Corporate Media & the Threat to Democracy

“Information,” Jefferson told us, “is the currency of democracy.” What is the impact on democracy when currency is owned, printed, packaged and distributed by a handful of megacorporations? Corporate control of media is at unprecedented levels. Bottom-line considerations dumb down the news and narrow the range of opinion. Politically, the powerful broadcasting lobby pretty much gets what it wants. Conservative New York Times columnist William Safire decried “the giveaway of our digital spectrum” to the media moguls.