“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

—A.J. Liebling

All of the American broadcast media, and most of the print media as well, are owned primarily by wealthy individuals. Direct ties to the biggest of big businesses are almost unbelievably extensive and, we believe, these ties cannot help but seriously bias and compromise news coverage. Moreover, the media empires are, first and foremost, profit-making corporations that conduct themselves like other corporations when it comes to corrupting American politics. That is, the parent corporations of many make so-called “campaign contributions” and also act against the public interest in other ways. As big winners in the corruption game, they show no signs of serious interest in political reform. (As large corporations themselves, the mass media want the same preferential treatment, and have the same desire to grow without bounds, as all other corporations.)

http://www.progressiveliving.org/mass_media_and_politics.htm

 

News Corporation

Owning Corporation

Has Interlocking Board Members With:

NBC

 General Electric Co.(13th largest “donor” to the Bush campaign)

Allied Signal Inc, American Stores Co, Anheuser-Busch Co Inc, Baxter International Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (fourth largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Champion International Corp, Chase Manhattan Corp, Chubb Corp, Citicorp (as Citigroup seventh largest “contributor” to the Bush campaign), Exxon Corp (as Exxon Mobil the 11th largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, J. P. Morgan & Co Inc, Kellog Co, Kimberly-Clark Corp, Mellon Foundation, PepsiCo Inc (22nd largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Philip Morris Inc (second largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Quaker Oats Co, Stanley Works, Textron Inc, Washington Post Co. (And for the obvious connections with Microsoft—the third largest “donor” to the Bush campaign—see the MSNBC web site.)

Viacom Inc.

Viacom Inc.

AlliedSignal Inc, Avnet Inc, Bear Stearns Co Inc, Duke Power Co, Melville Corp, Nynex Corp, Orange & Rockland Utilities Inc

ABC

 The Walt Disney Co.(23rd largest “donor” to the Bush campaign)

America West Airlines Inc, Bank America Corp, Federal Express Corp, Florida Progress Corp, Hilton Hotels Corp, K-Mart Corp, Mitchell Energy & Development, Northwest Airlines Corp, Pacific Enterprises Inc, Unum Corp, Xerox Corp

CNN

 AOL-Time Warner Inc.(8th largest “donor” to the Bush campaign)

Allstate Corp, America West Airlines Inc, American Express Co, American International Group Inc, Aon Corp, Becton, Dickinson & Co, Chevron Corp (as Chevron Texaco the 19th largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Citicorp (see above), Colgate-Palmolive Co, Cummins Engine Co Inc, Dell Computer Corp, Foundation Health Corp, Genentech Inc, Illinova Corp, Inland Steel Industries Inc, Kellogg Co, K-Mart Corp, Mobil Corp (see above), Olsten Corp, Philip Morris Inc (second largest “donor” to the Bush campaign), Sears Roebuck & Co, Springs Industries, Sunbeam Corp, Triarc Co Inc, Turner Broadcasting System Inc, WHX Corp

CBS

Viacom (Was Westinghouse Electric Co.)

Aetna Life and Casualty Co, Ashland Inc, BDM International Inc, Banc One Corp, Bell Atlantic Corp, Campbell Soup Co, Cardinal Health Inc, Chase Manhattan Corp, Columbia HCA Healthcare Corp, Dell Computer Corp, Dow Jones & Co Inc, Duracell International Inc, General Dynamics Corp, Gillette Co, Harcourt General Inc, Kaman Corp, MBIA Inc, Melville Corp, Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc, Prudential Insurance Co of America, Quaker Oats Co, Phone-Poulenc Rorer Inc, Rockwell International Corp, Sun Co Inc, Union Pacific Corp, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Warnaco Group Inc, Warner-Lambert Co, Westinghouse Foundation

Fox

 The News Corporation, Ltd.(12th largest “donor” to the Bush campaign)

Bankers Trust New York Corp, Bayou Steel Corporation, Global Asset Management USA Inc, Hudson General Corporation, MCI Communications, News America Holdings Inc, News American Publishing Inc, News International PLC, Sesac Inc, Times Newspapers Holding Ltd, 20th Century Fox

 Sources: Censored 1998: The News that Didn’t Make the News, by Peter Phillips & Project Censored, The Center for Responsive Politics, stop-ftaa, www.ita.doc.gov/td/icp/isac.html, Who Rules America?by G. William Domhoff, When Corporations Rule the World, by David C. Korten.

 

 So, my question today is do you think this is a conspiracy theory? What are we doing to find unbiased forms of information?