Last week's merger of Time Warner with AT&T holds implications far more concerning than what's been covered in the media thus far... and it will only get worse.
On Wednesday -- one day after massive media merger #1 got the government go-ahead, Comcast laid down a bid for 21st Century Fox, owner of Fox News Network, mainstream TV's most notably slanted vehicle for right-wing rhetoric and propaganda. As painful as it's been to watch the coalescence of racism and far-right politics thanks mainly to the Trump Administration's nationalistic immigration policies, just imagine how things will be when Fox TV is in bed with the biggest broadband company in the U.S. While its TV customer base has stayed fairly flat, Comcast morphed from a cable company to an internet company a few years ago, and that part of its biz has flourished. If this merger is approved -- and many assume it will be -- we can count on seeing the ugly face of Fox News dominating both internet and TV for all those on Comcast, and the hopefully more moderate but still fairly bland face of Time Warner dominating those on AT&T. Biased and unbalanced news could become so pervasive, people would actually switch to be on the network that most aligns with their values, with increasingly less chance they'll see something that might challenge their opinions.
A free and balanced press can effectively limit the damage from nationalist trends, and can give face and voice to those oppressed by racism every day.... And that's exactly why these mergers are getting approved.
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