\nhttp:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/gta\/2014\/06\/01\/dan_rather_explains_why_journalists_have_lost_their_guts.html<\/a><\/p>\n
“In terms of things I think people ought to worry about, there has been so much consolidation of media ownership that there\u2019s less competition. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a healthy situation. It\u2019s a big change, and it\u2019s what I\u2019ve called the corporatization of news, which has led in some way to the trivialization of news”. – Dan Rather<\/p>\n
“I think journalists and journalism \u2014 certainly in the U.S. \u2014 we lost our guts. An attitude got around: Be careful, because if you report something people in power don’t like, you may have to pay a very heavy price for that. That\u2019s not in the best tradition of U.S. journalism, nor do I think it\u2019s in the best tradition of the free press anyplace”. – Dan Rather<\/p>\n
To me, these comments mesh. With fewer independent voices and outlets available to express editorial thoughts, fewer voices are heard and those that are, have self edited themselves into a pablum. I think ‘The CBS Evening News’ has a tad more hard news than the NBC and ABC, but for those of us that remember the quality of news in the 60s, 70s and 80s…today’s news seems a lot more like ‘Entertainment Tonight’.<\/p>\n
The chart below shows that in 1983, there were 50 companies that were major players in US media. By 2004, ten years ago, there were only 6! There are still 6 and they are: Viacom (CBS), Disney (ABC), Comcast (NBC), News Corp (FOX), Time Warner and Clear Channel. More soon.<\/p>\n