ABSTRACT
Conservative views are distributed to the public via the business-owned mass media—a media more tightly monopolized by big business than in any comparable democracy. Many defenders of this monopoly protest, however, that the media are not conservative, that most media professionals are liberals, that big-business owners and advertisers do not influence media content, and that media influence on public opinion is, in any case, minimal. The media monopoly makes an absurdity of conservative claims about "freedom of the press" and brings into question the major constitutional privileges granted the press on the premise of diversity and open competition. Corporate influence, from within or outside the media, is common in connection with foreign policy issues, which typically involve business interests and are relatively safe from rebuttal by a public ill-informed about these issues. Public opinion is a treasured power resource in the conflict between capital and labor.
