Previously, books had been too expensive or too controlled by the Church or the state for a lay person's study. Within forty years after the printing press was invented, there were over two hundred and fifty printing shops scattered all over Europe producing more than thirty thousand different publications, with over twenty million books circulating among a hundred million Europeans.
Printing brought an anarchy of information, a storm of publications flooding Europe. And as a first step, this was certainly much better than the previous situation where most information had been completely dominated by political and religious despots. But it was only a first step.
Protestant leaders used printing technology to overthrow part of the old regime and establish a new ecclesiastical order, which in critical ways was as repressive as the old. However, Protestantism encouraged the translation of the Bible into the common languages of the people and produced a more literate lay populace.The Catholic Church, the most powerful political-religious-propagandist organization in the world, devised its own schemes to control the anarchy of printing, such as an Index of books which a Catholic was forbidden to read, on pain of being executed by order of the Inquisition. Books and pamphlets could be printed only with the approval of Kings, Queens, or Princes, under pain of execution, imprisonment, or exile.
It was only when a new, socially conscious ordering principle arose with Enlightenment activists such as Voltaire and Diderot in Europe, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry in America that the information anarchy could be directed toward truly humanitarian goals. Enlightenment ideas provided the philosophical foundations for a new nation, the United States of America.
|
"It is possible that large corporations are gaining control of the American media because the public wants it that way. But there is another possibility: the public, almost totally dependent on the media to alert them to public problems, has seldom seen in their standard newspapers, magazines or broadcasts anything to suggest the political and economic dangers of concentrated corporate control. On the contrary, for years the media have treated mergers and acquisitions as an exciting game that poses no threat to the national pattern of news and information." |
In 1983, 50 corporations controlled 90% of all U.S. news media. Conservatives dismissed Ben Bagdikian's book, Media Monopoly, as "alarmist" for predicting that this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. By the sixth edition of Bagdikian's book in 2000, the number had fallen to exactly six. The United States is touted as a capitalist "democracy." The media (news, publishing, advertising, entertainment) reflect the dominant class ideology in everything they do.
As a cover, the media--especially the "news" media--claim that they are free and independent, capable of balanced coverage and objective commentary.
To put the lie to this malarkey one need only spend a few moments viewing the TV "news" to see the blatant rabid-right slant put on every "story" they run.
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. Labor's Untold Story, 1979 |
As we've seen in previous articles, America is ruled by a small cabal, while a misinformed public accedes to the increasing devastation of our Constitutional liberties. We must face the reality that the mainstream media have been purchased by rabid right reactionaries who do everything possible to support the cabal's fascist policies.
If you go into a mainline bookstore today, you can see first-hand how most of the books being published support the Obama con-man imperialistic dementia. It is rare to find a progressive book in a major bookstore chain--and then only if it has managed, against all odds, to become a bestseller. Fortunately, such books as Michael's Moore's Stupid White Men and Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets are able to hold their own against the media conglomerates' onslaught.
 Chairman, Steve Case;
| Books Time Life Books Book of the Month Club Warner Books Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company (U.K.)
19 other book brands such as History Book
|  The Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO: Michael D. Eisner
Books | Walt Disney Company Book Publishing Hyperion Books Miramax Books |
 Bertelsmann AG Chief executive: Dr. Thomas Middelhof Employees: 64,800 Revenues: $16.3 billion (includes 50 percent of CLT-UFA) "Today, Bertelsmann is the world's largest publisher. Our U.S. publishing group Random House alone ships over one million books a day." www.bertelsmann.com/bookBook Clubs
| Canada
|
United States
- Random House
- Ballantine
- Fodor's
- Knopf
- Modern Library
 September 7, 1999 Announcement of Viacom and CBS merger May 4, 2000 Federal Communication Commission approves merger. New company to be called Viacom, worth $90 billion Chair and CEO: Sumner M. Redstone President: Mel Karmazin Employees: 126,820 Revenues: $12.86 billion | Books
Division publishes over 2,000 titles annually under 38 trade, mass market, children's and new media imprints These include:
|  The parent company of News Corporation's media empire is based in Australia, but to expand his media interests in the United States, Australian-born Rupert Murdoch became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985. Chair and CEO: Rupert Murdoch
Books |
| ||||
I have included only the book publishing holdings of these six largest vulture conglomerates. Their properties in movies, Internet, theme parks, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, cable/dbs, video, and Internet search engines are truly frightening. That six predatory giants are allowed to own so much of the media is due to the policies of the "High Cabal" that have been in operation since the early part of the twentieth century.Because of their stranglehold on the media, these baleful behemoths are able to manipulate the American (and world) mind in bringing about a rich-raping-the-poor, globalist, fascist world empire that we see so clearly today in the Bush junta.
Fortunately, some progressive books are managing to get published, as is evidenced by the following list:
Fortunately, world citizens still have two primary means of struggling against this oppresive media tidal wave:
- Alternative publishing companies
- Alternative Internet Web sites
| 1. The new-style publisher often evaluates and prepares manu- scripts, making the agent's role optional 2. With P-O-D there is no necessity for distributors to warehouse books in quantity 3. Brick and mortar bookstores are fast becoming optional; the reader can select the book she desires on the Internet and order online--receiving the book within a short time.
|
|
Whenever new technologies such as E-books and print-on-demand books come into being, it is some time before the big corporations and institutions finally adapt to their creative features. We've previously explored higher education's refusal to adapt to the innovative improvements possible through computer and Internet technology. We saw how largely obsolete sprawling campuses are engaged in a loosing battle with the inevitable use of cost-effective distance learning and Web systems development.
Unfortunately, neanderthal book publishers and distributors continue to define "real books" as products that are offset-printed in volume runs and distributed through wholesalers. Distributors receive as much as 60% of the retail price of the book for performing this service. Large book chains such as Barnes and Noble, Borders Group, and Books-A-Million refuse to stock print-on-demand books and also refuse to order them even if a customer requests them.The hapless author looking for a way to get her book into circulation still has several options in todays E-publishing world:
-
Ebooks: In this format, electronic versions of books are delivered to consumers in digital formats. A large number of reading devices are available to consumers. While some E-publishing companies are pushing the open-ebook standard, or OEB, competing formats are more popular. Readers can receive E-books in several different ways:- reading online
- downloading to your own computer part or all of an E-book
--in any of several formats:- Word .doc format
- Adobe Acrobat .pdf format
- HTML format--allows use of graphics (as in the document you're viewing)
- book on a CD-ROM or DVD disk
Analysts claim that the initial market for electronic books is extremely large. Many readers, however, still prefer hard-copy paper books. A number of companies have tried to create E-book devices with which the consumer can read the book. Most of these require that the manuscript be coded in a special format.
Certain sectors of the buying public are recognizing the benefits of ebooks over paper books:- students who are tired of lugging around fifty pounds of textbooks (which become obsolete after one term)
- business people who like to download several books into a small, portable reader or laptop computer so they can read them at home or on a plane
It's still anyone's guess as to which electronic devices and which software format will succeed and exactly how long it will take people to prefer E-books. Now that laptop computers are becoming reasonably priced, the best format for E-books is undoubtedly HTML, which provides ease of coding, full-color graphics, and JavaScript. - students who are tired of lugging around fifty pounds of textbooks (which become obsolete after one term)
With HTML-format browser-readable E-books there is no need to buy a new piece of hardware when you can use your desktop or notebook computer and your current Web browser (Netscape or Explorer) to read multimedia books.
The increasingly sophisticated reading public sees text-only digitized books as boring (all text, no graphics, no interactivity). They prefer HTML-format E-books because they reallize that competing E-book formats require the purchase of additional hardware or software, e.g. Palm Pilot, Microsoft Reader, Glassbook Reader, Gemstar E-book, etc. - reading online
Publishers no longer have to do a traditional print run of several thousand books at a time and then warehouse the books until delivery to a distributor.Advanced laser printers and electronically formatted text are used in this new system. This method allows new publishers, including Web companies, to print smaller numbers of a book and still make a profit. The print hardware is currently very expensive. A recent New York Times article reported that Lightning Source, Inc., a leading provider of E-books, charges publishers over $4.00 per book, which is a higher cost per unit than that of small offset print runs. As more publishers purchase the printing technology, prices should come down.
POD is very hot right now and should increase in popularity as the smaller publishers find ways to force the big brick-and-mortar bookstores to stock and order their books. BookSurge.com, a US POD company with printing facilities and distribution in the UK and the Netherlands, with additional facilities soon to open in Spain, Australia and Canada, says it has worked out an agreement with R. R. Bowker, the publisher of Books in Print, so that their POD books will be available for order through brick-and-mortar bookstores. As yet, the Bowker databases available to such retailer chains as Barnes and Noble do not provide the necessary data for ordering POD books.
3. Electronic Ink is a developing technology that could have a huge impact on the publishing industry. With Electronic Ink, a newspaper or book is able to be updated. The technology could also be used on billboards, clothing, walls and homes to allow content to display. Such content could be programmed to change at a set time. A billboard using this technology could rotate different ads.
A coupon you receive in the mail could be updated with the latest offer. In the future, your electronic newspaper will be able to update itself every day. E Ink Corporation, a new company with large investors, and Xerox are already developing this technology.4. Email and newsletter publishing finds a ready market among readers who want to receive news items, articles and newsletters in their email box or online. A large number of email newsletters and discussion sites provide information on a variety of topics. Some companies provide newsletters to consumers as their primary service or product. To complement their Web sites, companies are sending newsletters to their clients. Now authors and publishers are providing their own newsletters to attract new readers and to inform their readers about new books.
5. Web publishing is a mature technology, but it
continues to change and develop as new languages (such as JavaScript), features, and add-ons become feasible. HTML is still the most widely used Web programming language, though XML is making headway. Worldwide, almost every company has a Web site and it's especially critical for small independent book publishers to have their own Internet presence.A fast-developing subculture that helps to counter the monolithic fascist influence of the corporate media monopolies is made up of the alternative publishing companies. One of the most progressive of these is Dandelion Books, which produces uncensored books that help people become aware of the social-political-economic realities.
We can also identify a newly forming Internet sub-culture through which people have discovered that a dedicated group of Web news and analysis sites provide a source of information about world happenings that is superior to most of the mainstream media. Along with books published by small progressive publishing companies, some sites on the Internet provide REAL information about what's really going on in the world--as opposed to the disinformation provided by TV and most of the books published by the media conglomerates.
| "The distinguished political theorist Robert Dahl, after long study of democratic theory and practice, says that two of the primary criteria for a truly democratic process are 'effective participation' and 'enlightened understanding.' Effective participation means citizens ought to have an adequate opportunity, and an equal opportunity, for expressing their preferences as to the final outcome of public decisions on society’s issues. Enlightened understanding means that the procedures and mechanisms for making decisions on matters of importance for society must give citizens ample opportunities for acquiring an understanding of means, ends and consequences involved in a given issue. "If a few mega media corporations control most of the major print, broadcast, cable, and other media that most of the public relies on as their main sources of information, opinion, and creative expression, then the fundamental pillar of democracy is likely to be seriously weakened. Indeed the Florida Supreme Court concluded: 'The right of the public to know all sides of a controversy and from such information to make an enlightened choice is being jeopardized by the growing concentration of ownership of the mass media into fewer and fewer hands, resulting in a form of private censorship.'" |
Updates and Action:
- The New Minister of Information
- One US, one market, one media mogul
- Media Monopoly On Notice
- Who Owns What
Reference:
- Charles A. Pesko, "Has Time Run out for Print?"
- Adam Barr, " Print-on-Demand, One Year Later"
- The Destruction of American Education