ABSTRACT
Warner communications CEO Steve Ross granted few one-on-one interviews in 1989 after his movie, music and cable company agreed to merge with Time Inc. So, as a reporter covering the deal, the author considered it a coup when he finally agreed to meet at Warner's munificent boardroom in midtown Manhattan. It was hard to imagine an entertainment executive like Ross, who died in 1992, cultivating an environment that would encourage aggressive reporting on important issues. Ross only deviated from the script to rave about how successful Warner's new film, Batman, had been at the box office. Powerful news organizations, such as ABC, CBS and CNN, and scores of local news operations became bit players in a line of business dominated by Hollywood studios. Official concerns about media concentration date back at least as far as the 1920s. Media companies used the public interest argument to fend off hostile raiders.
