A handful of publishers have a monopoly on America’s media consumption, according to a recent study by research outfit SimilarWeb, which compiled a list of the top news publishers covering both mobile and desktop viewership in 2015.
According to figures provided by Nielsen’s “Total Audience Report,” Americans watch on average four hours and 32 minutes of live television, 30 minutes of time-shifted television, listen to two hours and 44 minutes of radio, use a smart phone one hour and 33 minutes and are on the internet one hour and six minutes a day. On average, that means Americans consume 10 hours of mainstream media programs a day, all of which are owned by a handful of companies.
A stream of disinformation
To make matters worse, the noted list doesn’t even include the average amount of time Americans spend going to movie theaters, playing video games and reading books. Watching live and time-shifted television alone accounts for more than five hours of mainstream media indoctrination a day.
Participating in any activity for five hours a day is bound to shape an individual’s behavior and beliefs. Although people believe they can overcome bias and error by receiving news from multiple sources, the truth is almost all mainstream media outlets are owned by half a dozen corporate giants. In other words, we are what we read.
There are approximately six major corporations that are responsible for almost all the programming we watch on our television screens. These include Comcast, the Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS Corporation.
Rise of the alternative media
Fortunately, these media outlets do not have as much of a grip on the internet as they do on print publications; however, their influence in the world of cyberspace is by no means trivial. As Media Post reports:
“Overall, the top 10 publishers — together owning around 60 news sites — account for 47% of total online traffic to news content last year, with the next-biggest 140 publishers accounting for most of the other half, SimilarWeb found.
“The biggest online news publisher for the U.S. audience was MSN, owner of MSN.com, with just over 27 billion combined page views across mobile and desktop, followed by Disney Media Networks, owner of ESPN and ABC News, with 25.9 billion.”
As confidence in the mainstream media continues to wane, Americans are looking for alternative media outlets for their news and entertainment. The thirst for unbiased news free of corporate funding has given rise to the alternative media and a litter of websites across the internet.
The moral of the story? Don’t let the mainstream media get inside your head. Tune into the alternative media instead.
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