A Rhetorical Analysis Of A Media Conglomerates

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Michael J. Copps conveys a powerful message in the article From the Desk of a Former FCC Commissioner, where he begins the essay off with a quote directed towards journalists that states how the government policies are hurting them. The concentration of media ownership is a process whereby less institutions control increasing shares of the mass media–these institutions are known as media conglomerates. In 1983 there were fifty major media companies, America now, has only nine important multinational media conglomerates, some of which include Walt Disney, Time Warner, Comcast, News Corp., CBS and Viacom(www.buzzle.com). Copps describes how his first-hand experience was not what he had planned on. He was excited that he was going to be dealing …show more content…

Politicians know how the media can sway public opinion so may be afraid to regulate them because they would rather keep them onside. Media mogul and founder of CNN Ted Turner argues that the politicians control over media has dwindled over the years because of the continual loosening of ownership rules. In an article for the Washington Monthly he writes that lawmakers once “wanted to make sure that the big, established networks wouldn't forever dominate what the American public could watch on TV. They wanted independent producers to thrive. They wanted more people to be able to own TV stations. They believed in the value of competition” (www.washingtonmonthly.com). In the article that Copps wrote he writes about the time when he was still Commissioner that he went to visit an editor of a major newspaper and that he urged him to run a critique about the excess of big medias. The response he got was contradicting in my opinion because the editor said he has freedom to write about whatever he wants except the concept of media ownership. The smaller newspaper companies are barley around anymore because they do not have the financial backup like the media conglomerate companies have—they have so much money that they are set if one of their many companies starts to fail. Copps overall argument is that he wants the FCC to reevaluate the concept of these companies and how they are running the many companies that they own. These large companies have control over so many others that the idea of independency and competition amongst other news outlets have disappeared at

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