By; Omar Bustillos-Andrande and Easton Anderlik
Big Media has been a pressing issue for a long time. During the 1950’s there were 50 companies that shared the media market, and now there
are only 6 companies with that power. As the market for media becomes more consolidated, the chance for media to show differing opinions is strained. The oil monopolies of the 19th century hurt consumers by jacking up prices, and the media monopoly hurt consumers as well.
In the media’s case, it narrows the viewpoints of information shown to the public. For example, Sinclair Media Group owns 90% of local news stations, and, in the past, have forced those stations to run biased material. It also hurts journalists, because if they don’t agree with the companies opinion, then they are out of luck finding a job in the media. It polarizes the nation by showing radical viewpoints from either side, and not representing the middle.
There is a solution to this big media problem, in the same way the oil monopolies of the 19th century were broken up by the government, so too can the media be broken up.
Don’t get up in arms about a violation of the first amendment, because this isn’t about silencing the media. This is about stopping a monopoly from growing into a propaganda machine. So rather than trying to discourage capitalism, a system of checks should be enforced to prevent a monopoly on information. This needs to be done sooner rather than later, because it was almost too late to stop the oil monopolies who were buying senators and representatives.
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