Ten Years Ago... Stand-Up Synergy

STAND-UP SYNERGY
[SOURCE: New York Times 3/6/1997, AUTHOR: Frank Rich]
[Commentary] Our culture's new rulers are the people who run the handful of new conglomerates that now own most of mass culture -- our TV and cable and radio networks, movie and recording studios, magazines and book publishers and theme parks. As first became clear when ABC's ''Day One'' and CBS's ''60 Minutes'' quailed at costly legal threats by tobacco companies, there is reason to fear that these mammoth companies may put their ever-expanding corporate interests ahead of news. Don't hold your breath waiting for networks to investigate human rights abuses in a big market like China. Yet it's not only journalism that may be softened by the concentration of media ownership. If we're left with only Disney/ABC, G.E./ NBC, Time Warner/Turner, Westinghouse/CBS and Rupert Murdoch -- all of which want the largest audiences possible -- isn't American entertainment, comedy included, also destined to pull its punches?
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00916FA38540C758CDDAA0894DF494D81
(requires TimesSelect subscription)