Locked in isolation, millions of people around the world have entered permanent binge mode. From February to April, internet usage was up roughly 70%, as users flock to the FANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google – to fill their empty calendars. But in the long scroll, few have come to question which stories have actually been reported; which voices have been heard; and which perspectives have been shut out from view.
These are not frivolous questions. Ownership of the means of media production not only shapes what we think about each day, but how. And the international media – more than most industries – borders on oligarchy.
Consider the fact that the richest man in the world – who has built an empire on exploiting warehouse workers, who extorted a city into ending a tax intended to fight homelessness, and whose fortune has grown by $24 billion since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – also owns one of the United States’ most influential newspapers. Then consider the fact that we have been asked to believe that his ownership exerts no influence whatsoever on the paper’s direction.
