Ted Turner on Media Consolidation

Washington Monthly is running an interesting article by Ted Turner on Media Consolidation. Before you jump to conclusions and criticize Ted regarding his own involvement with the topic (Turner’s merging with Time Warner), read the article and hear what he has to say.

3 thoughts on “Ted Turner on Media Consolidation

  1. General Electric subsidary NBC Sports raised eyebrows by apologizing to the Chinese government for Bob Costa’s reference to China’s “problems with human rights” during a telecast of the Atlanta Olympic Games. China, of course, is a huge market for GE products.

    Because CNN never did anything of the sort. Not that I’m excusing either of them, but Ted isn’t exactly innocent of alot of the things he accuses other outlets of doing.

    The only reason media consolodation works is because most people except a few holier-than-thou elitists don’t care, and keep watching. The answer isn’t regulatory. It’s like people who complain about globalization and then go shop at Wall-mart. The reaon most of prime-time TV is now crap reality shows is because there’s enough idiots out there to watch it.

    1. Of course, Ted Turner did quit AOLTW in January of 2003. He cited executive interference and dissatisfaction in the AOL merger as reasons. I never said he was innocent, I said he made good points. Whether he is being hypocritical is tangential. He states right in the article that:

      I freely admit: When I was in the media business, especially after the federal government changed the rules to favor large companies, I tried to sweep the board, and I came within one move of owning every link up and down the media chain. Yet I felt then, as I do now, that the government was not doing its job. The role of the government ought to be like the role of a referee in boxing, keeping the big guys from killing the little guys. If the little guy gets knocked down, the referee should send the big guy to his corner, count the little guy out, and then help him back up. But today the government has cast down its duty, and media competition is less like boxing and more like professional wrestling: The wrestler and the referee are both kicking the guy on the canvas.

      Sure the media is fed by crap viewership, but I entirely disagree with you assertion that the relaxing of regulations has nothing to do with it.

  2. must say that Even if Ted Turner is the biggest Hypocrite, he is one of the only people with as much perspective on this particular issue. He is right about most of the things he preaches in his story, and even if he is guilty of committing some if the wrongs himself, he still spoke out about it. You can’t player hate because he made it to the top. He made it there under the same rules as everyone else, which were laid out by the government. It isn’t his job to change the rules, it is ours, and our government’s. Something needs to be done, and I just keep feeling more and more helpless every time I read congress passed something.

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