The Fight Over Corporate Censorship: Adam Conover Warns the FTC and DOJ About Media Mergers
Adam might ruin your day. But he might save your future.
Adam Ruins Everything was one of my favorite TV shows. When it was canceled, I was really confused and wondered why. Apparently, thanks to a messy media merger, it was taken off the air when networks consolidated. Well, Adam Conover, the host of that show, took his time off and actually looked into media mergers.
What he uncovered is the fight of our life in Hollywood, and many of us do not know it yet.
Adam spoke before FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter this week about how corporate mergers are devastating working conditions, access to diverse voices, and artistic freedom in media.
Check out this video from Adam Conover on the dangers of media mergers.
This was powerful and disturbing. It made me really worried about storytellers.
We've always been truth-tellers who were able to operate with thematic elements that helped us share our worldview. But with the haunting idea that a giant corporation might harbor a different view, and thus censor, cancel, or never allow you to work is a dystopian nightmare. I truly believe this is the fight of our era, especially as these media mergers take over movie studios and consolidate TV networks. And especially as brands like AT&T take over.
As Adam noted, the danger to jobs and to silencing stories they don't like is real. He knows this first hand.
He said, "Let's be clear: TNT and TBS made scripted television with great success since 1989—over 30 years. They're still on in tens of millions of homes. The only reason these healthy broadcasters are committing suicide is because of a needless merger that only benefitted the wealthy. The last merger, with AT&T three years ago, killed my network truTV and folded it under TNT and TBS. Now this merger has killed those networks too. Whose jobs will the next merger eliminate? What voices will never reach your screen? Whose stories will never be told?"
That harrowing story shows that this is real and happening. And we need the government to take a much closer look at all of these mergers. If you want to tell stories, you should care about this. And we need to see action from the FTC and DOJ on it now, or we're going to start losing even more opportunities and have media stories controlled by the very few.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Source: Adam Conover
