In the early 1980s, Ben Bagdikian’s famous book The Media Monopoly concluded that fewer than 50 firms dominated U.S. media, with the result that journalism was increasingly losing its ability to address the role and nature of corporate power in the U.S. political economy. By the time the fourth edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 1992, Bagdikian calculated that mergers and acquisitions had reduced the number of dominant media firms to two dozen. Since 1992, there has been an unprecedented wave of mergers and acquisitions among media giants, highlighted by the Time Warner purchase of Turner Broadcasting (CNN, TNT) and the Disney acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. Continue reading CORPORATE MEDIA, ALTERNATIVE PRESS, AND AFRICAN AMERICANS, by Salim Muwakkil →