Media Democracy on the March

In his 1983 treatise, The Media Monopoly, Ben Bagdikian warned that 50 multinationals, "all interlocked in common financial interest with other massive industries and with a few dominant international banks," controlled the majority of the leading outlets. In the latest edition, published in 2006, those 50 had consolidated into five.
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That's why lobbying expenditures from the media and telecommunications industry exceed those from defense, energy and agribusiness.