Tag: news

THE DANGERS OF MEDIA CONSOLIDATION AND BILLIONAIRE OWNERS

The creation of huge mega-companies is harmful, in part because they have monopolistic powers. It is particularly concerning in the media and news industry because they control the information we receive. Recent and proposed mergers and acquisitions in the media industry have heightened concerns about politically slanted “news” due to billionaire owners. A citizenry that’s well informed is essential to a well-functioning democracy and there’s a growing danger that these huge media companies and their billionaire owners are not providing citizens and voters with the information they need.

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The consolidation of companies through mergers and acquisitions to produce huge mega-companies is harmful for consumers, workers, small businesses, innovation, our economy, and our country. Huge companies have monopolistic powers over prices, product quality, and jobs because of limited competition.

Huge companies, owned by billionaires, are particularly concerning in the media and news industry because they control the information we receive and, therefore, what we know. A citizenry that’s well informed with important and truthful information is essential to a well-functioning democracy. Disinformation and a lack of information are what allow authoritarians and dictators to rule.

Because of consolidation and limited local competition, the costs of Internet access and cable TV have been going up. Costs have been increasing too for content providers and streaming services because of consolidation in those areas as well.

Recent and proposed mergers and acquisitions in the media industry have heightened concerns, not only about competition and prices, but also about politically slanted “news” as directed by billionaire owners. There are concerns about Trump’s influence on the owners and bias in reporting on him and his administration. For example, Paramount, owner of CBS and lots of other media companies, and its new billionaire CEO David Ellison have already installed a right-leaning journalist with limited experience as editor in chief of CBS news. Ellison has also gutted CBS’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and installed a right-winger as “ombudsman” to (supposedly) ensure the fairness of news coverage. Paramount and Ellison are bidding to acquire Warner Brothers, which owns CNN among other entities, and are reportedly soliciting money from the Saudis and other Mideast sovereigns to help fund their bid. Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, billionaire owner of Oracle and the world’s second richest person, has reportedly told President Trump that Paramount would fire CNN personnel that Trump doesn’t like if a deal for Warner Brothers is made and Trump’s regulators approve it. [1]

Billionaire owners of media companies generally have strong biases that are likely to affect the news and information (or disinformation) their companies report and spread. For example, billionaires (and other wealthy people) want public policies that allow them to make and keep great wealth. They often view democratic governance as a threat because it holds equal opportunity and equity as foundational principles. Billionaires may well want to suppress information on and criticism of their great wealth and the actions of their companies, or the private sector and unregulated markets in general. They may want to hide the ways they influence public officials and public policies, as well as the favorable policies they get.

The goals of billionaire media owners are not to provide valuable information to the citizens of a democracy, but rather to enrich and protect themselves. They also know that President Trump can and will support their companies (e.g., with government contracts and subsidies, by approving their proposed acquisitions) if they are on good terms with him. However, if they have a bad relationship, he can wreak havoc on their companies with regulations, tariffs, selective law enforcement, suits, penalties, or by using antitrust laws to block their acquisitions. [2]

Billionaire media owners include:

  • Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who bought the major social media platform, Twitter, and rebranded it, X. He has allowed and encouraged it to become a purveyor of right-wing disinformation, hate speech, and dangerous rhetoric.
  • Larry Ellison, the second richest person, who, with his family, owns Paramount, CBS and many other media companies as described above. They are big supporters of Trump and Republicans. CBS paid Trump $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit and canceled Stephen Colbert’s show because he was often critical of Trump. (Some senior CBS staff, including at 60 Minutes, resigned because of presumably because they were told to treat Trump favorably.) The Trump administration then approved a multi-billion-dollar merger of Paramount and Skydance.
  • Mark Zuckerberg, the third richest person, who owns Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. He has allowed his companies to spread disinformation, hate speech, and messaging dangerous to the health and safety of children. He has also been a Trump supporter.
  • Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest person, who owns The Washington Post and Amazon, including all its media entities. He blocked the publishing of an editorial endorsing Kamal Harris in 2024 and has directed the Post’s editorial and opinion writing to support “personal liberties and free markets.” (The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times also blocked an editorial endorsing Kamal Harris.) Bezos is a Trump supporter and paid Melania Trump (the President’s wife) a staggering $40 million for the right to make a documentary about her.
  • Billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his offspring, who own Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post. It’s widely recognized that Fox spreads disinformation favorable to Trump and Republicans, up to and including false election fraud disinformation that led to a court decision requiring Fox to pay nearly $800 million for defamation of an electronic voting machine company.

It’s impossible to know how these billionaires have skewed coverage of President Trump and his administration, as well as the criticism and protests of them, but it’s hard to believe they haven’t had considerable influence. There is a growing danger that these huge media companies and their billionaire owners are not providing citizens and voters with the information they need to have a well-functioning democracy.

More on the effects of billionaire ownership and media consolidation in my next post, as well as what can be done about it.

[1]      Myerson, H., 11/20/25, “Ellisons tap Saudis to fund news media takeover,” Today on The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2025/11/20/ellisons-tap-saudis-to-fund-news-media-takeover/)

[2]      Reich, R., 11/26/25, “The billionaires destroying our media system and what to do about it,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/billionaire-ownership-media)

RESIST! OUR DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER

These are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. Things are worse than I thought they’d be. President Trump and co-President Musk are hard at work attempting a coup to establish a dictatorship. They want to create chaos, fear, and despair, while breaking our government and destroying our democratic institutions. We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take. See options below.

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In November, just after the election, I wrote, “This is a post I never thought I’d write. In January, the United States of America will unequivocally become a plutocratic oligarchy with strong elements of fascism. …  we and our country are in for some dark and difficult times. Take care of yourself and nurture the strength for the fights ahead.

I’m not giving up hope or the values and principles I espouse in this blog. Things will get worse, perhaps much worse, before we can turn things around. The fight for democracy has often been hard, and, as I’ve written before, democracy is not a spectator sport.

After a period of mourning and to rest and recuperate from the shock and horror, we all need to get to work fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable members of our society.” (The post is here.)

Well, things are worse than I thought they’d be. I never thought I’d write that there’s a bloodless (so far) coup underway and that our President (and co-President) are hard at work attempting to establish a dictatorship.

Needless to say, these are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. President Trump’s and co-President Musk’s actions have been far more aggressive, far-reaching, and damaging than I think anyone expected. Trump seems to be focused on foreign matters and Musk on domestic ones.

Their goal is clearly to create chaos, fear, and despair. They’re trying to break our government and destroy our democratic institutions. They don’t care about democracy, the rule of law, or anyone but themselves and their cronies.

In the maelstrom of all they’re doing, it’s important to sort the wheat from the chaff and focus on what’s having a crucial, and generally immediate, effect. A lot of what Trump is doing and saying is just hot air and smoke meant to distract from the really important actions.

Right now, I’d urge us to focus on the coup (that is what it is) they’re executing by single-handedly and illegally asserting control over government agencies and spending. We also need to focus on their efforts to destroy the rule of law, which is a cornerstone of democracy and an essential element of their coup.

They’re asserting dictatorial powers over the federal government and its spending, denying any role for Congress. So much for the checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches of government clearly spelled out in the Constitution. (By the way, don’t believe for a second that Trump and Musk have any allegiance to or intent to uphold the Constitution. When Trump swore at his inauguration to uphold the Constitution, that was the first lie of his second term.)

They’re flouting privacy laws by accessing information and data, including your and my personal data, without any authorization. They’re making each of us and our country less safe and secure. With the chaos they have caused at the Department of Justice and the FBI, we are more at risk for everything from ordinary crime to identity theft. Their breaching of sensitive federal government computer systems makes the government and each of us more vulnerable to hackers and cybercrime. The focus of the Secretary of Defense on the Mexican border and purging diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgender individuals from the military has diverted attention from real foreign threats. This makes us more vulnerable to terrorism and foreign attacks of all kinds.

Oh, and by the way, none of their actions have done anything to reduce inflation or bring down the price of groceries. Quite to the contrary, Trump’s spat and threatened tariffs on Columbia have spiked the price of coffee. And the failure and anticipated failure of the CDC to tackle the bird flu, have spiked the price of eggs. Not to mention the impact of tariffs on prices.

We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take; there’s something everyone can do, and every little bit helps.

I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and your Senators. Urge them to do whatever they can to block the illegal actions and coup by President Trump and co-President Musk. Call if you can (and if their voice mailboxes aren’t full) and try both local and Washington phone numbers. Or email them using their contact forms or email addresses. (You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.)

Here are some other ways to protest and resist. I also encourage you to be creative and come up with your own.

  • Wear a button, a T-shirt with a message, and/or a color symbolic of resistance.
  • Boycott X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, Amazon, The Washington Post, Facebook, etc. and/or protest in front of stores of companies that are capitulating to Trump.
  • Communicate. Talk to others, like and share resistance messaging on social media, and/or send letters to the editor of media outlets or submit online comments.
  • Join the protests in the streets.
  • Support those protesting and those resisting (e.g., government employees Trump and Musk are trying to fire, lawyers and non-profits filing lawsuits, etc.).
  • Give financial support to media that are standing up to Trump, to lawyers and organizations who are suing Trump and Musk, and to those organizing protests.
  • Get organizations you belong to and their leaders to speak out, e.g., religious organizations and clergy.

THE SUPREME COURT IS A THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY

Abortion rights activists rally outside of the US Supreme Court after the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade, in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2022. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Based on the Supreme Court’s decisions of the last few weeks, we should all be in the streets protesting and storming the Supreme Court. Its decisions undermine the Constitution and our system of government, while giving the president king-like status.

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Based on the Supreme Court’s decisions of the last few weeks, we should all be in the streets protesting and storming the Supreme Court. Their decisions undermine the Constitution and our system of government as it’s worked for over 200 years. I won’t go into the details of the decisions because you’ve probably read or heard about them. I’ll just state that this is a radical, reactionary Court – not a conservative one by any stretch of the imagination. (See this previous post for details.)

The six radical, reactionary justices on the Court totally disregard precedents both in content and procedure to make rulings that are political and ideological, not grounded in law or the Constitution. Their claim of being true to the original text and intent of the Constitution is a blatant lie – a smoke screen for making rulings out of thin air that suit their political purposes. This is judicial activism in the extreme, which conservatives used to decry (and still would if they were true conservatives).

Moreover, the six radical, activist justices stated in their congressional confirmation hearings that they would respect precedents; they would call balls and strikes but not change the rules of the game. It’s now clear they were lying and committing perjury.

With its recent decision on presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, the Court puts the president above the rule of law. The decision exempts the president from the rule of law for all official acts (and probably for many unofficial acts as well). This grants the president king-like status.

This is in blatant contradiction to what the Founding Fathers intended in the Constitution and made clear in their writings. The Constitution does mention immunity – for citizens, for witnesses to crimes, and for legislators in limited cases (for speech or debate in congressional chambers). Clearly, the writers of the Constitution thought carefully about immunity and did NOT grant it to the president. The supposed constitutional originalists on the Supreme Court invented presidential immunity out of thin air, presumably for political reasons.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson has a clear and concise interview (6 mins.) on the immunity issue and has written about it in her Letters from an American blog. Her blog post includes quotes from the confirmation hearings of Justices Roberts, Alito, and Kavanaugh where they stated that no one is above the law. Therefore, they have, very specifically, shown that their congressional testimony was a lie and that they committed perjury.

Retired lawyer Robert Hubbell states that the Court’s presidential immunity decision (and others) by the six radical justices shows that the “Supreme Court is lawless.” The immunity decision “overthrew the American Revolution and anointed the US president as a modern-day king.” He succinctly outlines what the decision does and gives examples of what a president can now do without fear of criminal prosecution, including accept a bribe in exchange for a pardon and direct the Justice Department to target political enemies. With this immunity in place, what President Nixon did during Watergate would presumably have been completely legal. [1]

Moreover, the Supreme Court’s decision leaves it to the courts (i.e., ultimately itself) to decide what are “official” (immune from prosecution) and “unofficial” presidential acts, and also to decide what evidence can be used in a prosecution. Therefore, the Court has arrogated substantial power to itself over the implementation of its presidential immunity ruling – a real power grab.

The hypocrisy of the six radical Supreme Court justices who claim to be constitutional “originalists” is laid bare by their decisions. For example, they have ruled:

  • For very strong presidential immunity, which is not only nowhere in the Constitution, but contradicts the Constitution and its writers. This ruling’s lack of a constitutional basis is made clear by provisions for other immunities that ARE in the Constitution and by the expressed sentiments of the writers of the Constitution that the president should NOT be above the law and have king-like powers.
  • Against banning an insurrectionist from the ballot, despite clear language in the Constitution that an insurrectionist cannot hold elected office without 2/3 approval from Congress.

My next post will discuss the Supreme Court’s decimation of the power of executive branch agencies to implement laws and protect workers, consumers, and residents through rules and regulations.

[1]      Hubbell, R., 7/2/24, “The Supreme Court is the biggest threat to democracy we face,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-is-the-biggest)