The Digital Media Oligarchy: Who Owns Online News?
More than half of US visits to major online news sites from Dec. 2024 through Nov. 2025 went to outlets controlled by just seven families or corporate entities.
Renomination of Gigi Sohn Gives Public Another Chance to Be Heard
The re-nomination of Gigi Sohn to the FCC, and the record-breaking delay on her vote, have been met with virtual radio silence in news media.
ACTION ALERT: Urge MSNBC to Cover Biden FCC Pick Blocked by Big Media
Tell MSNBC to cover the obstruction of consumer advocate Gigi Sohn’s nomination to the FCC.
Comcast-Owned MSNBC in the Tank for Joe Biden’s Presidential Run
Election Focus 2020: Comcast, one of the biggest lobbying spenders in Washington, also owns MSNBC, which has showered Joe Biden with favorable coverage both before and since his announcement.
MSNBC’S Creepy Comcast Commercial Is Sinclair Lite
Comcast corporate forced its nominally independent pundits and news anchors of Morning Joe to air a cultish 8-minute commercial for Comcast’s “Comcast Cares Day,” the lowlight of which was MSNBC host Al Sharpton comparing Comcast to Nelson Mandela.
Soundbites April 2017
With Help Like This, Who Needs Hurt?… When US Kills Civilians, It Does So for Democracy… NPR’s Expert Is SPLC’s Extremist… It’s Not About a Flag… WaPo’s Conflict of Interest Live… Vox Licks the Hand That Feeds
With No Disclosure, Comcast-Owned Vox Runs Commercial for Comcast’s $500M Snapchat Investment
Vox, effectively a Comcast subsidiary, writes a glowing explainer on why Comcast’s $500 million investment is solid and has huge upside, on the same day as the investment.
Covering Net Neutrality Ruling, Truthout Cites FAIR to Sound Cautionary Note
Covering the pro–net neutrality ruling by the DC Court of Appeals, Truthout’s Mark Karlin cited FAIR’s criticism of Comcast’s media empire.
Comcast-Funded Website Plugs Comcast-Owned TV Show Promoting Comcast-Backed Trade Pact
News “explainer” Vox ran a seemingly innocuous write-up on Friday of President Barack Obama appearing on NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the night before, “slow jamming” the benefits of the highly controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. It would be funny if it weren’t a borderline parody of everything wrong with corporate-owned “new media”:
Soundbites October 2015
Democrats: Pro-Bombing Softies Under the headline “The Ultimate Argument in Favor of the Iran Deal: The Agreement Would Make It Easier to Bomb Iran,” Politico (8/24/15) reported that “the pact would make it easier to bomb Iran, administration officials have told lawmakers.” Two days later, in a story on Senate campaigns, Politico (8/26/15) was reporting […]
Comcast-Owned Vox Explains the Great Deal You’re Getting From Comcast
New media startup Vox blurring the lines between business and editorial by running a thinly disguised commercial for Comcast, the cable giant that recently invested $200 million in its parent, Vox Media.
Something You Still Won’t See on MSNBC
A merger of two massive media companies–which raises some fundamental questions about one corporation holding enormous power over cable, broadband and programming–isn’t generating any interest over at MSNBC.
Our Boss Is Great! How MSNBC Covered Comcast Merger
How did MSNBC cover the mega-merger between its parent company and Time Warner cable? Hardly at all–except for a segment glorifying their boss.
Income Inequality? The TV Industry Is on Top of It
TV bosses are in the top 20 percent of big corporations in terms of how much more they make than their employees.
Maddow Tells the Story of ALEC and Gun Laws—But Leaves Out One Character
Rachel Maddow asks why corporations would want to be associated with the promotion of Stand Your Ground gun laws–but fails to mention that her employer is one company that doesn’t seem embarrassed by the connection.
Did Bill O’Reilly Get Someone Fired?
Boston TV newscaster Barry Nolan was outraged to learn back in 2008 that Fox host Bill O’Reilly was getting an award from the local chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. So Nolan made flyers documenting various O’Reilly outrages and distributed them at the local Emmys ceremony—and did not do so in […]
Telecoms’ ‘Fake Grassroots’ Push Net Misinformation
Diligent media reformers Free Press (8/19/09) have announced a nifty new “online interactive tool to expose phony grassroots groups hired by big phone and cable companies to advance their political agenda.” They’re talking about “‘astroturf‘ organizations–many of which also work for the health insurance, energy and tobacco industries”– that “are mobilizing to spread misinformation about […]
A New Challenge to Net Neutrality
The media activist group Free Press has a new release (3/19/09) warning of the latest threat to free speech online: “a technology known as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) that offers Internet service providers unprecedented control over Internet content.” DPI, says Free Press, “could spell disaster for the free market online,” AKA Net Neutrality. According to […]
