Final Copy - Who Own The Media

Who Owns the Media?

The dictionary defines the media as, “The means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, which reach or influence people widely”. In my opinion, the media is the way that we get awareness on anything going on in the world. The average human sees about 3000 advertisements on a daily basis and watches approximately 1,500 hours of TV a year. Which brings us to the question, Who owns and supplies us with the Media?
In the article “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato says that, “....there are invisible truths lying under the apparent surface of things which only the most enlightened can grasp.” I believe that this is the essence of the theory about who owns the media. There are only a small few that are smart enough to control the media. You must be incredibly smart to become successful in the media business. Plato also had said, “The prisoners in the cave are not seeing reality, but only a shadowy representation of it.” I agree with this statement in the sense that most of the people today are living in this so-called cave. The media controls everything that we see and do, therefore putting them in the cave, exposed only to what the people at the top choose to let them see.
Another viewpoint on this was in the article “The Nation”. Basically the article states that the media is controlled by a cartel. The cartel includes the top media companies in the world, such as Apple and CNN. In my opinion, the cartel does contribute a lot to the control of the media. However, there are other contributing factors because even small people (so to speak) can have an influence on the big picture. One example of this is youtube. People can upload homemade videos that become instant successes, or people can influence the news by uploading images caught on a cell phone or camera.
The problem with the media cartel controlling the programming of the media is the fact that they are in it mainly for the money. Therefore, they will do whatever it takes to get a show, site or commercial to succeed, whether the quality is good or not. Plato would say that they are not the enlightened ones, and don’t deserve to have the power that they do. I agree to some extent, because these people did, obviously, work to get to their position. Therefore, they should have some success.
Whether we want it or not, the media is everywhere and all powerful. When we are at school, or stopped at an intersection, there is always something that catches our eyes that makes us think. It is not an MNC that runs the media; it is the media “cartel” so to speak which all together runs the media. Money may drive the media and the decision of those that “own” it. However, if possible, ways should be found that help the average human “cave dweller” to influence and censor decisions made by the media cartel.