Mass media companies, often encompassing journalism and entertainment under the same roof, have become wealthy and powerful, usually by corrupt means, causing many problems.
However, there may be a silver lining: it might be very difficult for the government to censor such powerful entities if it wanted to censor criticism of the government. But is this true? Or could the government destroy, say, ABC/Disney or the News Corporation in a single stroke if it wanted to? Or otherwise very tightly control them?
This is a picture of a somewhat free press protected by capitalism, by consumer addiction to entertainment, rather than any legal protections that rely on a government to uphold. Is the degree of free press now as unprecedented as the scope and duration of copyright? Are these linked?
No comments:
Post a Comment