Since 1983, the number of corporations controlling most of America's daily newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books, and movies has dropped from fifty to six. (Bagdikian viii) The goal of this research project is to investigate the impact corporate media control has had on limiting the objectivity and diversity of the news and entertainment that Americans see and hear. This is a critical question because as we lose a diversity of ideas presented in the mass media, we face a threat to First Amendment - protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the press - and we lose the democratic ideal of open access to information in a free society.

Alter, Jonathan. "Big Media Gets Even Bigger" Newsweek 24 Jan. 2000: 42. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 18 Mar. 2003. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Bagdikian, Ben H. The Media Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000. NetLibrary/Peninsula Library System. 18 Feb. 2002. <http://www.netLibrary.com/ebook_info.asp?product_id=44270>.

Ben Bagdikian is a well known media critic and former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The Media Monopoly was the first major work to inform the general public how media conglomeration was putting more and more media corporations in fewer and fewer hands. In a review in the Columbia Journalism Review (May/June 1983), Chris Welles wrote that The Media Monopoly "is among the most important books about the media to be published in many years." Welles also stated that the book "has sometimes serious empirical flaws. . . . however, the basic problem he describes and the alarms he sounds possess much substance." This work has been updated through several editions and is considered a crucial resource for knowledge about media ownership.

Baker, Russ. "Breaking the News; Do Media Mergers Really Undermine America's Democracy?" Los Angeles Times 25 June 2000: Book Review:1.

"Big Media, Bad News." The Nation 7 Jan. 2002: 3. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 1 Mar. 2002. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com/>.

"Electronic Empires." (audio file.) In the Pipeline. 1999. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 5 Mar. 2002. <http://abc.net.au/pipeline/audio/ip401.ram>

Epstein, Edward. "Congress Tries to Put Clamps on Media Mergers; Anger at FCC Ruling Brings Calls for Laws, but Satisfying Bush, Both Houses Difficult." San Francisco Chronicle 14 Oct. 2003: A6. InfoTrac Newspapers. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 21 Mar. 2004. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>

FAIR -- Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. 2002. Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. 5 Mar. 2002. <http://www.fair.org>.

Gilens, Martin and Craig Hertzman. "Corporate Ownership and News Bias: Newspaper Coverage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act." Journal of Politics 62. 2 (May 2000): 369+. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 1 Mar. 2002. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>

Gunther, Mark. "All in the Family: Mergers May Affect Impartiality of News Journalism." American Journalism Review 17 (Oct. 1995): 36-41. AJR: American Journalism Review. 4 Mar. 2003. <http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=1360>.

Kick, Russ, ed. You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. New York: The Disinformation Company, 2001.

Marks, Alexandra. "New Media Alliances Test Press Objectivity." Christian Science Monitor, 2 July1996: 1.

McChesney, Robert W. Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle against Corporate Media. New York: Seven Stories, 2002.

McChesney, Robert W. and John Nichols. "Media Democracy's Moment: Suddenly, There Are Widespread Discussions about the Dangers of Monopoly Power" The Nation 24 Feb. 2003: 16+. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 21 Mar. 2003. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.

McManus, John H. "Merger Mania in the Media: Can We Still Get All the News We Need?" Issues in Ethics 7.1 (Winter 1996). Markkula Center for Applied Ethics/Santa Clara University. 5 Mar. 2002. <http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics/publications/iie/v7n1/mediacon.html >.

John H. McManus is assistant professor of communications at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. The purpose of this article is to raise the public's awareness of how the ownership of major media companies is concentrated in an increasingly small number of huge corporations and that this fact raises ethical questions about how this concentration of ownership affects the objectivity or diversity of information provided by news organizations. McManus is critical of media companies for allowing market forces to strongly affect what news is covered and what perspectives are presented in the news. This perspective was previously presented in his 1994 book, Market-driven Journalism: Let the Citizen Beware? whihch won an SDX award from the Society of Professional Journalists for excellence in journalism research. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, which printed this article, provides resources to faculty, staff and members of the public working in all areas of applied ethics. The San Jose Mercury News called the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, "the region's philosophical standard-bearer for teaching the value of ethical conduct-not only in high technology, but also in the health industry, government , banking, public service, and other disciplines."

Miller, Mark Crispin. "What's Wrong With This Picture?" The Nation 7 Jan. 2002: 18+. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 1 Mar. 2002. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Moore, Aaron "Who Owns What." Columbia Journalism Review. Oct. 2001. Columbia Journalism Review. 5 Mar. 2002. <http://www.cjr.org/owners/ >.

Morales, Ed. "Media Merger Will Leave Hispanics No Choice." New Pittsburgh Courier. 6 Aug. 2003: A7. Ethnic Newswatch. Proquest. Skyline College Library. 14 Mar. 2004. <http://proquest.umi.com>.

Shah, Hemant. "Journalism in an Age of Mass Media Globalization." International Development Studies Network. 6 Nov. 2000. IDSNet. 5 Mar. 2002. <http://www.idsnet.org/Papers/Communications/HEMANT_SHAH.HTM> .

Solomon, Norman. "Corporate Versus Independent Media." The Humanist 60.4 (July/Aug. 2000): 3-4. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. Skyline College Library. 4 Mar. 2001. <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>

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