Time-Warner and Disney split up the entertainment world. Not good, according to Bob McChesney, who argues that we need some creative policy initiatives to save democracy from our highly concentrated, commercial media. The Internet won't save the day by compensating for the deficiencies of conventional media.
Disagreement surrounds each step in the argument.
On the policy side, while Ed Baker defends the constitutionality of McChesney's proposals, Nader emphasizes a larger role for antitrust in producing a democratic Internet, and Lawrence Grossman argues that we should focus on supplementing commercial media with a more vigorous public system, rather than regulating or busting up the current system.