubling "potentially." We run the risk of this new medium being appropriated and later consolidated by the old, with lack of attention a facilitating factor. There are a few understandable reasons for this, one of which I cautiously touch on below. But first a thought relating to white space, about which I know precious little.
At Monday's OneWebDay event in Washington Square Park, I had the pleasure of hearing Dharma Dailey speak about white space. It sparked a dream: Imagine cities with white space and city TLDs, and with community control of broadcast resources such as williamsburg.nyc and astoria.nyc? For you white space advocates note that City Council Member Gale Brewer is having a hearing on this next Monday 10 AM, City Hall (New York City).
This begs the question - Is too much emphasis being placed on fixing the old vs. preparing for the new?
Tom Lowenhaupt, Director
Connecting.nyc Inc., a NYS not-for-profit created to acquire and develop the .nyc TLD.
wiki blog