Who owns the Media

Surprise, surprise!!!
Currently there are five major corporate owners in international mass communication. These giants are News Corp., Disney/Cap Cities, Time Warner, Viacom, and TCI. In addition, two other "mini-giants," General Electric and Westinghouse have global ambitions. Of these seven firms, all but Viacom and TCI have major news components. News Corp. is the owner of or significant partner in newspapers, television stations, and satellite broadcasting systems around the world. Disney/Cap Cities owns ABC. Time Warner's recent acquisition of Turner Broadcasting, which created and owns CNN, gives it a major international presence in newsgathering and informing. General Electric owns NBC and Westinghouse own CBS. All of these mega-corporations are based in the United States. The growth of global mass media firms has been caused by a move toward privatization of mass media organizations. This is most clearly evident in the broadcasting sector, in which many countries of the world had been maintained as less powerful and less existent in the US news, as the forces of capitalism and entrepreneurship have emerged as the dominant model of economic organization in the world. This development has allowed the global media giants to enter into partnerships with dozens of national mass media firms around the world. US democracy is in trouble: At first thought, one might ask, what is wrong with a few companies becoming so big? Isn't that how business works? Focusing on democracy-enhancing principles and the institutions needed for it such as the media and journalism, the concern that arises is that there are very few media owners in the mainstream that reach out to the masses. As a result, there is the risk of reduced diversity of issues and perspectives and of political influence and interests from a few affecting the many.Most Americans get their views and understandings of the world around them from the mainstream media. It is therefore critical to understand some underlying issues such as conflict of interest, endless cutbacks, endless personal agenda, class bias and that at the end of the day public interest doesn't stand a chance and the is just someone’s opinion.
INFO
* Viacom - 2002 revenues $24.6 billion. Owns 39 broadcast television stations and 185 radio stations. Cable networks include MTV, Nickelodeon and BET. Other businesses include CBS, UPN, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster and an 80.4 percent equity interest in Blockbuster Video.
* News Corporation - 2002 total revenues $17 billion. Owns (80.6 percent) the Fox Entertainment Group, which includes 20th Century Fox, Fox Television Stations, and Fox Cable (includes sports and movie channels, National Geographic Channel). Fox Television owns 60 television stations and has 188 affiliates. News Corporation is the world's largest publisher of English-language newspapers, including the New York Post. Also owns HarperCollins Publishers.
* AOL Time Warner - 2002 revenues $40.9 billion. Businesses owned include America Online, CNN, Time Warner Cable, Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Networks (includes TBS Super station) and HBO. The Warner Music Group's major record labels include Elektra and Atlantic. The publishing business conducted primarily through Time Inc. includes Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice are conducting investigations into accounting and disclosure practices of the company.
* General Electric - 2002 revenues $31.7 billion. NBC provides network television services to more than 220 affiliated stations, produces television programs, operates 28 television-broadcasting stations, operates four cable/satellite networks around the world, and has investment and programming activities in the Internet, multimedia and cable television. Also owns Telemundo, one of the two largest Hispanic broadcasting networks.
* Walt Disney - 2002 total revenues $25.3 billion. Operates the ABC Television Network, which has 226 primary affiliated stations. ABC Radio Networks provide programming to more than 4,600 affiliated radio stations. Radio Disney is carried on 51 stations, including 32 that are owned by the company. ABC Radio Networks also produce the ESPN Radio format, which is carried on more than 700 stations, including 215 full-time (four of which are owned by the company), making it the largest radio sports network in the United States. Disney also owns 10 television stations, 44 standard AM radio stations, and 18 FM radio stations.