Re: Markets and Diversity

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman wrote:

> In his presidential address to the American Economic Association,
> Sherwin Rosen claimed that one of the benefits of the market is
> its ability to provide diversity.  Yet in a number of areas,
> diversity is shrinking.  Publishers resist printing books that
> cannot sell at Barnes & Noble.  Radio stations are becoming less
> diverse -- unless you include Web broadcasting.  Cable does allow
> for more diversity in some respects, but not insofar as politics
> is concerned.  Broadcasting Chomsky for three minutes on CNN was
> a big deal.

Bourdieu argues in his book On Television
<http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Why_TV_sucks.html> that
competition produces sameness, not diversity.

Doug