The New Media Monopoly
Ben H. Bagdikian · 2004
The New Media Monopoly (2004) is Bagdikian’s sequel — the count continued: five corporations where fifty had stood. It is the Library’s cleanest documented trend line, and the codex’s favorite piece of arithmetic.
The codex is speculative fiction; this source and the record below are real.
WHAT IT SAYS
Five, and falling
The 2004 count: five conglomerates over most American media — with the subsidiaries, the interlocks, and the revolving doors cataloged. The codex’s ownership panels are this book’s tables drawn as a grid.
The documented direction
Where the mythology argues ‘the grid is tightening,’ Bagdikian simply counts the tightening. The Grounded Edition’s note: the most damning page in the Library is a census.
Why it closes the media shelf
Because after the count there is little left to argue. The codex’s media-grid sections end with his numbers because nothing in the mythology outruns them.
WHERE IT CAME FROM — THE RECORD
Published by Beacon Press in 2004, the author’s update of his 1983 original. The count — five corporations — was widely reported at publication and is the reference point the conversation still uses; the record is the trend, documented twice by the same counter.
HOW THE CODEX USES IT
The Grid’s media panels cite the 2004 count as the Grid’s documented measurement. The Grounded Edition’s note: the codex’s tightest panel is a pie chart he drew first.
QUESTIONS READERS ASK
What is The New Media Monopoly about?
Bagdikian’s 2004 sequel: five corporations controlling most of American media — the 1983 count updated downward, with the interlocks documented.
How many companies own the media, per Bagdikian?
Fifty in 1983, five in 2004 — the codex’s ‘fifty firms to five’ line is his two editions’ arc.
Is the count still accurate?
The specific five-company count is the 2004 record; consolidation continued after, and the codex’s page links the current reference sources above.
Why does the codex pair the two books?
Because the twenty-one-year arc — same author, same method, shrinking number — is the strongest documented trend in the whole Library.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Wikipedia · Amazon · X · Google