Corporations exist primarily to make money for their shareholders. There shouldn't be anything particularly shocking about this. This is how capitalism works, and it can be a good thing. Without this system, the United States would probably not have a middle class at all.

However, there is a serious problem with corporate ownership of our news media, especially when it involves consolidation of many media outlets into a smaller and smaller number. Freedom of the press is not always consistent with what is good for the parent corporation. We are seeing the effects of this now as the corporate-owned mainstream media networks are largely ignoring the protests in Wisconsin.

I am highly skeptical that Facebook and Twitter are sufficient to replace mainstream media anytime soon. What we need now a media revolution, resulting in the dramatic expansion of independent news media. The fate of our democracy may well depend upon it.

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