Pools

Pools The American media system is spinning out of control in a hyper-commercialized frenzy. Fewer than ten transnational media conglomerates dominate much of our media; fewer than two dozen account for the overwhelming majority of our newspapers, magazines, films, television, radio, and books. With every aspect of our media culture now fair game for commercial exploitation, we can look forward to the full-scale commercialization of sports, arts, and education, the disappearance of notions of public service from public discourse, and the degeneration of journalism, political coverage, and children's programming under commercial pressure. For democrats, this concentration of media power and attendant commercialization of public discourse are a disaster. An informed, participating citizenry depends on media that play a public service function. As James Madison once put it, "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both." But these democratic functions lie beyond the reach of the current American media system. If we are serious about democracy, then, we need to work aggressively for reform. What kind of reform' In broad terms, we need to reduce the current degree of media concentration, and, more immediately, blunt its effects media, public, system, broadcasting, commercial, radio, journalism, firms, television, nonprofit, corporate, united, states, reform, ownership, news, tv, political, now, been, advertising, people, one, government, stations, sector, over, need, communication, should, programming, press, markets, little, largest, give