On the origin of the corporate media

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

141: "In the era of the Red Scare, after World War I, and the
rise of totalitarian regimes abroad, with social unrest and
militant labor unions at home, the potential for nationwide
communications to fall into the wrong hands was recognized as a
serious threat to U.S. national security.  One way of dealing
with the threat was to concentrate this potential under the
technological control of a handful of companies allied or at
least aligned with the U.S. government.  This, was one reason
that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could lean
toward interpreting its legitimate regulatory role as ensuring
corporate stability against upstart new technologies ....
Moreover, by enabling corporate concentration in the media it
could indirectly control a force that it could not afford to
control openly." Winston, Brian. 1998. Media Technology and
Society: A History From the Telegraph to the Internet (London:
Routledge): p. 112.

Graham, Margaret. 2000. "The Threshold of the Information Age:
Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures Mobilize the Nation."
Alfred
D. Chandler, Jr. and James W. Cortada, eds. in A Nation
Transformed
By Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from

Colonial Times to the Present (NY: Oxford University Press): pp.
137-76.
--

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx