—Marshall McLuhan

—Abbie Hoffman

The Media Monolith
Ten Corporations Control World Mass Media

1. Time/Warner

2. Turner Broadcasting

3. Disney/ABC

4. Viacom

5. News Corp. Ltd. (Murdoch)

6. Sony
   Telecommunications, Inc.

7. Seagram

8. Westinghouse

9. Gannett

10. General Electric

In addition to "bringing good things to life" (such as self-destructing lightbulbs), General Electric manufacturers weapons systems. It is in GE's best interest to precipitate conflicts which create markets for the machinery of death. All the news on NBC has been "GE-approved footage" since 1985, when NBC was acquired by GE for $6.3 billion. To quote the poet John King: "Whose story can you trust / when the news is brought to you by General Electric?"

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• The Media Monopoly
  In this book's 1982 first edition, Ben Bagdikian reported that a mere 50 corporations controlled more than half of all media business in the US. Imagine 50 representatives from those companies gathering in a meeting hall to determine the shape of the news.
  
  By mid-1987, that number had shrunk to 26. Just enough to fill a classroom.
  
  By 1996, that number had been distilled to ten. Executives could meet cordially around a small conference table. But such meetings are unlikely as they are unnecessary. There is no need for a conscious conspiracy when all the players are motivated solely by greed.
  
  Now in its fifth edition, the book has been updated to address the role of the Internet in the face of mass media consolidation. 

• 20 Years of Censored News
  The censorships in question are not the draconian limitations imposed by an oppressive regime, but they might as well be. Read the top ten news stories from each year from 1977 to 1997 which weren't considered "fit to print" by controlling corporate interests.
  (Also see Censored 1998 : The News That Didn't Make the News)

• Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
  Classic examination of television and its effects by a repentant adman is as relevant now as in 1977. Setting aside all considerations of programming, Mander methodically articulates the threats inherent in the very technology of television, all of which inhibit our ability to relate to the natural world.
  

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• The Medium Is The Massage
  Lucid encapsulation of one of 20th century's most influential thinker's theories regarding technology, particularly electronic media. Beautifully illustrated, the design of this book is said to have influenced the look of WIRED magazine.
• War And Peace In The Global Village
  Thirty years ahead of its time, this book addresses the potential of electronic media to unite the world into a peaceful community of individuals allied through a global communications network.

• A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present
  This well-documented and intensely researched book replaces with plain facts the lies, myths, and propaganda that has for hundreds of years constituted "American history" as it has been recorded and taught in schools. They say history is written by the winners, and the winners since the time of Columbus's "discovery" of America have been members of a ruling elite (Columbus's patrons, British colonial governors, the founding fathers, robber barons, corporation boards) who stole the land, plundered its resources, committed genocide, enslaved Africans, exploited workers, waged wars for profit, and kept the majority of the population off-balance, cowed, and disorganized through unjust laws, political deceit, and deadly force.