Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Madison Ave. as a Threat to Democracy

What happened to radio, happened to television, and then it happened to cable; and, if we are not diligent, it will happen to the Internet.....
...Old media acquire new media and vice versa. Rupert Murdoch, forever savvy about the next key outlet that will attract eyeballs, purchased MySpace, spending nearly $600 million, so he could, in the language of Wall Street, monetize those eyeballs. Goggle became a partner in Time Warner, investing $1 billion in its AOL online service. And now Goggle has bought YouTube, so it would have a better vehicle for delivering interactive ads for Madison Avenue. Viacom, Microsoft, large ad agencies, and others have been buying up key media properties, many of them the leading online sites, with a result that will be a thoroughly commercialized environment, a media plantation for the 21st century, dominated by the same corporate and ideological forces that have produced the system we have lived under the last 50 years.
Bill Moyers: A Pillar of Democracy is Under Attack found via the Sideshow and King of Zembla who points to NY Rep. Maurice Hinchley's efforts to restore the Fairness Doctrine...

Also, if you're interested in proof of Moyer's thesis, simply subscribe to the various newsletters sent daily by MediaPost. There is an incredible number of deals occurring on any given day that, unless you have a deep interest in The Industry, you're most likely not going to see. The deals don't make the MSM--perhaps due to a jaundiced view that people don't care, or perhaps because of the primacy of the latest report on Britney Spear's new love interest--but the stories are there. It is up to us to pay attention.

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