The Consolidation of American Media

Courtesy: Melanie D’Arrigo

In the 15 months of Donald Trump’s second presidency, American media has undergone a typical decade’s worth of change. There have been extraordinary levels of censorship, unregulated expansion of newsroom AI, and consolidation of media platforms. All three issues are existential threats to the free press and democracy itself, but the concentration of media ownership is the common thread.

As seen in the above graphic, almost the entirety of American media is now controlled by just 9 groups or individuals – all of whom have ties to the President. This gives Trump unprecedented influence over social media, search engines, AI prompts, television, newspapers and the associated advertising opportunities. The problems with this consolidation are widespread. Equity-seeking groups will lose representation in media, and the few remaining voices will be prone to launder government messaging, in order to remain in positions of favour.

In January, popular social media app TikTok, which originated in the People’s Republic of China, was forced to sell their business to a US investor. This ended a 6-year legal battle between the US government and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.  The US investment group who purchased TikTok, just happen to be close allies of President Trump, with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison leading the bid. Within days of the sale being completed, users reported content critical of Trump was being suppressed.

At a recent press conference, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, was eager for media consolidation to continue, saying with regards to CNN: “more fake news from CNN... The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”  CNN is set to be acquired by the Ellison family, who are reportedly going to merge that news unit with CBS, once again streamlining public news voices.

The president himself was completely unashamed to discuss his media overhaul, posting the following on Truth Social last week…

Authoritarian regimes like the one occupying the White House, prioritize control of the narrative regarding their policies.  Some US Democrats have called out this “state-controlled media.”  Senator Bernie Sanders put it bluntly: “This is what an oligarchy looks like.” 

Media Action Plan are firm believers in a diverse, independent media ecosystem.  We will continue to support policies and initiatives that harvest professional, local news in Canada and abroad!