# How true is the Dictator's quote "US media is free but controlled by one person and his family"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-true-is-the-dictators-quote-us-media-is-free-but-controlled-by-one-person-and-his-family/694768>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 4, 2014, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-true-is-the-dictators-quote-us-media-is-free-but-controlled-by-one-person-and-his-family/694768 "2014-08-04T07:20:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-true-is-the-dictators-quote-us-media-is-free-but-controlled-by-one-person-and-his-family/694768/21 "2014-08-13T12:07:45Z")

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> [@Knowledgable](#):
>
> There is no such possibility of a case, assuming it would be an extraordinarily hard job coordinating all media outlets with your beliefs.
> 
> Although, I have read some articles about how 6 Companies own 90% percent of the media in US:
> 
> [These 6 Corporations Control 90% of the Media in America - Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6)

Our government is at least 99% run by two political parties. I’d call that more worrying than having the media split “only” six directions. And really, I’d presume that for most things, there’s very little top-down direction, and most of that will come from within the child-corporation, not from the parent-parent-parent company.

There’s also the question of the other 10%. Most people probably don’t pay much attention to the news at all, so there’s no value in creating news reports that are particularly good nor unique. The 90% isn’t carefully crafted to serve our corporate overlords’ goals, it’s just banal claptrap that pleases the masses. The few who do care probably find the 10% of outlets that allow them to get a better, more nuanced reports, that are willing to challenge the viewer’s assumptions and beliefs.

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