This is why the Republicans, despite always being wrong, still get the lion's share of airtime

[Scuba]

[Cha]

1. Well, yeah. And, not only are they "wrong" .. they LIE.. they always get airtime because

they LIE.

[Skier101]

2. Yeah,

it's easy when you own the airtime! Reporters may have a liberal slant but the news is controlled by corporate owners.

[savalez]

3. And Bezos just screwed WAPO today too.

Well, WAPO was already screwed, but he screwed it more.

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has replaced publisher Katharine Weymouth with a co-founder of the newspaper's competitor Politico, the company announced Tuesday.

Weymouth's departure is the end of an era of Graham family involvement with the Post. Her great-grandfather bought the newspaper in the 1930s, and her uncle Donald Graham sold it to Bezos last August for $250 million.

She'll be replaced by Frederick J. Ryan, the founding CEO of Politico and a former Reagan administration official.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeff-bezos-replaces-katharine-weymouth

[Fred Sanders]

9. Saw that. Nothing is going to change as long as voter turnout is controllable.

[Scuba]

11. Worse, they've covered their bases in case voters do turnout.

[Fred Sanders]

15. I notice only CBS identifies itself as news media, all the others are under a corporate veil.

I also think voting folk are catching on, why else would Fox even mention that people are growing wary of the mass media?

Counter strike by the leader in propaganda.

[certainot]

20. great toon!

[BrotherIvan]

26. Wow that's it

Even down to the looks on the sheep's faces.

[A Simple Game]

49. I know there are some on DU that don't understand this. n/t

[silverweb]

4. K&R

[Martin Eden]

5. Damned Liberal Media! n/t

[rurallib]

6. don't forget Clear Channel and Gannet

[EEO]

7. Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?

I guess he is probably dead. That's no good.

[Fred Sanders]

8. 6 corporations controlled by a handful of rich folk looking after their best interests.

Using our airwaves, our air, our oil, our resources, our labor.

[blkmusclmachine]

10. Control the little people by controlling the news they get. And the DEMS are silent because WHY???

BECAUSE THEY WORK FOR THE 1%!!!

[Dustlawyer]

48. +1!!! Until people wake up and realize this fact and decide to do something, they will continue

with their plan of preventing protests, killing Labor, a and buying politicians and judges. The media will continue to brainwash the Sheeple!

We need Publicly Funded Elections and outlaw all campaign contributions. That's a tall order for sure, but it is the only thing that can save this country. We must bust up the Wall Street banks and the media conglomerates. Until we can accomplish this, we are in for some really bad times!

[whereisjustice]

12. Media biz has become a Pravdaesque propoganda machine serving CEOs and our police state

[RiffRandell]

13. And Sarah Palin couldn't name 1 newspaper. nt

[Scuba]

16. Thread winner!

[NBachers]

14. "And We'll Take Your Internet, Too!"

[navarth]

17. correct.

When they shut down the internet (and they can), it's game over.

But they'll leave the teevees on, count on that.

I've been saying for years: As long as the TV works, there will never be a revolution.

[certainot]

21. talk radio, the most important medium in politics the last 25 years and a medium generally

ignored by liberals, still kicks internet ass when it comes to creating, distorting, distracting, and swiftboting and will be a major player in enabling the loss of a democratic internet when it's time to count votes.

and much of it will run on those giant stations that depend on college sports teams for community cred and ad dollars.

[certainot]

18. the most important medium is talk radio. all other media are significant for what they leave out.

print, tv and internet still have to pretend they're 'balanced' because there is still some competition- for politics you can always change the page or channel to some political alternative.

talk radio has been used to run classic psyops and short circuit democracy.

it played a big part in enabling and pushing republicans and corporate dems to allow the deregulation and consolidation of media, and it's played a big part in putting in the corporate cons on the supreme court.

Republican radio is classic Psyops

You can buy a lot of TV ads with that Citizen’s United money, but to sell big lies you have to, as George Bush said, "keep repeating things over and over and over again, for the truth to sink in. You gotta catapult the propaganda."

Here's what the US Army Psyops Manual says about radio (Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 12/2003 - available online).

The manual points out:

Repetition is necessary for oral learning; therefore, key themes, phrases, or slogans should be repeated to ensure the TA (target audience) gets the desired message.

Talk radio is much better than TV, print, and internet for doing just that.

According to the PSYOPS manual advantages of radio include:

Emotional Power: A skilled radio announcer can exert tremendous influence on the listener simply with pitch, resonance, inflection, or timing. and The emotional tone conveyed by the voice may influence the listener more than the logic of arguments.

Or, as Limbaugh would call it, "talent on loan from god".

Wide coverage: Radio programs can reach members of large and varied audiences simultaneously.  and Since radio can reach mass TAs quickly, radio is useful for all types of PSYOP.

In most parts of the US there are no free alternatives for politics while driving or working. The talk radio monopoly includes more than 1000 coordinated radio stations reaching 50 million Americans every week.

Speed: Radio programs can be quickly prepared for broadcast. Speed is important when attempting to capitalize on targets of opportunity.

And for spinning and distorting breaking news.

Ease of perception: Radio requires little or no effort to visualize the radio message. Illiteracy does not prevent the listener from forming his individual image as he listens.


Availability of receivers. Where availability or ownership of receivers is common, listening to radio is a habit.

Talk radio stations are usually the loudest stations in any state and often provide local news, traffic, weather, and sports. These are the go-to stations in national emergencies.

OTHER REASONS IT’S SO EFFECTIVE

It’s loud and it’s everywhere: 1000+ radio stations. Average 20 per state. It reaches 50 million Americans every week. It’s loyal listeners spread the disinformation to family, friends, and co-workers. There is no bigger buzz machine on the planet.

It’s a monopoly: 95% of political talk radio is Republican. In most parts of the country there are no alternatives for free politics while driving or working. The monopoly actively reduces the radio stations available to liberal and moderate talk show hosts. There is no significant talk radio competition to challenge its messaging dominance.

It’s practically free for the Republican Party: Advertisers pay station operating costs and donor-supported think tanks supply much of the propaganda and coordination. The Republican Party and its politicians and organizations can generally expect full support and cooperation from Republican radio talkers.

In Wisconsin, the Reindfleisch emails showed Republican Governor Scott Walker relies heavily on talk radio. Republican politicians can expect major corruption and incompetence to be ignored or excused while Democrats can expect minor mistakes to be distorted and exaggerated.

Anti-Rush Limbaugh organizations such as StopRush.net have hurt advertising revenues for many stations with their campaign to educate advertisers as to Limbaugh’s racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry. As a result, Republican-friendly organizations and think tanks have had to increase their support for Republican radio with politically related advertising and announcements.

It’s invisible to Democrats and liberals because they don’t listen to it: The Democratic Party as well as liberal/progressive/democratic organizations and their supporters are regularly caught by surprise because they evaluate their strategies and the failings of the representatives they support as if Republican radio doesn’t exist.

Most concerned citizens and activists are unaware of how much one radio station can trash their candidates, distort their values, negate their activism, and minimize their protests.

There is no written record of Republican radio: Until now there was no way to search, read, and analyze what Republican radio pumps out (see Record and Transcribe Talk Radio). Republican politicians and candidates make regular appearances on Republican radio and can say just about anything without fear of fact-checking.

Republican talkers are always right: While liberal talkers encourage opposing viewpoints, Republican talkers seldom take callers that will contradict them. They're paired with call screeners for protection and use custom software to prioritize preferred callers, including paid callers. Since they can't be challenged in real time they're always right, and lies sell better when delivered with certitude.

Republican radio messaging is coordinated: On important issues at critical times, all 1000 plus radio stations will pump out the same talking points as instructed. National and local GOP and related think tanks supply material, topics, and guests coordinated for national and local political objectives. Paid callers are used. Republican radio’s more visible little brother, Fox ‘News’, also helps coordination.

Limbaugh and the national talkers set the overall tone but can also focus considerable attention to a local level when they name names and places. Especially if they repeat them a few times.

The local talker’s job depends on following the party line. They and their callers reinforce previous messaging from national talkers and play a significant part in local politics. On a loud station, staff and talkers may have close connections to Republican elected officials and their aides (like WIS governor Scott Walker).

Republican radio can dominate messaging in the US: A non-Republican President only has the bully pulpit when he’s on it. Republican radio provides the groundwork repetition and buzz for everything Republican. When 400 talkers reinforce each other with the same talking points and memes on more than 1000 radio stations it can drown out truth and common sense. It enables and pushes mainstream traditional media to portray the interests of 10% as mainstream. It excuses racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ignorance to make them ‘acceptable’. It enables vast amounts of denial and hypocrisy.

The success of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) electing candidates and passing and stopping legislation on the local level directly corresponds with the rise of Republican radio.

Republican radio short circuits democracy with alternate realities: Republican think tanks monitor local and national events and sentiment and combine their radio advantage with PR campaigns to short circuit the fact-based discussions that a democracy depends on for solutions and reform. Long term unchallenged repetition on a national level has distorted US politics and makes fact-based dialogue of important issues like climate change, health care, racism, immigration, and gun control practically impossible.

Republican radio constructs made-to-order constituencies: Well-timed messaging to the base motivates public outrage and ‘concern’ based on distortions and disinformation and used to enable or intimidate politicians and media. Or tar and feather a Democratic politician or pubic servant. Republican radio is the loudest political correctness cop and censor-by-threat in the US.

Republican radio beats TV, internet, and print for selling lies: Other media leave a record and have to at least pretend to present other viewpoints. And within limits you can easily turn the channel or the page to another source for politics. Traditional media are more significant for what they leave out. Still somewhat democratic, the internet is diffused and disorganized.


Republican radio myths

MYTH: Republican radio’s primary purpose is to sell product for advertisers.

Republican radio’s primary aim is to spread disinformation and outrage to convince Americans to hate other Americans and to act and vote against their own best interests. The advertising pays rent and salaries.

Republican radio’s true, and much more profitable purpose is to sell:

war
global warming denial
deregulation- wall street, banking, environmental, media, etc.
tax breaks for the 1%
privatization of the commons and the public sector
sycophant Republican politicians
unqualified Republican judges
lies and distortions used to swiftboat Democrats and liberals, short circuit democracy, and obstruct reforms

MYTH: Its popularity and success is market-based. Liberal radio fails because no one listens to it and it can’t compete.

When Ronald Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, Republicans started buying up hundreds of radio stations and subsidizing talkers like Rush Limbaugh. The Fairness Doctrine would have prevented the levels of unchallenged lying and distortion used so successfully today to create alternative realities and made-to-order constituencies.

One of Republican radio’s early successes was media deregulation that allowed consolidation of Republican radio ownership to fewer companies/owners.

Liberal radio talkers have shown they can compete on an even playing field and even beat the main Republican talkers. That is why the Republican radio monopoly controls most of the loudest radio stations and works hard to limit direct competition by liberal talkers. Republican radio can’t handle the truth.

The argument that 95% of the people who would listen to talk radio prefer the hate and disinformation that the Republican radio monopoly is using to destroy American democracy is an insult to Americans.

[Scuba]

22. Great addition to the thread. Thanks!

[Cosmocat]

32. Great post - I would add one thing about "liberals ignoring it"

The problem is that what the Republicans sell is the perfect product for AM radio - hatred and division.

There is a pretty strong strain within most people, but specifically in this case American's where were we REALLY like a boogyman. Be it railing on the boss, a co-worker, someone we know.

Nothing bring people together like a common enemy.

So, the product is demagoguery. Even if it is cartoonish, it is readily, in fact greedily lapped up.

It isn't just AM radio, the same profiteers who make big money spewing their hatred over the airwaves make a mint selling books. Titles along the lines of "why liberal scumbags hate America so much" then pen 200 pages of some rift on that theme.

"liberal" radio existed BEFORE the explosion of conservative talk radio.

NPR and other public access type radio with information and news.

It always had a small market, relatively, and never expanded beyond that because people as a whole don't want facts, they want the boogyman.

Now, politics is politics and there is an element of demagoguery involved with it, but what the republican do now is at a level never before seen - the outright virulent nature of it and the totally unchecked lying that goes on with it. Unless the Democratic Party gets a spine AND sells out to the level of the Republicans, they simply can't generate the level of vitriol that makes AM radio work.

[certainot]

37. i don't think you can accurately compare liberal radio potential vs their monopoly, heavily

subsidized to start, protected from competition, and part of a coordinated psyops, reinforced with al other republican media.

the explosion and dominance of rw radio was not market based. 95% of americans want the hate and ignorance? being lied to?

It always had a small market, relatively, and never expanded beyond that because people as a whole don't want facts, they want the boogyman.

in most parts of the country there are no free alts for politics while driving and working

[Cosmocat]

42. Right

Where did I say 95%?

I said as a whole ... Specifically related to those who have an interest in politics, and who vote.

Subsidized or not, tens of millions of people tune in every day to drool and have Rush, Beck or whoever program them.

I don't know where you have been the last 30 years, but republican vitriol and lies have driven the political dialogue in this country, and it has only gotten more pronounced over time.

[certainot]

47. my point is it's a self feeding system- it's there and dominant and the ONLY thing - the style - the

racism, hate, ignorance and lies have become more and more acceptable because of that unchallenged well protected monopoly and its everywhere.

sure 10% of the population think a lot like limbaugh and hannity but much of the other part of their audience is there for weather, traffic, news, etc and could just as easily be going with steph miller and harmann etc.

few people like being lied to, and unfortunately the left has completely dropped the ball- giving these liars a free speech free ride to lie like crazy within that unchallenged giant bubble and create their own realities.

[Enthusiast]

30. +1 a whole bunch. Wonderful post!

Rampant right wing radio is destroying the nation.

[JDPriestly]

33. Brilliant post.

Combine these facts with the loneliness and emptiness of most Americans as they drive and work, and you have a perfect set-up for teaching fascism or any ism you want.

It's really sad.

I like KPFK, Pacifica Radio as well as classical and other music stations that don't blast talk radio all day. But as you point out, most of the stations subject listeners to right-wing propaganda.

[toby jo]

36. Great stuff. Getting a Fairness Doctrine back on board is as essential as getting Citizens United

off it.

I have to add that in spite off all the disinformation we still managed to elect Obama. Twice.

[certainot]

39. think of what he/we could have done the last 6 yrs without it! prob with fairness doc

resurrection is they have it covered- they've already made it about as possible as single payer was

politicians on both sides know there'd by cliven bundy outbreaks screaming "free speech!"

there are ways to beat it if the left tried.

protests and picketing at stations.
using snowtape and dragon dictate to monitor and respond to local blowhards lying about dem candidates.
getting our university sports programs out of rw radio- 28% of limbaugh's stations piggyback colleges by paying a few bucks to rent the sports logos to sell attacks on public ed, teachers, students, etc.

a few unis shamed into finding apolitical alts would shame others into doing the same, rw radio would freak out, and probably fall apart

https://sites.google.com/site/universitiesforrushlimbaugh/

[marble falls]

41. Is this part of something larger you've written? If so, I'd like to read the rest of it.

[certainot]

46. here's some more!

i'll do a bit more work and then maybe it will go up at republicanradio.org (!) and republiconradio.org

HOW TO RECORD AND TRANSCRIBE REPUBLICAN RADIO

Republican radio talkers can say just about anything they want because Democrats and liberals don’t listen. And there has been no written, searchable record of what talk radio is repeating or how often.

Now there can be. Improvements in transcription software make it possible to get a good idea of what they’re saying and how often they’re saying it, without the pain of actually listening to it.

As elections approach, friendly interviews with Republican candidates, their aides, and think tank sponsored guests become more common on Republican radio. It’s free advertising and they feel comfortable saying things they wouldn’t on other media. Their radio appearances will provide more examples of ignorance, bigotry, and lies, which can be useful in advertising, letters to the editor, and debates.

With a basic text application the transcriptions can be searched for points of interest. When the name of a Democratic candidate appears it is likely that she is being lied about, attacked, and is in the process of being swiftboated with basic direction from local or national GOP-friendly think tanks.

The original recordings can be used for verification.

How many bloggers, protestors, activists, volunteers, and small donations is one Republican radio station and a few loudmouths worth?

What are are they saying about:
Your representatives and candidates?
Global warming?
Health care?
War?
Energy policy?
Racism?
Sexism?
Wall street regulation?
Net neutrality?
Censorship?
Immigration?
Abortion?
Supreme court candidates?
Drug policy?
Media reform?
Election reform?
Voter suppression?
Gun control?
Public education?
Unions?
Teachers?
You?

RECORD (for MAC)

Snowtape, for about $30, allows you to schedule your computer to simultaneously record multiple radio streams at the same time.

If you know the station you want to monitor:
1) Start the live stream from the station, go to FILE in Snowtape, then IMPORT URL. The URL should automatically fill the field. If not, copy and paste the player window’s URL into the field. Sometimes there’s a delay but a little window pops up to indicate if it was imported successfully or not.
2) If it can be imported it should show up in Snowtape's Last Imported category and you can drag it into Favorites or another category.

If it can’t be imported as described above:
1) Use Radio Locator to search the station by its call letters. (You can also search Radio Locator for talk radio stations by state. It can also provide a signal coverage map. Unfortunately, Radio Locator has a maximum per day free use.)
2) Copy the link in the Audio Feed field, go to FILE in Snowtape, then IMPORT URL. Paste the link into the import URL field and import.
3) If that doesn’t work click on the link in the Audio Feed field and it may open a player window so it can be imported as described above. Or it may open ITunes.
4) If you can open the radio station in ITunes, click on Get Info in the FILE menu in ITunes and then click on EDIT URL. Copy that URL and import it into Snowtape.


TRANSCRIBE

Dragon Dictate costs about $200 for Mac or PC and may be the best transcription software available. It can be trained for multiple voice profiles for better accuracy.

1) In Snowtape Preferences go to Exporting and choose the AAC format.
2) Select files to translate and in the Snowtape Action menu choose Export to iTunes. Those files will be placed in a Snowtape file as M4A files that transcription software can use.
3) Then drag them from iTunes to a folder in Finder and you then should be able to open them with Dragon.

Don't expect error free transcription!

Slow clear speech with no background noise provides best results but there are other factors. Most talk shows include guests, other staff voices, and advertisements, so it's a bit mixed up. And you have to actually enunciate punctuation if you’re dictating so the transcription software runs all sentences together.

Dragon will produce transcriptions with guesses that make no sense but training for the voice of the particular talker and for the vocabulary you are interested in helps. Some radio talkers may have similar voices and styles so the same profile might be useful for more than one talker. It may be possible to export/share trained voice profiles- that could save some time and trouble.


76 UNIVERSITIES THAT DENY GLOBAL WARMING

Republican radio depends on hundreds of publicly funded schools, colleges, and universities.

In exchange for small licensing fees the schools bless Republican radio stations with undeserved community credibility and advertising revenue. The stations and their talkers get to put sports team logos on their bullhorns.

Out of 120 top ranked football programs in 2011, 72, or approximately 60%, broadcast on Rush Limbaugh stations. Together they account for 172 of Limbaugh's 600 stations, or 28%. In 2011, 15 of the final 16 NCAA tournament basketball teams, or 94%, broadcast on Limbaugh stations.

For 25 years talk radio has played a significant part in enabling denial by politicians and delaying US action to reduce carbon emissions. Republican radio stations advocate for the deregulation and continued subsidization of the fossil fuels industries, including fracking. They promote Republican flat-earther candidates who push fossil fuel dependency. They attack advocates and legislation that would tax carbon emissions or promote alternative energy technologies. They act as intimidators to ensure that few Republican representatives or candidates will acknowledge, much less challenge, our greatest national security threat.

The urgency of climate change makes it imperative for those schools to take their mission statements more seriously and find apolitical alternatives for broadcasting their sports events.

Most Republican radio stations headline talkers such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, etc.

Together with hundreds of local Republican talkers and energy and climate guest ‘experts’ supplied by the think tanks, they blanket the country with constant global warming denial. They played a major role in selling the East Anglia email hoax that climate scientist Michael Mann says probably delayed climate action for years.

Most of the programming on Republican radio stations is inconsistent with the stated goals of our institutions of higher learning and the interests of most students under the age of 90.

For 25 years Republican radio stations have been used to:
-blanket the country with global warming denial
-attack science and scientists that interfere with the pro-corporate deregulation agenda
-attack teachers
-promote strategies used to defund and privatize public education
-oppose legislation and tax reform that would lower tuition rates
-influence elections for university regents and choices for university presidents
-oppose attempts to facilitate student voting
-use hate, bigotry, and disinformation to divide communities, elect Republicans, and sell the Republican agenda

Radio licensing revenue is a minor part of overall sports licensing revenues. In 2013/14, a radio station will pay $1500 to Westwood One/Dial Global for a championship NCAA basketball game. How much of that goes to the University? Details of licensing agreements between state funded schools and licensing companies are usually kept confidential, even from school administration.

" border="0" alt=

[JDPriestly]

55. Please post this as a separate thread. Thanks. Excellent post!

[ancianita]

57. Ditto!

Awesome information!

[marble falls]

60. Good stuff, good job getting it down. Thanks for a good piece of journalism.

[Tommymac]

19. Wish I could rec this a million times...wondering, where are The Kochs?

Has anyone made up a similar flowchart with the Koch's involvement added? And flows to their pet pols, Dem and rethug??

[ancianita]

54. I've looked and can only find this...somewhere in there is the media spending.

[Tommymac]

56. Way cool. You rock - Thanks for this!

[kentauros]

23. I've known about this kind of thing for years.

Companies change hands, but it's always within the same group of six. The only interesting thing that stood out in the above graphic is that CBS has managed to remain itself, while the rest were bought up by even larger companies. Either nobody wanted them, or they managed to branch out earlier than the rest and built a "better" empire. At least one immune to takeovers.

I could get outraged, but that doesn't really do much. I'll continue to vote and help in that area, but I am basically powerless when it comes to having any significant impact on who owns what in this country.

[Jenoch]

24. I don't know the actual numbers,

but I do know the numbers in that graphic are not accurate.

There are close to 15,000 radio broadcasters ans almost 1,800 TV broadcasters. It is ridiculous to believe there are only 1,500 newspapers.

However, there is a concentration of ownership of broadcast licenses. The 1996 Telecommunication Act was the worse thing to happen to commercial radio. Radio stations used to be mostly owned locally. Now, it is rare.

[immoderate]

27. It doesn't say these corporations own everything.

But their holdings are enough to exert significant control over what is seen. (And not seen. )

--imm

[Laelth]

25. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[marym625]

28. It's all about and always about

The money

[Enthusiast]

29. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

This is a major contributing factor in the loss of democracy.

Thank you, Scuba.

[JDPriestly]

31. We need better laws to prevent monopolies both horizaontal and vertical, and we need

to enforce those laws vigorously. Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first significant overhaul of United States telecommunications law in more than sixty years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. The Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, represented a major change in American telecommunication law, since it was the first time that the Internet was included in broadcasting and spectrum allotment.[1] One of the most controversial titles was Title 3 ("Cable Services&quot , which allowed for media cross-ownership.[1] According to the FCC, the goal of the law was to "let anyone enter any communications business—to let any communications business compete in any market against any other".[2] The legislation's primary goal was deregulation of the converging broadcasting and telecommunications markets.[3] However, the law's regulatory policies have been questioned, including the effects of dualistic re-regulation of the communications market [4] [5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996

That was the wrong thing to do, Bill Clinton. You should have vetoed it.

[OnyxCollie]

50. +1. nt

[B Calm]

34. Now they are all on the air saying Obama is clueless with ISIS. After invading Iraq for 9/11 they

say Obama is clueless when 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudia Arabia. .

[deutsey]

35. As someone once called media today:

"Weapons of mass distraction"

[MelissainKC]

38. Ge does not own comcast

Comcast owns NBC and all of the companies listed under GE.

[Scuba]

43. I've had the chart for a while, may be outdated if not flat-out wrong. Thanks for the correction.

[marble falls]

40. Thank you for exposing the "liberal press".

[mahatmakanejeeves]

44. Not this again?

Every time this is posted - and this is not the first time - I point out that GE does not own NBC anymore.

NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal, Inc. – formerly known as NBCUniversal Media, LLC on January 29, 2011, and NBC Universal, Inc. previously from November 29, 2004 to January 28, 2011, and colloquially referred to as NBCU or NBCUni – is an American media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base. The company owns and operates American television networks, numerous cable channels, and a group of local stations in the United States, as well as motion picture companies, several television production companies, and branded theme parks. It is the world's largest mass media.

NBC Universal was formed in August 2004 by the merger of General Electric's NBC with Vivendi's Vivendi Universal Entertainment. GE and US cable TV operator Comcast announced a buyout agreement for the company on December 3, 2009. Following regulatory approvals, the transaction completed on January 28, 2011. Comcast subsequently owned 51% of NBCUniversal while GE owned 49%. Comcast intended to buy out the rest of GE's stake over the following seven years, but nothing happened until February 12, 2013, when Comcast announced its intention to complete the purchase all at once and assume 100% ownership of the company by the end of March. The deal was finalized on March 19, 2013.

A newer graphic should be available.

ETA: MelissainKC beat me to it. See post #38.

[Scuba]

45. Please see my post #43. Thanks.

[Enthusiast]

52. But is it an improvement? Does Comcast's ownership make NBC less biased?

If it does I haven't noticed it yet.

[corkhead]

51. What's NPR's excuse?

I hear Steve Inskeep felating a republicon just about every morning I turn it on.

[geretogo]

53. It sure looks like Fascism to me and our militarized police force is mandated to enforce it .

[jonjensen]

58. watching black people on fox news you would think all blacks are conservative and hate obama!

The majority of white voters vote republican and while they are no longer the voting majority they do control what is on the media. Well over 90% of blacks support obama. We should demand that democrats who go on the media call them out for putting on so many black conservatives when they don't represent african americans. When the uncle tom who wrote the book please stop helping us. We should demand the media ask the tom who is US? Your white conservative masters who pay your salary?

[NuttyFluffers]

59. 1% media. ownership matters.

are you and your range of thoughts owned?