Quote Originally Posted by ChrisL View Post
Please type more when you're able...
Chris L
I'll try. I'd like to, but theres alot there, like pages of stuff. Its hard b/c I don't want to be vague and need to look up or remember examples when I make a statement or supposition. Plus, this is stuff thats mostly been in my head where its kinda/not really organized, if you know what I mean.

I can type a bit more on corporate media ownership right now, its not quite so nebulous. The first I ever heard of it was one of those Sat night live cartoons, "TV funhouse". It was a cartoon that portrayed corps as octopus like things gobbling up media outlets and their various connections. I actually kept an eye out for the rerun of the cartoon, and thats an interesting story in itself--

The business of media: corporate ... - Google Books

The cartoon was pulled on the rerun, the reason being that "it didn't make it comedically." Odd reason to pull something from a SNL rerun. If all the skits and such that "didn't make it comedically" were removed from reruns of Sat night live the show would be down to about half an hour. I had heard what happened to the cartoon before, It was talked about on a documentary on PBS.

I found it interesting that Lorne Micheals lied (the producer of Sat Nite live), saying that he was responsible for the cartoons replacement, when he wasn't. I would think that he was a relatively powerful man in the industry, and the fact that he just rolled over and took responsibility when ordered to... well, it seems odd.

That book I linked to may be of interest to the people looking at this thread. I happened on it when I was looking for that SNL cartoon, and it seems to do a very good job explaining things. Immediately after the SNL cartoon I mentioned, it goes into the 1996 telecommunications act, perhaps the most important bill to effect American media (and as such the American peoples sources of information). There was 20 minutes of coverage for it over 9 months, and that wasn't about ownership... well, he explains it better then I can, just give it a look, there's alot there in the different sections.