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Corporate incest
I remember when I believed the whole capitalist dogma - back in my callow youth. Market forces were meant to supply checks and balances. Competition was supposed to be this pure, nearly-mythic presence that kept the whole system running. Turns out that really capitalist competition is as sordid and in-bred as a gaggle of royal families.
Torstar - the folks behind the Toronto Star - are poised to own 20 percent of their rival The Globe and Mail. I prefer the Star's politics, but admire the Globe's intelligence. I'll be interested to see whether the Globe's heart grows a few extra sizes or if its brain shrinks.
Earlier this year, Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players started a corporate lip-lock. And aside from Book City, every major bookstore chain in this city is just using different names for the same outfit. In the States, corporates like ClearChannel seem to be buying everything. And let's not forget Time-Warner - the folks behind CNN, Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and dozens of other news outlets.
If this keeps up, every thing we read, watch, hear ... and possibly think will be controlled by one outfit. It's like the media are -- is? -- becoming the giant space amoeba from that old Star Trek episode.
No wonder "media" is rapidly becoming a singular noun.
P.S.: I should add that of course, the Globe and Mail is itself a merger of two Toronto papers with opposing political allegiances - the Globe .. and well, obviously, the Mail. Also, it's part of the same outfit that owns the CTV television network. Just as rival paper The National Post and Global TV are one big happy corporate family. When I worked for the CBC, it bothered me no end that the Globe and the Post repeatedly demanded that the CBC have its funding cut or its mandate changed. What bothered me wasn't just a threat to my then-employer, a valuable Canadian institution, and the producers of the only TV news I can watch without screaming at the television set. No, what bothered me was the deceptive attitude taken in these anti-CBC articles. The writers acted like they were neutral observers rather than the competition.
Torstar - the folks behind the Toronto Star - are poised to own 20 percent of their rival The Globe and Mail. I prefer the Star's politics, but admire the Globe's intelligence. I'll be interested to see whether the Globe's heart grows a few extra sizes or if its brain shrinks.
Earlier this year, Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players started a corporate lip-lock. And aside from Book City, every major bookstore chain in this city is just using different names for the same outfit. In the States, corporates like ClearChannel seem to be buying everything. And let's not forget Time-Warner - the folks behind CNN, Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and dozens of other news outlets.
If this keeps up, every thing we read, watch, hear ... and possibly think will be controlled by one outfit. It's like the media are -- is? -- becoming the giant space amoeba from that old Star Trek episode.
No wonder "media" is rapidly becoming a singular noun.
P.S.: I should add that of course, the Globe and Mail is itself a merger of two Toronto papers with opposing political allegiances - the Globe .. and well, obviously, the Mail. Also, it's part of the same outfit that owns the CTV television network. Just as rival paper The National Post and Global TV are one big happy corporate family. When I worked for the CBC, it bothered me no end that the Globe and the Post repeatedly demanded that the CBC have its funding cut or its mandate changed. What bothered me wasn't just a threat to my then-employer, a valuable Canadian institution, and the producers of the only TV news I can watch without screaming at the television set. No, what bothered me was the deceptive attitude taken in these anti-CBC articles. The writers acted like they were neutral observers rather than the competition.
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