Who controls the media?

I often see people in the forums claim that the media is always trying to give one political party the edge. I figured somebody should start a thread about it.

I think the media is controlled controlled by whichever party has the most support. Before the war, the entire media was for it. Propaganda was everywhere. It showed all the evidence of WMD and never showed anything against it.

Now, since the president was wrong, the democrats have a chance in the next election. The media responded to this by talking more about death statistics (should have been done in the first place) and casting Bush in a negative light.

Whats's oyur opinion?

IMO, I think the media is controlled by the government or dark government if you will.

The corporations that own them.

The correct answer is the corporations that own each network. That can so easily be reflected by the views of the different channels. I know it's very exciting to say things like the government controls the media but I fail to see how anyone can come up with any evidence to support that when the media has proven to be the biggest enemy of the last 2 sitting administrations. Clinton's infidelities, and Bush's fuzzy intelligence have been the main dish on every channel for ages. Would a media outlet controlled by the government be allowed to do that? Well, hey don't take my word for it, look at other countries with state controlled media. Do they generally write stories trashing the sitting government? I don't think so.

You know, you hear all about the "liberal controlled media" and the "republican controlled media". The fact is both exist.

FoxNews is obviously leaning right, along with radio programs like Hannity and Rush. Then you have TV stations like CNN and radio programs like NPR which lean left. Here in Chicago, all of the local news stations (ABC, NBC, CBS) have liberal leaning news broadcasts. However, all 3 of those stations in the north woods of Wisconsin have a conservative leaning.

All of the people who complain about a biased media are either listening/watching the wrong stations, or just notice when the "news" program disagrees with that individual's opinion.

Largely, I've noticed, Hollywood and visual media seems more left controlled, with the exception of FoxNews, and the radio is dominated by the right, with the exception of NPR. There are many other liberal radio programs and conservative television programs, but of the major, national players, this is what I've noticed.

So no political group owns the media.

Originally posted by Jonna
The corporations that own them.

Granted, yes, they control them to a degree. However, Disney owns like 110% of radio and TV. Many of their programs are liberal in their leaning, and many lean right. Here in Chicago, one of the radio stations they own, WLS, was tearing Disney appart for some roller coaster accident they had a long while ago. Nothing came from it. Roe and Gary are still on, and still slamming Disney. The corporations don't excersize that control as much as many think they do, but they do have control over them.

Originally posted by junglejake
Disney owns like 110% of radio and TV.

Pardon me, but how does one own 110% of something?

DeltaChaos

Originally posted by DeltaChaos

Originally posted by junglejake
Disney owns like 110% of radio and TV.

Pardon me, but how does one own 110% of something?

DeltaChaos

It was an exageration to make a point.

the media from the get go was designed to manipulate the masses. in an form they desire.

Originally posted by NaturalDisaster
the media from the get go was designed to manipulate the masses. in an form they desire.

But then what would be a better solution to inform the masses?

good point, but when the matador corperations took over its been down hill since.

Media... controlled by the government, shadow government, illuminati, new world order...
I don't believe a word of any of that...

The media is controlled first and foremost with dollars... profit... filling the pockets of the Ted Turners and Rupert Murdoch's of this world.

Take any of the big 3 network news organizations, ABC, CBS & NBC, they all have a slightly different slant due to the philosophy of the anchors, but overall it's midstream news coverage... but motivation for content is built on promotability, sensationalism and ratings.

Then you've got your cable news channels - there are other's but CNN and Fox News come to mind immediately.

CNN used to be pretty liberal but the success of Fox News' conservative leaning has influenced CNN -

These cable news stations are similarly motivated by ratings.
When Fox began gleaning better ratings than CNN, CNN started leaning towards the right to catch the conservative sway of what they perceive the American public wants to hear in their news.
This is due to ratings and ratings equal dollars.

Fox News' conservatism is due in whole to the political leanings of it owner and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, who is a very conservative man...

The only government conspiracy towards the media seems to be the favor the administration gives toward the more conservative and hence more friendly FOxNews.

When US tanks were rolling into Bagdad, who did the DoD give the scoop to? Fox News... they were on the scene as the tanks were driving through the outskirts of Bagdad blowing anything that moved to kingdom come.

Meanwhile the less friendly towards the administration CNN and big three networks were left back on the dusty road to Bagdad interviewing soldiers, showing Al Jazeera footage of Bagdad and CNN had Dr. Gupta telling us how the American troops were prepared for chemical attack and all that crap...

So is there some grand puppet master pulling the strings of the big media news organizations?
NO...
Is there favortism giving by the administration to "friendly" news organizations?
You betcha...
But thats as far as such control goes...



[Edited on 10-2-2004 by intelgurl]

The media is controlled by the people of America. Sorry to say it, but what people want to see gets ratings and ratings in turn can change philosophies on programming. Look at CNN for example being the only network that really had 24 hour news. People got sick of the liberal point of view and jumped ship when another network "Fox" showed up and showed a different point of view. People didnt switch because they were all conservatives, they jumped for a different perspective. It all evens out and media is controlled by what the viewer, you, wants to watch. If ratings arent there then the mass media machine will change course constantly until they find a "nich" that will attract viewers.

As far as scoops go as Intelgurl ellaborates on, I agree they will be given to the friendly network. Conservatives will likely go to FOX and Liberals likely to CNN. The way the media recieves it's scoops is directly related to whom the person leaking, giving or whatever wants to appeal to.
CNN usually has the 1st scoops on world issues because I believe they have a better network of analysts located throughout the world. As soon as something is issued, other networs will report on such.

One more thing, who here is sick of the Peterson, Jackson and Bryant cases being on TV so much.

[Edited on 10-2-2004 by Dreamz]

Im sick of that, and all celebrity gossip, but it's our own fault for watching it.

Yeha as soon as I see anything like that on the news I change channel ASAP. I am so sick of issues like that making news, I could care less about any of them or what they do, celebrities shouldnt get special treatment and niether should Scott Peterson. These crimes happen daily and only a select few deserve the media attention? My ass.

Who controls the media?

The government, of course. They feed us so full of celebritys that they are trying to turn our brains into mush.

dosent the ALLEGED"world bank" control everything, including the media? and dont they also control all the ALLEGED dark goverments? if they did they could direct the media in anywhich way suits them the most.

The shadow government controls everything - made up of the world's old money. They coordinate all efforts of media hating against presidents and they also put the presidents there to begin with. Its all a game of control. Anyways, who really knows? No one on this site is that high in the goverment (if they work for the gov) to know. Anyone who says otherwise is talking out of their A__.

The media is controlled by its owners. The owners are the shareholders of the media corporations. Usually majority shareholders either individually in extreme cases or in groups effectively control the corporation.

Remember it is those people's political contributions that get people into high public office. Remember it is those people that own corporations that offer many jobs in the economy.

Their power cannot be ignored.

Now answer this; who are these people and why is the media in general liberal in a country considered mostly capitalistic?