Consolidated Consolidated Ownership of Media
is a threat to American society, as it interferes with democratic ideals and opens the door for corruption at many levels. One of the main objectives of a properly functioning democracy is to recognize and represent many different views and opinions through the media. When media moguls control media content and media distribution, they have a lock on the extent and range of diverse views and issues that get publicized. The power to control what the citizens know, how much they know and how they feel about this knowledge allows gives these corporations undue political and economic influence (Gutierrez). This abuse of power was seen when “Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, used his media tycoon status to not only help him win power, but effectively silence any critics of his policies...Once Berlusconi came to power, journalists on state television were required to adhere strictly to a news formula known as “the sandwich,” in which virtually every political story began by stating the government’s (or Berlusconi’s) point of view, followed by a sound bite or two from the opposition and concluded with a rebuttal from the government. Berlusconi himself occupied an incredible 50 percent of airtime on the state-owned newscasts, while the opposition accounted for barely 20 percent” (Stille). Citizens could not side with the opposition because they were not familiar with it. Conglomerates also will not publicize media content that is not in their best business interests. As beneficiaries of the current social and political structure of the world, corporations cannot be trusted to report stories that will reduce the extent of their power. For example, Disney would not have their news companies focus on sweatshops if one of their companies had been accused of using them. This can lead to unaccounted for corruption at the political and corporate level (Gutierrez). The lack of diverse perspectives and opinions leads to biases on the information being reported