Posted 10:53 AM by George Siemens
Media future: Risk of monopoly?
Quote: "While there appears to be diversity on the surface, they note that a handful of corporations already control the national broadcast media and more than half the cable systems in the United States...In radio, where consolidation has gone furthest, 66.6 percent of people who listen to news listen to stations that are owned by four companies."
Comment: Monopolies in media are a significant concern - after all, many people actually believe what they see on TV...:). I'm curious, however, to see how blogs (as a decentralized forms of journalism) will impact the future media monopolies. For instance, in areas relating to elearning, by the time an issue is covered in "formal media" (i.e. magazines/newspapers) - it's usually been hashed around the blog circuit for several weeks. Traditional media (radio, newspapers, TV) are ripe for monopolies - because the channel of distribution can be owned. This is not the case on the Internet (yet).

Towards the end of the article, a statement is made that is worth emphasizing: "Critics contend that's one reason why radio listenership is now at a 27-year low. "More and more people are complaining that radio formats are too bland and aren't serving particular needs,"...well duh. If a media format is not meeting the needs of its users, it deserves to fail. Why is file sharing so huge?...because the entertainment industry completely lost sight of the needs of its market. If the market wants bite-sized media, (on their terms), the path to success is not to regulate and legislate. Give the consumer what he/she wants!...or they look elsewhere. I wonder if educators are getting this message...