Answer the question: Why does Ben Bagdikian argue that there is no diversity in the U.S. media industries in the book, Media Monopoly ? (Chapters 1 & 2 assigned for reading in Week 1 folder)....

A Controlled World- The US Media Industries
America is a diverse country. It is a country that hosts people from different race and colours. It is a source of livelihood for many and a source of pride for many more. It enjoys a history of freedom, fight for freedom and is perhaps the only country that hasn’t been ruled by a monarch or dictator (Bagdikian, 2). So the ideals that America runs on, is a natural drive for freedom, equality and most of all, diversity. Diversity in the population necessitates that there must be equal diversity in the voices and opinions of people of this country. However, that does not seem to be the case. Ben Bagdikian argues in his book, Media Monopoly, that even though at its face, the US media industries appear to be diverse and varied, they are actually owned by just five companies, that own almost all media forms in the US (Bagdikian, 3). That is why, according to Bagdikian, there is no diversity in the US media industries, instead even these five companies are mutually dependent on each other and work towards furthering each other’s interest creating a highly interdependent oligopoly that has the power to run the nation (Bagdikian, 5).
According to Bagdikian, diversity is the variation of voices that are heard across the nation through different media forms. In the beginning, these diverse voices were spread across fifty media outlets of different forms with different ownerships. However gradually, their numbers dwindled and today the major owners of media outlets have come down to five. As a result, the diversity of voices is essentially lost. Why is diversity of voices important though? Barnett reveals the reasons for this in his paper titled, “What’s wrong with media monopolies….”, stating that
“The fewer owners or gatekeepers, goes the argument, the fewer the number of voices and the more damaging the consequences for diversity of expression. Not only will fewer interests be represented but there will be fewer opportunities for elites to be held properly to account: less opportunity to ‘tell truth to power” (Barnett, 4).
So diversity in media is essentially a foundational requirement for democracy. This is what makes diversity in media important and this is what makes it a fundamental foundation for the US, which as Bagdikian states is so diverse that it is “a nation of nineteen thousand cities and towns is spread across an entire continent, with the globe’s most diverse population in ethnicity, race and country of origin.” .
One may argue that ownership does not necessarily mean that diversity is lost, since media outlets can still express their own opinions without much influence...