Big Media (EOTO 2)

Introduction

    When watching the local news, you might notice that the local news stations are not actually locally owned. Most local news stations are actually owned by bigger, nationwide companies. For example, in my hometown WDBJ7 which is a CBS affiliated news station is owned by Gray Television which owns 36% of U.S. television households and then WSLS which is a NBC affiliated news station is owned by Graham Media Group which owns 7 stations in large markets around the nation. These larger companies are becoming more common as the smaller stations are being bought out by larger stations and companies in order to increase their profits. This sounds like the board game of monopoly where large companies gobble up as much as they can get their hands on, and the FCC should be holding these large corporations accountable, but that does not appear to be happening. 

What is Media Consolidation?

Gray Television Stations

    Media Consolidation is when ownership of local news sources become more concentrated which puts the power of news into fewer and fewer hands. The goal of this media consolidation is for the bigger companies to gain more profit and sometimes to set a certain agenda that they want to promote. This consolidation into bigger companies has led to less decision making at the top of companies which leads to more bias spreading to a wider audience. Also, this consolidation has reportedly made the country more polarized politically because many of these bigger ownership groups have some sort of political agenda that they subtly try to promote. While there are many negative results that come from media consolidation, typically media consolidation can lead to better quality news telling as there are more resources available to put on a good news cast. 

So What?

    Media consolidation affects everyone who watches local television stations. First off it is a big issue because everyone is exposed to this consolidation as literally anyone who has a television has access to the local stations without a cable paywall. The consolidation of networks is important to be knowledgeable of because they may not promote the FCC's goal of reducing viewpoint diversity because the large companies will promote their agenda instead of necessarily always promoting the minority or opposing view to an issue. Also, the local television stations are the current way many people prefer and are able to to get local news since the presence of the newspaper has declined. With the presence of these larger corporations owning the local news stations, they typically focus on more national or larger regional based news and not the local news that many people want to hear about.

Why is Media Consolidation Still Present?

    It is very difficult to enforce media consolidation as there is very little evidence to prove how it is detrimental to society which is why the FCC has trouble enforcing it. Mainly what makes it so difficult to enforce is that the FCC tries to enforce media consolidation for the good of "public interest" which is hard to define and the focus is on diversity which is also hard to prove that consolidation hurts diversity. Some argue that when media consolidation occurs, there is more diversity because the smaller network/company does not disappear it just merges with the bigger network/company so its ideas and beliefs become part of a larger movement. In reality, I personally seriously doubt this sentiment is true as do many scholars. 

Conclusion

    In conclusion, while the focus of this media consolidation discussion may have been on news, media consolidation can have other focuses such as streaming services and movies. An example of this is Disney which owns ESPN, ABC, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Hulu, FX, and the National Geographic channel. While not all of this is necessarily news, it shows that a single brand and company can easily affect a lot of what you watch and pay attention to which can then affect the way that you see and interpret things which then can affect your belief system.