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The Illusion of Choice Pt.II

So bellow you can see you don't really have much of a choice when it comes to brands, but what about that fourth estate we prize so much in the Western world? Surprise surprise, not much difference here either. Granted the above graph is very American-centric, but then here in the UK we've probably got just about as much choice with:

1. BBC
2. Channel 4
3. Rupert Murdoch (BSkyB plus The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times)
4. ITV (which BSkyB has 5% stake in)
5. Daily Mail and General Trust (The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Ireland on Sunday, Metro as well as a large portion of regional media in addition to large shares in ITN)
6. Richard Desmond (Channel 5, OK Magazine, Daily Express, Daily Star)
7. Alexander Lebedev (The ex-KGB agent come Russian 'businessman' owns The Independent and Evening Standard)

Indeed, it's not a huge difference, really.

Thought of the Day #19

"The organising principle of any society is for war. The basic authority of the modern state over its people resides in its war powers. Today, it's oil. Tomorrow, water. It's what we like to call 'the G.O.D business'; Guns, Oil and Drugs. But there's a problem...our way of life. It's over. It's unsustainable and in rapid decline. That's why we implement 'demand destruction'. We continue to make money as the world burns. But for this to work, the people have to remain ignorant of the problem until it's too late. That's why we have triggers in place; 9/11, 7/7, WMDs. A population in a permanent state of fear does not ask questions. Our desire for war becomes its desire. A willing sacrifice, you see? Fear is justification. Fear is control. Fear is money" - Gerry, 'The Veteran'.