Sunspots of 1 September 1859, as sketched by Richard Carrington.
A and B mark the initial positions of an intensely bright event, which
moved over the course of five minutes to C and D before disappearing.
The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking on 1–2 September 1859 during solar cycle 10. It created strong auroral displays that were reported globally and caused sparking and even fires in telegraph stations. The geomagnetic storm was most likely the result of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun colliding with Earth's magnetosphere.
The geomagnetic storm was associated with a very bright solar flare on 1 September 1859. It was observed and recorded independently by British astronomers Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson—the
first records of a solar flare. A geomagnetic storm of this magnitude
occurring today has the potential to cause widespread electrical
disruptions, blackouts and damage due to extended cuts of the electrical power grid.
History
Geomagnetic storm
On 1 and 2 September 1859, one of the largest geomagnetic storms (as recorded by ground-based magnetometers) occurred. Estimates of the storm strength (Dst) range from −0.80 to −1.75 μT.
The geomagnetic storm is thought to have been caused by a big coronal mass ejection (CME) that traveled directly toward Earth, taking 17.6 hours to make the 150×106 km (93×106 mi)
journey. Typical CMEs take several days to arrive at Earth, but it is
believed that the relatively high speed of this CME was made possible by
a prior CME, perhaps the cause of the large aurora event on 29 August
that "cleared the way" of ambient solar windplasma for the Carrington Event.
Associated solar flare
Just
before noon on 1 September 1859, the English amateur astronomers
Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently recorded the
earliest observations of a solar flare. Carrington and Hodgson compiled independent reports which were published side by side in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and exhibited their drawings of the event at the November 1859 meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Because of a geomagnetic solar flare effect (a "magnetic crochet") observed in the Kew Observatory magnetometer record by Scottish physicist Balfour Stewart, and a geomagnetic storm observed the following day, Carrington suspected a solar–terrestrial connection. Worldwide reports of the effects of the geomagnetic storm of 1859 were compiled and published by American mathematician Elias Loomis, which support the observations of Carrington and Stewart.
Impact
Auroras
Auroras were seen around the world in the northern and southern hemispheres. The aurora borealis over the Rocky Mountains
in the United States was so bright that the glow woke gold miners, who
were reported to have begun to prepare breakfast because they thought it
was morning. It was also reported that people in the north-eastern
United States could read a newspaper by the aurora's light. The aurora was also visible from the poles to low latitude areas such as south-central Mexico, Cuba, Hawaii, Queensland, southern Japan and China, and even at lower latitudes very close to the equator, such as in Colombia.
Those who happened to be out late
on Thursday night had an opportunity of witnessing another magnificent
display of the auroral lights. The phenomenon was very similar to the
display on Sunday night, though at times the light was, if possible,
more brilliant, and the prismatic hues more varied and gorgeous. The
light appeared to cover the whole firmament, apparently like a luminous
cloud, through which the stars of the larger magnitude indistinctly
shone. The light was greater than that of the moon at its full, but had
an indescribable softness and delicacy that seemed to envelop everything
upon which it rested. Between 12 and 1 o'clock, when the display was at
its full brilliancy, the quiet streets of the city resting under this
strange light, presented a beautiful as well as singular appearance.
In 1909, an Australian gold miner named C. F. Herbert retold his observations in a letter to the Daily News in Perth,
I was gold-digging at Rokewood, about four miles [6 km] from Rokewood township (Victoria).
Myself and two mates looking out of the tent saw a great reflection in
the southern heavens at about 7 o'clock p.m., and in about half an hour,
a scene of almost unspeakable beauty presented itself: Lights of every
imaginable color were issuing from the southern heavens, one color
fading away only to give place to another if possible more beautiful
than the last, the streams mounting to the zenith, but always becoming a
rich purple when reaching there, and always curling round, leaving a
clear strip of sky, which may be described as four fingers held at arm's
length. The northern side from the zenith was also illuminated with
beautiful colors, always curling round at the zenith, but were
considered to be merely a reproduction of the southern display, as all
colors south and north always corresponded. It was a sight never to be
forgotten, and was considered at the time to be the greatest aurora
recorded [...]. The rationalist and pantheist saw nature in her most
exquisite robes, recognising, the divine immanence, immutable law,
cause, and effect. The superstitious and the fanatical had dire
forebodings, and thought it a foreshadowing of Armageddon and final
dissolution.
Telegraphs
Because of the geomagnetically induced current from the electromagnetic field, telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving their operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks. Some operators were able to continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies. The following conversation occurred between two operators of the American telegraph line between Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine, on the night of 2 September 1859 and reported in the Boston Evening Traveler:
Boston operator (to Portland operator): "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes."
Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected."
Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"
Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. – Current comes and goes gradually."
Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can
work better without the batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and
augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times
for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are
affected by this trouble."
Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"
Boston: "Yes. Go ahead."
The conversation was carried on for around two hours using no battery
power at all and working solely with the current induced by the aurora,
the first time on record that more than a word or two was transmitted
in such manner.
Another strong solar storm occurred in February 1872. Less severe storms also occurred in 1921 (this was comparable by some measures), 1938, 1941, 1958, 1959 and 1960, when widespread radio disruption was reported. The flares and CMEs of the August 1972 solar storms
were similar to the Carrington event in size and magnitude; however,
unlike the 1859 storms, they did not cause an extreme geomagnetic storm.
The March 1989 geomagnetic storm knocked out power across large sections of Quebec, while the 2003 Halloween solar storms registered the most powerful solar explosions ever recorded. On 23 July 2012, a "Carrington-class" solar superstorm (solar flare, CME, solar electromagnetic pulse) was observed, but its trajectory narrowly missed Earth. During the May 2024 solar storms, the Aurora Borealis was sighted as far south as Puerto Rico.
In June 2013, a joint venture from researchers at Lloyd's of London
and Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in the US used data
from the Carrington Event to estimate the cost of a similar event in the
present to the US alone at US$600 billion to $2.6 trillion (equivalent to $774 billion to $3.35 trillion in 2023), which, at the time, equated to roughly 3.6 to 15.5 percent of annual GDP.
Other research has looked for signatures of large solar flares and CMEs in carbon-14 in tree rings and beryllium-10 (among other isotopes) in ice cores. The signature of a large solar storm has been found for the years 774–775 and 993–994.
Carbon-14 levels stored in 775 suggest an event about 20 times the
normal variation of the Sun's activity, and 10 or more times the size of
the Carrington Event. An event in 7176 BCE may have exceeded even the 774–775 event based on this proxy data.
Whether the physics of solar flares is similar to that of even larger superflares
is still unclear. The Sun may differ in important ways such as size and
speed of rotation from the types of stars that are known to produce
superflares.
Other evidence
Ice cores containing thin nitrate-rich
layers have been analysed to reconstruct a history of past solar storms
predating reliable observations. This was based on the hypothesis that solar energetic particles would ionize nitrogen, leading to the production of nitric oxide and other oxidised nitrogen compounds, which would not be too diluted in the atmosphere before being deposited along with snow.
Beginning in 1986, some researchers claimed that data from Greenland ice cores showed evidence of individual solar particle events, including the Carrington Event.
More recent ice core work, however, casts significant doubt on this
interpretation and shows that nitrate spikes are likely not a result of
solar energetic particle events but can be due to terrestrial events
such as forest fires, and correlate with other chemical signatures of
known forest fire plumes. Nitrate events in cores from Greenland and Antarctica do not align, so the hypothesis that they reflect proton events is now in significant doubt.
A 2024 study analysed digitized magnetogram readings from magnetic observatories at Kew and Greenwich.
"Initial analysis suggests the rates of change of the field of over 700
nT/min exceeded the 1-in-100 years extreme value of 350–400 nT/min at
this latitude based on digital-era records", indicating a far greater change rate than modern digital measurements.
Media cross-ownership is the common ownership of multiple media sources by a single person or corporate entity. Media sources include radio, broadcast television, specialty and pay television,
cable, satellite, Internet Protocol television (IPTV), newspapers,
magazines and periodicals, music, film, book publishing, video games,
search engines, social media, internet service providers, and wired and
wireless telecommunications.
Much of the debate over concentration of media ownership
in the United States has for many years focused specifically on the
ownership of broadcast stations, cable stations, newspapers, and
websites. Some have pointed to an increase in media merging and
concentration of ownership which may correlate to decreased trust in
'mass' media.
Ownership of American media
Over time, both the number of media outlets and concentration of ownership have increased, translating to fewer companies owning more media outlets.
Digital
Also known as "Big Tech,"
a collection of five major digital media companies are also noted for
their strong influence over their respective industries:
Owns search engine Google, video sharing site YouTube, proprietary rights to the open-source Android operating system, blog hosting site Blogger, Gmail e-mail service, and numerous other online media and software outlets.
Owns the largest subscription over-the-top
video service in the United States; it also owns many of the films and
television series released on the service. Netflix also owns DVD Netflix
(dvd.netflix.com), a mail-order video rental service. Netflix also has
close ties to Roku, Inc., which it spun off in 2008 to avoid self-dealing accusations but maintains a substantial investment and owns the Roku operating system used on a large proportion of smart televisions and set-top boxes.
Due
to cross-ownership restrictions in place for much of the 20th century
limiting broadcasting and print assets, as well as difficulties in
establishing synergy between the two media, print companies largely stay within the print medium.
Owns a monopoly on American satellite radio, as well as Pandora Radio, a prominent advertising-supported Internet radio platform. 72% of Sirius XM is owned by Liberty Media, which is controlled by John Malone.
Owns or operates 66 television stations in 54 markets, and holds
properties in digital media. Comprises the broadcast television and
digital media divisions of the old Gannett Company.
History of FCC regulations
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
included a provision that protected "freedom of the press" from
Congressional action. For newspapers and other print items, in which the
medium itself was practically infinite and publishers could produce as
many publications as they wanted without interfering with any other
publisher's ability to do the same, this was not a problem.
The debut of radio broadcasting in the first part of the 20th century complicated matters; the radio spectrum
is finite, and only a limited number of broadcasters could use the
medium at the same time. The United States government opted to declare
the entire broadcast spectrum to be government property and license the
rights to use the spectrum to broadcasters. After several years of
experimental broadcast licensing, the United States licensed its first
commercial radio station, KDKA, in 1920.
Prior to 1927, public airwaves in the United States were regulated by the United States Department of Commerce
and largely litigated in the courts as the growing number of stations
fought for space in the burgeoning industry. In the earliest days, radio
stations were typically required to share the same standard frequency
(833 kHz) and were not allowed to broadcast an entire day, instead
having to sign on and off at designated times to allow competing
stations to use the frequency.
The Federal Radio Act of 1927 (signed into law February 23, 1927) nationalized the airwaves and formed the Federal Radio Commission, the forerunner of the modern Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to assume control of the airwaves. One of the first moves of the FRC was General Order 40, the first U.S. bandplan, which allocated permanent frequencies for most U.S. stations and eliminated most of the part-time broadcasters.
Communications Act of 1934
The Communications Act of 1934
was the stepping stone for all of the communications rules that are in
place today. When first enacted, it created the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission).
It was created to regulate the telephone monopolies, but also regulate
the licensing for the spectrum used for broadcasting. The FCC was given
authority by Congress to give out licenses to companies to use the
broadcasting spectrum. However, they had to determine whether the
license would serve "the public interest, convenience, and necessity".
The primary goal for the FCC, from the start, has been to serve the
"public interest". A debated concept, the term "public interest" was
provided with a general definition by the Federal Radio Commission. The
Commission determined, in its 1928 annual report, that "the emphasis
must be first and foremost on the interest, the convenience, and the
necessity of the listening public, and not on the interest, convenience,
or necessity of the individual broadcaster or the advertiser."
Following this reasoning, early FCC regulations reflected the
presumption that "it would not be in the public's interest for a single
entity to hold more than one broadcast license in the same community.
The view was that the public would benefit from a diverse array of
owners because it would lead to a diverse array of program and service
viewpoints."
The Communications Act of 1934
refined and expanded on the authority of the FCC to regulate public
airwaves in the United States, combining and reorganizing provisions
from the Federal Radio Act of 1927 and the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910.
It empowered the FCC, among other things, to administer broadcasting
licenses, impose penalties and regulate standards and equipment used on
the airwaves. The Act also mandated that the FCC would act in the
interest of the "public convenience, interest, or necessity."
The Act established a system whereby the FCC grants licenses to the
spectrum to broadcasters for commercial use, so long as the broadcasters
act in the public interest by providing news programming.
Lobbyists from the largest radio broadcasters, ABC and NBC,
wanted to establish high fees for broadcasting licenses, but Congress
saw this as a limitation upon free speech. Consequently, "the franchise
to operate a broadcasting station, often worth millions, is awarded free
of charge to enterprises selected under the standard of 'public
interest, convenience, or necessity.'"
Nevertheless, radio and television was dominated by the Big Three television networks until the mid-1990s, when the Fox network and UPN and The WB started to challenge that hegemony.
Cross-ownership rules of 1975
In 1975, the FCC passed the newspaper and broadcast cross-ownership rule. This ban prohibited the ownership of a daily newspaper and any "full-power broadcast station that serviced the same community".
This rule emphasized the need to ensure that a broad number of voices
were given the opportunity to communicate via different outlets in each
market. Newspapers, explicitly prohibited from federal regulation
because of the guarantee of freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
were out of the FCC's jurisdiction, but the FCC could use the ownership
of a newspaper as a preclusion against owning radio or television
licenses, which the FCC could and did regulate.
The FCC
designed rules to make sure that there is a diversity of voices and
opinions on the airwaves. "Beginning in 1975, FCC rules banned
cross-ownership by a single entity of a daily newspaper and television
or radio broadcast station operating in the same local market." The ruling was put in place to limit media concentration in TV and radio markets, because they use public airwaves, which is a valuable, and now limited, resource.
Telecommunications Act 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996
was an influential act for media cross-ownership. One of the
requirements of the act was that the FCC must conduct a biennial review
of its media ownership rules "and shall determine whether any of such
rules are necessary in the public interest as the result of
competition." The Commission was ordered to "repeal or modify any
regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest."
The legislation, touted as a step that would foster competition,
actually resulted in the subsequent mergers of several large companies, a
trend which still continues.
Over 4,000 radio stations were bought out, and minority ownership of TV
stations dropped to its lowest point since the federal government began
tracking such data in 1990.
Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
restrictions on media merging have decreased. Although merging media
companies seems to provide many positive outcomes for the companies
involved in the merge, it might lead to some negative outcomes for other
companies, viewers and future businesses. The FCC even found that they
were indeed negative effects of recent merges in a study that they
issued.
Since 21st century
In
September 2002, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking stating
that the Commission would re-evaluate its media ownership rules pursuant
to the obligation specified in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
In June 2003, after its deliberations which included a single public
hearing and the review of nearly two-million pieces of correspondence
from the public opposing further relaxation of the ownership rules
the FCC voted 3-2 to repeal the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban
and to make changes to or repeal several of its other ownership rules
as well.
In the order, the FCC noted that the newspaper/broadcast
cross-ownership rule was no longer necessary in the public interest to
maintain competition, diversity or localism. However, in 2007 the FCC
revised its rules and ruled that they would take it "case-by-case and
determine if the cross-ownership would affect the public interest.
The rule changes permitted a company to own a newspaper and broadcast
station in any of the nation's top 20 media markets as long as there are
at least eight media outlets in the market. If the combination included
a television station, that station couldn't be in the market's top four. As it has since 2003, Prometheus Radio Project
argued that the relaxed rule would pave the way for more media
consolidation. Broadcasters, pointing to the increasing competition from
new platforms, argued that the FCC's rules—including other ownership
regulations that govern TV duopolies and radio ownership—should be relaxed even further. The FCC, meanwhile, defended its right to change the rules either way."
That public interest is what the FCC bases its judgments on, whether a
media cross-ownership would be a positive and contributive force,
locally and nationally.
The FCC held one official forum, February 27, 2003, in Richmond, Virginia
in response to public pressures to allow for more input on the issue of
elimination of media ownership limits. Some complain that more than one
forum was needed.
In 2003 the FCC set out to re-evaluate its media ownership rules specified in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
On June 2, 2003, FCC, in a 3-2 vote under Chairman Michael Powell,
approved new media ownership laws that removed many of the restrictions
previously imposed to limit ownership of media within a local area. The
changes were not, as is customarily done, made available to the public
for a comment period.
Single-company ownership of media in a given market is now
permitted up to 45% (formerly 35%, up from 25% in 1985) of that market.
Restrictions on newspaper and TV station ownership in the same market were removed.
All TV channels, magazines, newspapers, cable, and Internet
services are now counted, weighted based on people's average tendency
to find news on that medium. At the same time, whether a channel actually contains news is no longer considered in counting the percentage of a medium owned by one owner.
Previous requirements for periodic review of license have been
changed. Licenses are no longer reviewed for "public-interest"
considerations.
In June 2006, the FCC adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR)
to address the issues raised by the United States Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit and also to perform the recurring evaluation of the
media ownership rules required by the Telecommunications Act.
The deliberations would draw upon three formal sources of input:(1) the
submission of comments, (2) ten Commissioned studies, and (3) six
public hearings.
The FCC in 2007 voted to modestly relax its existing ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.
The FCC voted December 18, 2007 to eliminate some media ownership rules,
including a statute that forbids a single company to own both a
newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city. FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin circulated the plan in October 2007.
Martin's justification for the rule change is to ensure the viability
of America's newspapers and to address issues raised in the 2003 FCC
decision that was later struck down by the courts.
The FCC held six hearings around the country to receive public input
from individuals, broadcasters and corporations. Because of the lack of
discussion during the 2003 proceedings, increased attention has been
paid to ensuring that the FCC engages in proper dialogue with the public
regarding its current rules change. FCC Commissioners Deborah
Taylor-Tate and Robert McDowell joined Chairman Martin in voting in
favor of the rule change. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan
Adelstein, both Democrats, opposed the change.
UHF discount
Beginning in 1985, the FCC implemented a rule stating that television stations broadcasting on UHF channels
would be "discounted" by half when calculating a broadcaster's total
reach, under the market share cap of 39% of U.S. TV households. This
rule was implemented because the UHF band was generally considered
inferior to VHF for broadcasting analog television. The notion became obsolete since the completion of the transition from analog to digital television
in 2009; the majority of television stations now broadcast on the UHF
band because, by contrast, it is generally considered superior for
digital transmission.
The FCC voted to deprecate the rule in September 2016; the Commission argued that the UHF discount had become technologically obsolete,
and that it was now being used as a loophole by broadcasters to
contravene its market share rules and increase their market share
through consolidation. The existing portfolios of broadcasters who now
exceeded the cap due to the change were grandfathered, including the holdings of Ion Media Networks, Tribune Media, and Univision.
However, on April 21, 2017, under new Trump administration FCC commissioner Ajit Pai, the discount was reinstated in a 2-1 vote, led by Pai and commissioner Michael O'Rielly.
The move, along with a plan to evaluate increasing the national
ownership cap, is expected to trigger a wider wave of consolidation in
broadcast television.
A challenge to the rule's restoration was filed on May 15 by The
Institute for Public Representation (a coalition of public interest
groups comprising Free Press, the United Church of Christ, Media Mobilizing Project, the Prometheus Radio Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause),
which requested an emergency motion to stay the UHF discount order –
delaying its June 5 re-implementation – pending a court challenge to the
rule. The groups re-affirmed that the rule was technologically
obsolete, and was restored for the purpose of allowing media
consolidation. The FCC rejected the claims, stating that the discount
would only allow forward a regulatory review of any station group
acquisitions, and that the Institute for Public Representation's
criteria for the stay fell short of meeting adequate determination in
favor of it by the court; it also claimed that the discount was
"inextricably linked" to the agency's media ownership rules, a review of
which it initiated in May of that year.
The challenge and subsequent stay motion was partly filed as a reaction to Sinclair Broadcast Group's
proposed acquisition of Tribune Media (announced on May 8), which –
with the more than 230 stations that the combined company would have,
depending on any divestitures in certain markets where both groups own
stations – would expand the group's national reach to 78% of all U.S.
households with at least one television set with the discount. On June
1, 2017, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a seven-day administrative stay to the UHF discount rulemaking to review the emergency stay motion.
The D.C. Court of Appeals denied the emergency stay motion in a
one-page memorandum on June 15, 2017, however, the merits of restoring
the discount is still subject to a court appeal proceeding scheduled to
occur at a later date.
Following this, in November 2017, the FCC voted 3-2 along
partisan lines to eliminate the cross-ownership ban against owning
multiple media outlets in the same local market, as well as increasing
the number of television stations that one entity may own in a local
market. Pai argued the removal of the ban was necessary for local media
to compete with online information sources like Google and Facebook. The decision was appealed by advocacy groups, and in September 2019, the Third Circuit
struck down the rule change in a 2-1 decision, with the majority
opinion stating the FCC "did not adequately consider the effect its
sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women
and racial minorities." Pai stated plans to appeal this ruling. The FCC petitioned to the Supreme Court under FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in April 2021 to reverse the Third
Circuit's ruling, stating that the FCC's rule changes did not violate
the Administrative Procedure Act,
and that there was no Congressional mandate for the FCC to consider the
impact on minority ownership of its rulemaking, thus allowing the FCC
to proceed with relaxation of media cross-ownership rules.
Local content
A
2008 study found that news stations operated by a small media company
produced more local news and more locally produced video than large
chain-based broadcasting groups.It was then argued that the FCC claimed, in 2003, that larger media
groups produced better quality local content. Research by Philip Napoli
and Michael Yan showed that larger media groups actually produced less
local content.
In a different study, they also showed that "ownership by one of the
big four broadcast networks has been linked to a considerable decrease
in the amount of televised local public affairs programming"
The major reasoning the FCC made for deregulation was that with
more capital, broadcasting organizations could produce more and better
local content. However, the research studies by Napoli and Yan showed
that once teamed-up, they produced less content. Cross ownership between
broadcasting and newspapers is a complicated issue. The FCC believes
that more deregulation is necessary. However, with research studies
showing that they produced less local content - less voices being heard
that are from within the communities. While less local voices are heard,
more national-based voices do appear. Chain-based companies are using
convergence, the same content being produced across multiple mediums, to
produce this mass-produced content. It is cheaper and more efficient
than having to run different local and national news. However, with
convergence and chain-based ownership you can choose which stories to
run and how the stories are heard - being able to be played in local
communities and national stage.
Media consolidation debate
Robert W. McChesney
Robert McChesney is an advocate for media reform, and the co-founder of Free Press, which was established in 2003.
His work is based on theoretical, normative, and empirical evidence
suggesting that media regulation efforts should be more strongly
oriented towards maintaining a healthy balance of diverse viewpoints in
the media environment. However, his viewpoints on current regulation
are; "there is every bit as much regulation by government as before,
only now it is more explicitly directed to serve large corporate
interests."
McChesney believes that the Free Press' objective is a more
diverse and competitive commercial system with a significant nonprofit
and noncommercial sector. It would be a system built for the citizens,
but most importantly - it would be accessible to anyone who wants to
broadcast. Not only specifically the big corporations that can afford to
broadcast nationally, but more importantly locally. McChesney
suggests that to better our current system we need to "establish a bona
fide noncommercial public radio and television system, with local and
national stations and networks. The expense should come out of the
general budget"
Benjamin Compaine
Benjamin Compaine believes that the current media system is "one of the most competitive major industries in U.S. commerce."
He believes that much of the media in the United States is operating in
the same market. He also believes that all the content is being
interchanged between different media.
Compaine believes that due to convergence, two or more things
coming together, the media has been saved. Because of the ease of access
to send the same message across multiple and different mediums, the
message is more likely to be heard. He also believes that due to the
higher amount of capital and funding, the media outlets are able to stay
competitive because they are trying to reach more listeners or readers
by using newer media.
Benjamin Compaine's main argument is that the consolidation of
media outlets, across multiple ownerships, has allowed for a better
quality of content. He also stated that the news is interchangeable, and
as such, making the media market less concentrated than previously
thought, the idea being that since the same story is being pushed across
multiple different platforms, then it can only be counted as one news
story from multiple sources. Compaine also believed the news is more
readily available, making it far easier for individuals to access than
traditional methods.
American public distrust in the media
A 2012 Gallup
poll found that Americans' distrust in the mass media had hit a new
high, with 60% saying they had little or no trust in the mass media to
report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. Distrust had increased
since the previous few years, when Americans were already more negative
about the media than they had been in the years before 2004.
Music industry
Critics
of media consolidation in broadcast radio say it has made the music
played more homogeneous, and makes it more difficult for acts to gain
local popularity.
They also believe it has reduced the demographic diversity of popular
music, pointing to a study which found representation of women in
country music charts at 11.3% from 2000 to 2018.
Critics point out that media consolidation has allowed Sinclair Broadcast Group to require hundreds of local stations to run editorials by Boris Epshteyn (an advisor to Donald Trump), terrorism alerts, and anti-John Kerry documentary Stolen Honor, and even to force local news anchors to read an editorial mirroring Trump's denunciation of the news media for bias and fake news.