ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concentration of media power as a consequence of the structural changes in the system that increasingly links every aspect of the media themselves. It discusses the ambiguous consequences of this change, as media enterprises mobilize greater resources but are increasingly deflected from the creative impulses of their progenitors. Though the Marxist critique of the media system is acute, it offers no viable alternative. The interpenetration of media extends beyond personal careers and corporate revenues; it affects the texture of everyday life. The interdependence of media is apparent even as they battle each other for income. The concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands is part of a wider pattern that extends throughout American business, but it carries special dangers in the media's realms of culture and politics. The globalization of media existed long before their actual ownership crossed national boundaries.
