Calling out media consolidation

Amy Goodman, internationally renowned journalist and host of the nationally broadcast daily radio/TV news hour Democracy Now!, brings her Un-embed the Media tour to Bloomington.

She will appear at the Burskirk-Chumley Theater on Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the role of the media in the context of a nation at war, comparing corporate-owned media with the work of independent media.

According to Goodman, for true democracy to work, people need easy access to independent, diverse sources of news and information. But, she contends, the last two decades have seen unprecedented corporate media consolidation. The U.S. media was already fairly homogenous in the early ’80s: Some 50 media conglomerates dominated all media outlets, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, publishing and film. In the year 2000, just six corporations dominated the U.S. media.

Goodman’s latest book, The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them, has topped best-seller lists throughout the country. Part first person on-the-ground reporting, part old-fashioned muckraking, the fast-paced exposé chronicles the lies of politicians and the corruption of media monopolies.

Bloomington’s Carrie Newcomer will open for Amy Goodman. Tickets are available in Bloomington at Sunrise Box Office, Boxcar Books and Bloomingfoods. General admission is $5 and student and senior tickets are $3.50.

For more information contact Boxcar Books at www.boxcarbooks.org.