Other media companies

 Corporate consolidation and ownership of news media has become so pervasive (and threatens to ramp up even further soon) that what was once a dirty little-known reality is now very much in the open; even schoolchildren seem to know that Mickey Mouse owns ABC News, Paramount Pictures and CBS are siblings, mighty GE owns NBC News, and so forth. Such news operations are of course suspect in that they are controlled by parent organizations with corporate imperatives to put positive spins on stories about themselves or quash such stories; and the OTHER guy isn't going to report on them because the OTHER guy doesn't want the "competitors" to do an investigation of their own; thus very few investigations by NBC News about GE -- or very few other major corporate-owned outlets looking at GE as well; etc. So: Consumer beware; even though the journalists who work for these behemoths may have the best of intentions and integrity, they don't necessarily control the final product, or have the necessary clout to cover the "inside" stories they might want to. Also, consolidation reduces the number of voices on op-ed papers, the number of reporters that get sent from "competing" newsrooms (and therefore fewer eyes witnessing "history on the run" -- one part of the larger problem that resulted in so many Americans being stunned to discover that much of the world hate the U.S., or the lack of coverage of Africa and the Middle East (outside of the Israeli-Palestinian fighting), etc. Among the bigger corporate players who control news outlets:
  • AOL TIME WARNER: CNN, TURNER, TIME-LIFE, AOL INTERNET SERVICE & NEWS SITES; CABLE OPERATIONS
  • VIACOM: CBS, UPN, PARAMOUNT, MTV, NICKELODEON
  • GE: NBC, CNBC
  • DISNEY: ABC, ESPN, LIFETIME, DISNEY FILMS, DISNEY CHANNEL
  • NEWS CORP.: FOX TV, FOX NEWS, 20TH CENTURY FOX FILMS & SHOWS, NEWSPAPERS
  • TRIBUNE: TV CHANNELS & NEWSPAPERS, FILM & TV PRODUCTIONS
  • SCRIPPS HOWARD: NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES, HGTV, DYI, FOOD NETWORK
  • McCLATCHY: VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS A few relatively independent broadcast outlets:
  • PACIFIC RADIO (which has recently recovered from its own internal strife)
  • PBS/NPR (but some say they are too timid or too beholden to corporate sponsors)