The Media Monopoly 6th Edition
Author: Ben H. Bagdikian
List Price: $18.50
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ISBN: 0807061794
Publisher: Beacon Press (24 March, 2000)
Sales Rank: 62,787
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
A frightening picture of increasing media concentration
When Bagdikian wrote his first edition of "The Media Monopoly" in 1983, noting that just 50 corporations controlled over half of the media outlets in the United States, many called him an alarmist. Now in its fifth edition, Bagdikian is able to give (uhappily, I'm sure) his critics a resounding "I told you so" by noting that the number of media-monsters dominating over half of America's media landscape has shrunk from 50 to ten. The situation that Bagdikian describes is so dire that it makes one wistful for the good old days of those orginal 50 corporations in 1983. Bagdikian makes a clear and effective case demonstrating how this media concentration subverts democracy. "The Media Monopoly" is an important book that deserves to be read by anyone who thinks that our 500-channel cable universe and the Internet mean that we are living in a fully-informed, democratic society. I look forward to any potential sixth edition of "The Media Monopoly" with dread. Review by Richard Huffman
Rating: 4 out of 5
Attack of the Libertarian Media
The cover of this book reports that when Bagdikian published the first edition in 1983, it was dismissed as "alarmist." But he has been vindicated, as the book has reached its sixth edition and the problems he first articulated have become far worse in the ensuing years. The media monopoly problem is far from alarmist. It's alarming. Bagdikian deserves major credit for first publicizing the troubling trend of consolidated media ownership by huge mega-conglomerate corporations. Now we are down to six major media owners. Bagdikian proves that the media have been enslaved to the will of advertisers for decades anyway, as most forms of media make far more money from selling ads than from the members of the public who consume their offerings. But the problem is currently worse than ever as the focus is no longer the public interest, but boosting short-term profits, which has just about eliminated the search for truth or any long-term social focus.The problem with this edition of the book is that the only current portions are the foreword and afterword, in which Bagdikian outlines where things stand today (that is, worse than ever). Otherwise, the main body of the book appears to be mostly the third edition from 1990. This leads to outdated information and conclusions that are a serious problem for such a quickly developing subject. Although Bagdikian is now more than eighty years old, this work would benefit significantly from a thorough re-write of the main text, rather than the piecemeal additions to the foreword and afterword that supposedly indicate a "new" edition. (Note that plenty of other more modern books have stolen Bagdikian's thunder and cover the issue equally well.) Also, Bagdikian is frequently guilty of attention-grabbing polemics and sarcasm while making his points. This is unnecessary as the facts can speak for themselves.
Regardless, this book is monumentally important not only for its investigation into inequitable corporate control of the media, but also Bagdikian's great insights into the ensuing political and cultural effects on society. This includes everything from the greater costs of goods caused by excessive advertising (a direct contradiction of classic capitalist theory), to the dumbing down of public knowledge of important social issues. In fact, the modern America media is not liberal, despite what close-minded politicians tell you. It's libertarian in its rush for total profit-driven focus and financial control of those same politicians. The general increase in social apathy and malaise among citizens indicates what is wrong with the mainstream media, and the culprit is the relentless and cruel rush for short-term profitability. Public knowledge is the key to a healthy democracy, and corporations have destroyed that for much of America. Worship your new corporate masters. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating: 1 out of 5
good idea, poor execution
Bagdikian manages to take an important subject -- deserving of sober and careful analysis -- and buries it in a shrill, overwrought and largely useless diatribe. His general thesis, that the mass media are undergoing consolidation antithetical to consumer interests, is beyond serious debate. Yet the book is so bereft of serious analysis and scholarship that the case is hardly to be made out. For the wholly naive this book may, perhaps, open some new vistas. But for anyone who regularly gets past the sports pages and comics there is little here of interest.
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