Only 6 companies own 90% of all of the media produced in the United States. That means that only six companies own nine out of ten newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, or any other form of media that Americans consume. Nine out of ten opinions that are published in the United States are published by only 6 companies. Only six companies control the vast majority of news media that is consumed in America. The political zeitgeist in the United States is set by six companies.

“There’s been a lot of consolidation in the media industry in recent years, leaving just six big media companies in charge of most of mass media consumption and distribution. Some estimates claim as much as 90% of U.S. media is controlled by just six companies. The big six media companies right now are Comcast, Walt Disney, AT&T, Paramount Global, Sony, and Fox,” as reported by The Motley Fool.

This is a bit of a problem when the United States is as vast and diverse as it is. There are 331.1 million people in America, 50 states and countless more counties. There are potentially 331.1 million different opinions and viewpoints within the United States, and somehow the media that is meant to represent the American public is controlled by six companies, six CEOs.

This is is also a relatively new problem within the United States’ media industry. Before the age of the internet, there was a plethora of local news outlets. Most cities not only had one independently owned newspaper, but a few different papers that reflected the different viewpoints and lived realities of a city’s population. Similarly, there used to be independent television and radio stations that would report based on their own viewpoint.

Explained in a report by Middle Tennessee State University, “after World War II and particularly through the 1960s and 1970s, local newspapers began to close or merge as readership declined and audiences gravitated to television news; as a result, ownership of newspapers consolidated.

A study by media analyst Ben Bagdikian has charted this consolidation over a 30-year period. Bagdikian’s 2004 analysis indicates that Americans are served by 1,468 daily newspapers, 6,000 assorted magazines, 10,000 radio stations, 2,700 television and cable stations, and 2,600 book publishers that are under the aegis of five major multinational corporations.”

These companies effectively control what is published in the United States, and beyond, while also stamping out smaller media outlets that can’t compete with the reach of a multinational corporation. These media companies set the tone for political discourse, decide what entertainment gets created, or effectively set what information defines reality.

More viewpoints are generally a good thing, and media consolidation is the antithesis of this. The more viewpoints there are, the more information there is to generate an opinion from.

There are absolutely benefits to large media companies, like more resources for fact checking or the ability to invest into long-term investigative reporting. On the other hand, consolidated power within the information industry can sterilize and limit discourse to only what those in power would like to be discussed.

However the math ends up, more media companies should own a larger percentage of the total media being produced in the United States. Instead of a few large and consolidated voices at the top, ideally there would be a wide variety of local, regional and national media outlets.

Only six companies control ninety percent of what is read, seen, and heard in America. As a country that began with countless viewpoints and opinions, published as leaflets or small newspapers, this consolidation would be unrecognizable to those who founded the country. The concentration of voices in media doesn’t represent the United States of today. Not everyone needs to start their own newspaper or media company, but with the knowledge of media consolidation, it may be worth looking into what independent, reputable sources of media that are available to support.