WILLblog

Yes I'm actually blogging a page on Amazon.com. It's the quickest link I can grab to a place where you can buy a copy of Ben Bagdikian's newest edition of his classic, The Media Monopoly. Alright, it's already out in paperback. Everything's going too fast...that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. I just became slightly less lazy. Here's a URL at Beacon Press for the non-profit inclined reader. When The Media Monopoly was first published in 1983, 50 corporations owned most of the media: newspapers, TV and radio networks, cable systems, movie studios, music labels, magazines, and major book publishers. Today the number is five, and let's throw in satellites and the Internet. Not to say five private companies own all our web sites, but they're probably working on it. The title is The New Media Monopoly, and since Ben Bagdikian is an 80-something author we may not get another edition. Here's a guy who personally handled the Pentagon Papers, and made sure they got published by The Washington Post. I'd like to think there are a lot of aspiring young Ben Bagdikians out there waiting for their moment to stand up, but a dwindling number of media bosses are looking for that kind of journalist. Ben Bagdikian will be our guest on Focus 580 from 11 am to noon on Monday, May 17th. You can tune in, listen online, or catch the archive. But please read the book.