Blog Post 1

Dana Macaluso

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Blog post 1

                The article I chose for this blog post is an article written in The New York Times on July 25, 2014 titled "When Media Mergers Limit More Competition".  This article I felt directly correlates to what we have been discussing in class; in particular, the reading "US Media at the Dawn of the 21st Century" written by McChensey.
            

                This article is about the Fox-Time Werner merger, and although the merge did not end up happening, the content of what is discussed in the article is relevant to the points McChensey made about "pressing concerns that these concentrated markets inhibit the flow and range of ideas necessary for a meaningful democracy." (McChensey 17). The article discusses how if Fox and Time Werner were to merge, it would limit even more competition, having even fewer people owning the major Hollywood studios(from 6 owners to 5). McChensey explains that having the television industry controlled by only few major industries is what hurts what is supposed to be a democratic industry. It limits the opportunity for smaller industries to rise up since these major corporations, in a sense, own the media. “There’s empirical support for the claim that there’s been a loss of creativity, originality and daringness as independent producers have largely been incorporated into the larger conglomerates,”(Stuart, "When Media Mergers Limit More Competition) .

                Since these large conglomerates control the media, they also control what is being aired and control the information their programs feed to the public. It limits other people from showing their creativity because in order to have something aired you need to try to sign a deal with these larger television corporations(which is a battle all of its own), and then they decide whether they want to produce your idea while still having control over the production. “One person shouldn’t own all the cultural creativity resources. If one person can limit content, that’s a huge loss to society” (Stuart, "When The Media Mergers Limit More Competition). This is a valid argument on why Fox and Time-Werner should not be allowed to merge together. The merger would only make them more powerful and limit even more creativity, which raises antitrust concerns. The television industry has turned into a money making industry above the public's interest, and there needs to be stricter laws against these mergers.  

Resources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/business/a-21st-century-fox-time-warner-merger-would-narrow-already-dwindling-competition.html?_r=0

McChesney, US Media at the Dawn of the 21st Century