In Italy, for example, Silvio Berlusconi was able to get himself elected as Prime Minister with very little controversy despite the fact that he happens to be the owner of three of Italy's national networks. An independent survey of election coverage showed that, while the Italian public broadcaster, RAI, gave the two leading parties and their candidates roughly equal coverage, Berlusconi's three private television channels gave him four times more exposure than his rival. To add insult to injury, Mr. Berlusconi is still being investigated as a result of several corruption scandals which brought a quick end to his first term seven years ago.
"This bias was inevitable," said Aidan White, International Federation of Journalists' General Secretary. "It is shocking that in one of the world's leading democracies such a conflict of interest can be permitted."
Perhaps you are thinking that media concentration is perfectly fine as long as politicians don't own any of it. However, history indicates that the media and the government are often willing to collaborate with each other to serve each other's interest.
Even though he may not have been aware of it at the time, David Asper managed to prove just how dangerous such a conflict of interest could get in Canada, a country which is already far ahead of the U. S. in terms of media concentration. David Apser is the son of Izzy Asper, who had just purchased Southam inc., a company which owns 40% of Canada's newspapers. He was already the owner of the Global television network, several independent television stations and cable networks. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien was involved in a conflict of interest scandal of his own over something called the "Auberge Grand-Mère" affair. David Asper felt sorry for the Liberal Prime Minister and wrote an open letter about how journalists were being hard on him. The letter was published in all Southam newspapers.
