[lbo-talk] The Myth of Media Concentration

[B.]

It isn't just "liberals" who're worried about media control resting in relatively fewer hands, unless Chomsky and Zinn are now liberals. You can say folks like this wax nostalgic for an era run by Hearst and Chandler, but those two don't, and nor do I. Chomsky, Zinn, etl. a. often speak of "the lively working class press of the 19th century" that with the advent of the 20th century began to progressively disappear. 

 

 A similar argument that's been made is that the USA has a very diverse set of automakers compared to before. More liberals whining about lack of diversity when really we've got it better. Well, better than  before when? Better now than in 1960? Sure. But before that? Pre-1940 there were tons of US automakers. Pierce-Arrow, Nash, Garford, Abbott-Detroit motor cars, Haynes Automibile Company -- a really long list. In fact, I've got a book that has almost nothing but magazine ads of these forgotten car manufacturers; they aren't fiction. I could scan the ads -- theyr'e pretty interesting in and of themselves. (These were not nutball car companies working out of some crank's garage, the had ads alongside Harley Davidson, Cadillac, Ford, etc., in well-circulated magazines and restoration fanatics have websites about them.)

 

 -B.

 

 

 Doug Henwood wrote:

 

 "But that starts getting into dangerous territory for liberals, so best to get nostalgic for those great old days when Hearst ruled the mediascape and the LA Times was a crap paper run by the original Chandler."