Monopoly or oligopoly ownership of the news media is counter to assuring and securing our right of freedom of the press.

“Rupert Murdoch bid $580 million on Newsday in hopes of adding it to his collection of New York-based newspapers.” Isn’t that one of the signs of the apocalypse?

If the sale violates any laws, then it will be stopped. Personally, after any paper, i usually look for alternative opinions from other papers or the internet and then formulate my own views.

if you take a look around the world today, it is as if the lessons of history have not been put to use as warnings of the evil that men do, but instead, how to do it “better.” the oligarchs are running every government- not just the ones we fear- the different forms of government only creating alternative labels: Russian oligarchs, US corporatists, Middle Eastern despots, South American nationalists, Asian totalitarians- business as usual between them never skips a beat even when at war with each other. It is only when the “people” who keep the engines running feel hungry- when life, not “lifestyle” is threatened, that they will fight back. We once had a generation that made it to the middle class by way of the battlefield, so fighting in the political arena was “maintenance” until they themselves had too much to lose in the portfolios that grew directly because of such business de-regulations- shockingly, they even stopped fighting for their own children’s future- no longer with the protections they held so sacred. Murdoch is a corporatist, the more the better and the stronger his company gets the more “successful” we will see it to be. He owns enough leverage to make anyone in our government -and others by the way- to make his wishes become reality. He was even granted a “walk through” naturalization- in the front door, out the back- thank you Washington, D.C. when citizenship was all that stood in the way of more consolidation- (Thank you “Princess Grace” for your excellent research.) It is unfortunate that the law at one point found the rights of corporations to be equal to the individual, from there they used all the resources in their power to abuse this standard- the Supreme Court has ruled against the Bush Administration, but when deciding between the Corporate interest and the individual, the corporation has won every battle. The change we hope to see here will come at no less a sacrifice than is necessary in those “other” places we are “fortunate” not to live in. There is no turning back.

It’s a disgrace that the Wallstreet Journal was sold. I thought that this paper was a national institution and one of a kind. I loved reading the Friday edition. I stopped reading it. It’s not the same any longer. I feel bad about the first class folks who lost their jobs.

julia, just maybe it is not ‘just’ about money anymore? after all, he is a counterpart to king midas. what if it is all about control? fox news has been losing market share, they reflect the views of the hard right. gw has taken this country into the tank and some are going weary of the nonsense spewed from fox. what if his motives are now about dominating the media markets in order to control the philosophy they feed us? these philosophies shape our world view and most people do not question things as much as they should.