No doubt about it: the Entertainment/Industrial Complex is here, and it seeks to control the information you see.
In the manner of the Military/Industrial Complex -- the
small group of companies that provide the majority of the military
infrastructure to the government -- there is an Entertainment/Industrial
Complex that owns and controls the overwhelming majority of the
services that provide entertainment to the American consumer.
This is practically all of the music, television, news, internet,
newspapers, and magazines that are available. The connections between
these media giants are concealed under a web of names, interlocking
directorships and relationships to the corporate controllers of the
American economy.
Historically, America enjoyed a diverse and independent, and
competitive environment of information providers. Every community had
its own competitive and independent group of newspapers, radio and TV
stations, movie theatres, and music companies. There was a real choice
and variety in sources. As recently as the 1960's the major markets had
lots of independent providers, and a healthy diversity of opinions and
policies. Now, however, we are faced with a limited set of choices and a
severely limited set of policies and points of view.
This consolidation becomes obvious when one looks at the limited
points of view provided for our perusal. Unpopular opinions, especially
diverse political or social viewpoints, have a hard time getting
attention. Independent music, movies and television programming are
forced to conform and join one conglomerate or the other in order to
have a chance to appear in the market.
As an example let me demonstrate with some history of the markets
for karaoke song tracks: Prior to 1995, I knew of about 20 domestic
licensees of English language karaoke CDs. There were multiple choices
available since the original songs were provided on a non-exclusive
basis from a relatively large number of music companies or from the
artists themselves. Since 2003, however, the number of domestic US
producers of karaoke tracks can be counted on one's fingers. (Off the
top of my head I can think of only 5. There are probably a few more,
but many of the older companies are no longer around.) Additionally,
while there are karaoke producers overseas, they are no longer legally
available to the US market as a result of the power of the music labels'
contractual conditions which restrict the use of the copyrights they
control.
This is but one example, drawn from a field I happen to follow
with a personal interest. My readings on the 'net lead me to observe
that similar limitations are found in the domestic US popular music
distribution, movie distribution, television distribution, and news
sources.
This consolidation has a consequence of begetting a linkage with
the polarization of political discourse happening recently. With only a
limited number of outlets, with a limited number of biased policies,
non-aligned opinions and events that don't fit in with the approved
agendas get lost in the outer darkness.
The World Wide Internet provides a less controlled market, and it
gives us the means to see the diversity of opinions that exist outside
of US control. So far, the worldwide reach of the internet based
information providers gives the digitally-enabled information consumer a
distinct advantage in the effort to have a broad-based picture of
current events. Unfortunately, I fear that the US internet is moving
toward a situation similar to that seen in China -- an state-run
firewall that attempts to restrict what is available to a pre-approved
set of information that meets the agendas of the controllers. The only
difference is that here it will be a corporate oligarchy that controls
it, preserving an appearance that it is not as oppressive as the state
doing the censorship. (I know, this sounds like a conspiracy/crackpot
theory, and I hope that the situation can be changed by asserting our
individual powers and rights to self-determination. Examine the fallout
of the "Citizens United" situation for the basis of this fear.)
Already, the FBI is complaining that they fear losing the ability
to track the sources of internet traffic due to advancing technology.
The major internet service providers in the US are fighting for the
ability to control of the traffic they carry by favoring those sources
that are willing to pay a premium for the use of their bandwidth (this
is the "net neutrality" fight.) The United Nations International
Telecommunications Union (UN/ITU) is seeking to gain control of the
Internet names and numbers infrastructure, away from its US-centric,
freedom favoring, pro net neutrality foundation (ICANN) to a group
controlled by member states such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and
others who are opposed to net neutrality and unrestricted use (ITU).
As always, it is a question of those who have the gold making the rules. Be aware that these fights are shaping your future.
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