Back in 1983, approximately 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States. Today, ownership of the news media has been concentrated in the hands of just six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many of our favorite websites. Sadly, most Americans don't even stop to think about who is feeding them the endless hours of news and entertainment that they constantly ingest. Most Americans don't really seem to care about who owns the media. But they should. The truth is that each of us is deeply influenced by the messages that are constantly being pounded into our heads by the mainstream media. The average American watches 153 hours of television a month. In fact, most Americans begin to feel physically uncomfortable if they go too long without watching or listening to something. Sadly, most Americans have become absolutely addicted to news and entertainment and the ownership of all that news and entertainment that we crave is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands each year.
The six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Together, the "big six" absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the United States. But even those areas of the media that the "big six" do not completely control are becoming increasingly concentrated. For example, Clear Channel now owns over 1000 radio stations across the United States. Companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are increasingly dominating the Internet.
But it is the "big six" that are the biggest concerns. When you control what Americans watch, hear and read you gain a great deal of control over what they think. They don't call it "programming" for nothing.
Read the rest of the article here.
Loving Kindness
Showing posts with label American Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Culture. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Goldie Taylor On President Obama's Release of His Long Form Birth Certificate (Papers Please)
By Goldie Taylor 11:36 AM on 04/27/2011
“Show me your papers!” Major Blackard, then just 19 years old, dug into his trousers in search of his wallet. He padded his jacket, but could not find his billfold.
“Sir, I done left my wallet…” Blackard said. Before he could finish his sentence, the young man was posted against the brick wall, cuffed and taken to the St. Louis city jail. Unable to prove his identity, he would spend the next 21 days in a cramped, musty cell. That’s where his older brother Matt found him, beaten and bloodied. Matt returned with Major’s employer later that day, wallet and identification card in hand, to post bond.
The year was 1899. Major Blackard was my great, great grandfather.
The real crime, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Doug Blackmon points on in his seminal work Slavery by Any Other Name, was that my grandfather was a colored man in America.
This morning, as White House staffers released copies of the president’s long form birth certificate, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something very ugly was going on. For the first time in recorded history, a sitting president of the United States found it necessary to produce his original birth certificate for public inspection. Not once, in 235 years, have we ever demanded proof that our president was born on American soil.
Read the rest of the article here
Yes, Birtherism is Racist: Three Videos Tell You Why
From AlterNet.
By Sarah Seltzer | AlterNet
Posted on Thursday, April 28, 2011 @ 06:37 AM
In the wake of yesterday's surprise long-form birth-certificate reveal from President Obama, there's been plenty of incisive commentary explaining why the birther movement was offensive and racist, not to mention the insidious nature of conspiracy theories that won't go away. For those in our audience who want to digest that commentary themselves or want fodder to combat colleagues, cousins, or anyone who isn't convinced by the hard facts and evidence, here are three videos explaining the racial politics behind the birther movement.
Rachel Maddow had Goldie Taylor, contributing editor for TheGrio.com, on her show. Taylor read a piece explaining the dangerous history of "identity papers" being needed for black Americans, particularly black men, to even go out on the street and used against them as a form of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination, using a story from her own family as an example.
Go here to read the rest of the article and view the three videos.
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