The following is an opinion essay that highlights the increasing consolidation of media outlets in the hands of a few media conglomerates. It is written by Paul Kurtz, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Kurtz urges a grassroots citizen movement to open the media to other points of view. A Threat to Democracy by Paul Kurtz Citizens of our democracy should be concerned about the increasing trend toward media concentration. This applies to television, cable, and radio networks, movie studios, newspaper chains, magazines, and book publishers.
Democracy presupposes a free market of ideas.
The concentration of the media in fewer hands has narrowed the opportunity for citizens to express alternative points of view. The recent domination of stories in the news regarding allegations about improper actions by President Bill Clinton is illustrative of the inordinate power of the mass media. Whatever the outcome of Kenneth Starr's investigations of the Clinton presidency, the media's sensationalist scandal- mongering should be viewed in this broader context. The beginning of 1998 sees the same trend continuing. Indeed, not since the great number of mergers in the steel, oil, and automobile industries at the beginning of the twentieth century has the shape of America been so changed.