[Random-bits] Institute for Public Accuracy on the AOL merger

[James Love]

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Monday, January 10, 2000

AOL-Time Warner Merger

         In the largest corporate merger in history, America Online and Time
Warner announced a $350 billion deal today. The following analysts are
available for interviews:

ROBERT McCHESNEY, (608) 238-0763, rwmcches@uiuc.edu
Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of
Illinois and author of "Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics
in Dubious Times," McChesney, who participated in a CNN discussion on the
future of media with Time Warner head Gerald Levin a week ago, said today:
"This deal culminates five years of frantic deal-making that have seen our
media culture come to be dominated by less than 10 transnational media firms
operating in largely non-competitive markets.... It hammers the last nail in
the coffin of those utopians who regarded the Internet as providing the
mechanism to radically change our media culture for the better. The Internet
was established by massive public subsidies and now, without a shred of
public debate, the system has become the plaything of a handful of
billionaire investors who use their power to commercially carpet bomb every
possible moment of our lives."

JILL NELSON, (212) 662-0884, JillieJams@aol.com
Author of "Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience" and a
columnist for MSNBC, Nelson said: "This may be good for business, but it's
bad for people and the free flow of information. In our lust for profits, we
have forgotten democratic principles. This can only increase the public's
deep skepticism of the quality of the news."

BEN H. BAGDIKIAN, (510) 848-2226, benmar@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Author of "The Media Monopoly" and professor emeritus and former dean of
the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at
Berkeley, Bagdikian said: "This acquisition is standard in the strategy of
media corporations that no significant media company in the country will
remain independent."

JEFF CHESTER, (202) 331-7833, jeff@cme.org, http://www.cme.org
Executive director of the Center for Media Education, Chester said: "[AOL
head] Steve Case is the Benedict Arnold of the digital age. Now that he has
bought himself a piece of broadband cable access, he is no longer advocating
for public policy to ensure open access to the Internet."

FRANK BEACHAM, (212) 873-9349, frank@beacham.com, http://www.beacham.com
A writer specializing in technology criticism, Beacham said: "AOL has
focused on making the Internet into a shopping mall. It also has a miserable
track record of keeping people's information private. In the hands of Time
Warner, that could be more dangerous. This merger demonstrates the failure
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide competition.... AOL was
concerned that it didn't have access to broadband cable lines; now they have
bought that access."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020 or (202) 332-5055; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167