Rich corporate media shills for Rubio amnesty

The oligarchs who run the mainstream media (MSM) know that an amnesty for illegal aliens will be a great way for them and for corporate America to line their pockets for years to come. Above all, an amnesty will bring in more consumers into the American economy - consumers who eagerly aspire to American consumer-based affluence. Corporate interests see this to be particularly important now that Baby Boomers are retiring en masse into less consumptive lifestyles. The corporatocracy needs some new fodder for the rat race - for growth at any cost.

No matter that America is already full and no longer offers ample resources to sustain a doubling population.

Shall we expect a fair and unbiased discussion of the Rubio amnesty for illegal aliens? Not from the mainstream media, it seems. Recently, Fox News threw round after round of softball questions to Rubio on his amnesty scam. Interestingly, Rubio actually tried to distance himself from the very bill he helped craft. (See "Marco Rubio's embarrassing appearance on Fox").

While it does seem that Lou Dobbs represents the lone voice of reason in the amnesty "debate", it is disheartening that pervasive media bias must be presumed to be the norm, not the exception.

An examination of media ownership might explain why balance and perspective are such a rare commodity these days. Quite simply, six mega corporations produce approximately 90 percent of the media that Americans consume.

If Americans want fair, unbiased, and in-depth coverage of the Rubio earned path to citizenship amnesty scam - which will wrack American society to its very core - they won't find it on corporate-owned mainstream media. Inquiring minds will be turned increasingly to the internet, the most egalitarian media channel. Which is also something the MSM sorely aspire to control.

Resources:

Books

Bias - A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, by Bernard Goldberg, Regnery Publishing, 2002.

Coloring the News - How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism, by William McGowan, Encounter Books, 2001.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy - Communication Politics in Dubious Times, by Robert W. McChesney, University of Illinois Press, 1999.

The Media Monopoly, by Ben Bagdikian, rev. 2004.

References

1. Big Media Lobby for Immigration Bill, by Cliff Kincaid, Canada Free Press, May 27, 2013

2. Graphic: Media Ownership Chart - 2006 but still relevant today.

3. Graphic: Updated Media Ownership Chart, blog for Media Literacy, University of Minnesota, November 12, 2011.

4. "Marco Rubio's embarrassing appearance on Fox," by Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine Blog, May 25, 2013.

5. American Media Companies: See who owns the news media in the United States. Here you can find the leading U.S. media companies... what they own, and who owns them.

6. Who Owns the Media? Free Press. "Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases, these companies are vertically integrated, controlling everything from initial production to final distribution."

7. Media Reform Information Center includes a compilation of media reform resources, organizations, and websites.

"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly."

8. The State of the News Media 2013 - An Annual Report on American Journalism, Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2013.

"In 2012, a continued erosion of news reporting resources converged with growing opportunities for those in politics, government agencies, companies and others to take their messages directly to the public.

Signs of the shrinking reporting power are documented throughout this year's report. Estimates for newspaper newsroom cutbacks in 2012 put the industry down 30% since its peak in 2000 and below 40,000 full-time professional employees for the first time since 1978. In local TV, our special content report reveals, sports, weather and traffic now account on average for 40% of the content produced on the newscasts studied while story lengths shrink. On CNN, the cable channel that has branded itself around deep reporting, produced story packages were cut nearly in half from 2007 to 2012. Across the three cable channels, coverage of live events during the day, which often require a crew and correspondent, fell 30% from 2007 to 2012 while interview segments, which tend to take fewer resources and can be scheduled in advance, were up 31%...

This adds up to a news industry that is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands. And findings from our new public opinion survey released in this report reveal that the public is taking notice. Nearly one-third of the respondents (31%) have deserted a news outlet because it no longer provides the news and information they had grown accustomed to."

9. Concentration of media ownership, Wikipedia.

10. "7 Things About The Mainstream Media That They Do Not Want You To Know", Economic Collapse blog, May 20, 2013:

Six mega corporations produce approximately 90 percent of the media that Americans consume. The following list of corporate media ownership and resultant inbreeding.

Time Warner:

CNN
Home Box Office (HBO)
Time Inc.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
CW Network (partial ownership)
TMZ
New Line Cinema
Time Warner Cable
Cinemax
Cartoon Network
TBS
TNT
America Online
MapQuest
Moviefone
Castle Rock
Sports Illustrated
Fortune
Marie Claire
DC Comics
People Magazine

Walt Disney:

ABC Television Network
Disney Publishing
ESPN Inc.
Disney Channel
The History Channel
SOAPnet
A&E
Lifetime
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Theatrical Productions
Buena Vista Records
Disney Records
Hollywood Records
Miramax Films
Touchstone Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Pixar Animation Studios
277 Radio Stations
Buena Vista Games
Hyperion Books

Viacom:

Paramount Pictures
Paramount Home Entertainment
Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Comedy Central
Country Music Television (CMT)
Logo
MTV
MTV Canada
MTV2
Nick Magazine
Nick at Nite
Nick Jr.
Nickelodeon
Noggin
Spike TV
The Movie Channel
TV Land
VH1

News Corporation:

Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Fox Television Stations
The New York Post
TV Guide
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Beliefnet
Fox Business Network
Fox Kids Europe
Fox News Channel
Fox Sports Net
Fox Television Network
FX
My Network TV
MySpace
News Limited News
Phoenix InfoNews Channel
Phoenix Movies Channel
Sky PerfecTV
Speed Channel
STAR TV India
STAR TV Taiwan
STAR World
Times Higher Education Supplement Magazine
Times Literary Supplement Magazine
Times of London
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Studios
20th Century Fox Television
BSkyB
The Wall Street Journal
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Interactive Media
FOXTEL
HarperCollins Publishers
The National Geographic Channel
National Rugby League
News Interactive
News Outdoor
Radio Veronica
ReganBooks
Sky Italia
Sky Radio Denmark
Sky Radio Germany
Sky Radio Netherlands
STAR
Zondervan

CBS Corporation:

CBS News
CBS Sports
CBS Television Network
CNET
Showtime
TV.com
CBS Radio Inc. (130 stations)
CBS Consumer Products
CBS Outdoor
CW Network (50% ownership)
Infinity Broadcasting
Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books, Scribner)
Westwood One Radio Network

Comcast:

NBC
Bravo
CNBC
NBC News
MSNBC
NBC Sports
NBC Television Network
Oxygen
SciFi Magazine
Syfy (Sci Fi Channel)
Telemundo
USA Network
Weather Channel
Focus Features
NBC Universal Television Distribution
NBC Universal Television Studio
Paxson Communications (partial ownership)
Hulu
Universal Parks & Resorts
Universal Pictures
Universal Studio Home Video