Media Corporations, what do they control?

When I was a young father and had to do what I had to do in order to bring food to the table, I'm sure more than a few of you been there, I took a job as a parking lot maintenance guy. Shitty job with few perks except I had to go in behind the central library every night and would take the time to go through their garbage.....Mainly discarded books.

ok I wasn't a Dad at the time but was a lot younger

In the heap I found a text that was part of a media course from the 60's that used existing stories which were political and at that time current. It was the Vietnam war and the book showed, using actual news stories, how different the reporting could be from one newspaper to the next because of the political leanings of the publisher.

In the 60's and 70's financial control meant a united front no matter how many newspapers you owned they would all report as the head office wanted. No matter the facts all editorials on certain subjects would be directly influenced by the publisher.
But there were many independent media outlets in those times and what this book showed was a consistent political bias in papers controlled by chain media outlets in comparison to the independents which for the most part had a neutral position or an unbiased opinion when it came to political issues.

In the 60's the ownership of news media outlets was an issue but at the time there were still 60-70 different publishers with 13 thousand plus publications in the USA.
Today there are approx. 13 thousand plus publications with around 20 different owners but that is a part of the story, The number which gets a raised eyebrow is the number of readers influenced or serviced if you like by any one corporation this is what has some worried. It is a relevant concern, the idea that the control of more media outlets by fewer people is going to bring journalism to a point of being useless.
This has pretty much happened as News has been made into a source of entertainment rather than information.
 The advent of All News TV changed the face of broadcast news and sounded the death knell for many city dallies then as the internet started up there was a frenzy of mergers and closures of media outlets through out the USA. Print suffered the most overall in Canada we had closures by the CBC of many city stations. This will continue through the 2000's both in the private and crown corporation. Cable has made some markets two or three local station territory into a local remote location with maybe two broadcast companies having an office with a few reporters and little budget but not much else.

Has this changed where the politics of the publisher defines the content of the news outlet?
I would doubt it but then again I could be very wrong.
I could be very wrong because there are distinct differences between the capitalist of yesteryear and the mega corporation of today.
What has been seen in recent years is the take over of 90 percent of MSM in the USA being owned by 5 corporations.

Canada is a bit better but only marginally and in my opinion becoming less and less diverse as the years pass.
The CBC was at one time a truly intelligent and ground breaking purveyor of National and International news. It is now, again IMHO, becoming more mainstream and a style follower than a trend setter and a balanced set of eyes on the world.
But this is not a critique on style, sort of, you see maybe that is the point.

It really isn't the ownership by a few companies of all the media outlets in the world who exert their solitary opinions and agenda's but the homogeneous look and feel of the news programs. The only agenda served are of ratings and money taking the USA to a peculiar place in news history.

Where a comic has to get down to the nitty gritty and look at the issues with a tongue in cheek and an intellect that's a weapon.
Maybe not intellect so much as he sticks to his guns and does (someone does) research
 the way it should be done, as a history to illuminate the viewer. The Daily Show has been doing it for many years now and is the 2nd most trusted NEWS source in America.

So the USA has the PBS system and Canada has nothing like it really. The news coverage and the documentary styles that we as a nation once had were doomed by short sighted politicians and captains of the new "Beast" the emerging corporate empires of today.

Can you find independent news reporting in your city? In your town?
YES you can!
Those free papers you see, the ones that look too youthful for an old man like me to be reading,

These are papers which I always grab. They are all free, except for the Sun, how'd it get in there?

 pick one up and at least you'll find that the place you live in has more going on than you think and the Bonanza is that see the youth of the community in a different way.
BE prepared for some vulgarity, openness, lots of music related stories but typically there will be news about your city that the bigtime daily might miss.
 In the rural areas that I have inhabited it seems the local free papers are primarily advertising for the area and some local stories which, at the very least, connects you to the place where you live.
Now here is the dilemma, if any independent paper gets big readership it will be bought or controlled in some fashion by MSM.
Huffington Post might be a case to look at as they have been brought into the corporate world.
They still seem to be a bit left of center but the strength and integrity of the Huffington Post Media Group might not be tested for sometime to come.

In the end get your info from more places than one. I do this no matter the political stand might be of the article. So I don't look like an idiot by typing it again just read the previous sentence again. The thing about an activist type article is that the activist is motivated to dig, the modern news reporter not so much but I still apply a bit of salt to everything I read.
Or do I?
More important do You?