Click here for e-tailing. Click here for the conventional wisdom Even before the AOL-Time Warner merger, New York Times columnist Frank Rich noted that media consolidation was advancing exponentially. Another major big media advantage on the Internet is the fact that finding independent news sites is a lot of work. Maintenance of a major Web site and posting of regular updates is expensive. The giant information companies have the deep pockets to hire computer experts and to field teams of reporters.
Most independents don t.
The demise of the free-wheeling Internet days does not stand alone, either. It was not long ago when media optimists were touting the democratic impact of cable television and its hundreds of channels. Cable TV, these optimists said, would usher in a heyday of populist programming addressing the interests of every conceivable political ideology and a wide variety of other personal interests. Instead, the mega-media companies gobbled up the profitable independents and effectively took control of the cable news industry. Today, the cable networks offer little more diversity in terms of information or opinion than was available in the days of the Big Three.