Re: The Myth of Media Concentration
On Jun 17, 2006, at 2:13 PM, B. wrote:
It isn’t just “liberals” who’re worried about media control resting
in relatively fewer hands, unless Chomsky and Zinn are now
liberals. You can say folks like this wax nostalgic for an era run
by Hearst and Chandler, but those two don’t, and nor do I. Chomsky,
Zinn, etl. a. often speak of “the lively working class press of the
19th century” that with the advent of the 20th century began to
progressively disappear.
So again it’s misspecifying the problem to speak about
“concentration” - it’s the class ownership of the means of
consciousness production that’s at issue. The problem with the US
media isn’t its Herfindahl index - it’s the conditions under which
it’s produced: by capitalists under shareholder pressure to maximize
profits. The focus on “concentration” is perfect for a Naderite
critique of capitalism, which is obsessed with scale and scope, and
not social relations.
Doug