yes, 80's the article is a tad far fetched. my purpose was more to link to simply the ownership chart. how one does not find that troubling, unless they stand at the top of one of the conglomerates, is beyond me.
i don't believe my point is one of a conspiratory nature(having said that does any crank
know they're a crank?
my concern is two-fold:
a precursor for a properly functioning democracy is a well oiled, impartial media. it is only one of the pre-requisites amongst many but it is necessary.
when a civilization has a media which is linked as closely as ours to industry and government and themselves(through vertical integration and synergistic strategies), a media consumer must excercise caution. one should not expect impartiality from NBC on, say, nuclear reactors(due to their direct vertical ownership by GE, who has a major controlling steak in the american reactor industry).
but it is not merely limited to nuclear reactors for GE themselves are an incredibly well diversified company. granted they are the only one among the ten who enjoy massive holdings in such varied industries.
as you said lilly, people tend to be idiots. they either don't know or don't care about this type of concentration and that is the danger.
my second point is that the overall quality of the news media is significantly reduced(prior to september 11th, in fact, many corps were reducing the amount of news content).
the end goal is to repackage the same content again and again all the way down the vertical chain. this is done in a cost cutting sense (reduces journalistic staff). this reduces the variety of voices and points of view. further cost cutting comes from an increasing reliance on wire stories.
in the early stages of these attempts it has been difficult as most companies stemming from mergers have reported losses. i believe this troublesome period is a result of having to mesh together such divergent cultures(the paper newsroom + the tv newsroom are too distinct places) and will subside with time.
imo, the media is one industry which should be under a shell concerning business interests due to thier importance in public education. having so few companies controlling what a large majority of people see and hear does not lend itself to that.