VITAMEDIAS
Speaker faults media ownership concentration : Norman Solomon [syndicated columnist, author of nine books and director of the Institute for Public Accuracy] believes democracy in the media is central to our lives. But he doesn’t think there’s enough of it because of the control large corporations exercise over media coverage. [...]
Quoting from media critic Ben Bagdikian, Solomon said that “there is a diminishment in the number of corporations who control the media,” he said. ”Two decades ago there were 50 corporations and now there are (essentially) six.” [...]
“In the news media, we get a lot of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, not a lot about the poor and anonymous,” he said. “When was the last time we reported about on the job injury statistics or the wait times in emergency rooms in this country?” [...]
Solomon suggested one way to avoid media bias was “to think critically from any source and read many newspapers and magazines. We should hear more from working class people so that businesses and corporations don’t dominate the discourse.”