Media Consolidation
(see also Media Bias, Censorship, Media & War, Media Reform, Alternative Media)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
"I Am Thy Father's Ghost": A Journey into Rupert Murdoch's Soul. Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch (12/28/03).
The Megalomania of Rupert Murdoch. Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch (11/24/03).
The Age of Murdoch. James Fallows, Atlantic (9/03).
Rupert Murdoch's Digital Death Star. Jeffrey Chester, AlterNet (5/20/03).
Rupert Murdoch. William Shawcross, Time (10/25/99).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
In the Library: Articles
Berkman, Dave. "A lesson from the history of broadcasting," Monthly Review 39,9 (2/88):34-41. Look back at 1920's shows nothing new about media conglomerates & their threat to democracy.
McChesney, Robert W. "Public broadcasting in the age of communication revolution," Monthly Review 47,7 (12/95):1-19.
__________ et al. "The new global media: it's a small world of big conglomerates," Nation (11/29/99):11-38. World-wide survey; detailed examinations of US, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, Serbia & Iran; hopeful concluding note on "pirate" radio & TV.
Miller, Mark Crispin et al. "What's wrong with this picture?" Nation (1/7/02):18-22. On conglomeration of control over media, with pointed comments by several writers, artists & media specialists.
Skinner, Joseph. “Octopus of the airwaves,” Monthly Review 39,4 (9/87): 44-49.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Block, Alex Ben. Outfoxed: Marvin Davis, Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch & the Untold Story of America's Fourth Television Network (NY: St. Martin's, 1990).
Cohen, Jeff. Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media (Sausalito CA: Polipoint, 2006).
Felsenthal, Carol. Citizen Newhouse. Portrait of a Media Merchant (NY, 1998).
Hack, Richard. Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner & Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires that Control What We Read & Watch (Beverly Hills CA: New Millennium, 2003).
Halberstam, David. The Powers that Be (Urbana: U. of Illinois, 2000).
Herman, Edward S. & Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (NY, 1988).
Leapman, Michael. Arrogant Aussie: The Rupert Murdoch Story (Secaucus NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1985).
Ledbetter, James. Made Possible By… The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States (NY, 1997).
Lee, Martin A. & Norman Solomon. Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media (NY: Carol, 1990).
Lieberman, Trudy. Slanting the Story: The Forces that Shape the News (NY, 2000). On the influence wielded by right-wing think tanks.
May, Lary. The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood & the Politics of the American Way (Chicago: U. of Chicago, 2000).
Mazzocco, Dennis W. Networks of Power: Corporate TV's Threat to Democracy (Boston, 1994).
McChesney, Robert W. Corporate Media & the Threat to Democracy (NY,1997?).
__________. Rich Media, Poor Democracy. Communications Politics in Dubious Times (Urbana: U. Illinois, 1999).
__________ & John Nichols. Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate Media (NY: Seven Stories, 2002).
Munster, George. A Paper Prince (NY: Viking, 1987). Rupert Murdoch.
Nichols, John & Robert W. McChesney. It's the Media, Stupid (NY: 2001).
Shawcross, William. Rupert Murdoch: Ringmaster of the Information Circus (London: Chatto & Windus, 1992).