Buzzflash
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Newsvine
RedditIn the mid 1990s the favorite sport among my hipster friends was catching out corporations and products that dared to masquerade as "indie." What at first glance might appear to be a simple economic truth--is the entity in question owned by a major corporation or not?--often became a debate about aesthetics and loyalty. I remember long arguments parsing the ready-made thrift-store chic of Urban Outfitters, the cloying bubble-gum pop of Veruca Salt (started at Minty Fresh, moved to Geffen) and the off-the-rack irony exhibited in Reality Bites--our authenticity jealously guarded. Or it was, until the corporations stopped caring about it. I'm sure that somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, there's a 22-year-old Wesleyan graduate thundering away on his blog against the evil that major record labels do--I hope to buy him a microbrew someday.
-
Who'll Unplug Big Media? Stay Tuned
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Robert W. McChesney & John Nichols: The media reform movement has made a few inroads, but there's still a long way to go.
-
Not Your Father's FCC
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Michael J. Copps: As we struggle for media democracy, let's take encouragement from the early actions of the FCC.
-
The Other Side of the McCain Lobbyist Scandal
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Jerold M. Starr: A Pittsburgh public television activist explains how McCain broke the rules while doing the bidding of a media mogul.
-
McCain and the Media
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Robert Scheer: It's absurd for the New York Times to cast him as a tool of corporate media, when he's been in the forefront of trying to rein it in.
-
Stop the Media Grab
Corporate Media & Consolidation
If FCC chairman Kevin Martin prevails, Americans will be stuck with one-size-fits-all media and a downsized democracy.
-
Google: Search and Data Seizure
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Jeffrey Chester: Google's bid to acquire DoubleClick will make it the most powerful player in interactive marketing on the planet. But it poses threats to our privacy, politics and democratic aspirations for the Internet.
-
All Rupert, All the Time
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Eric Alterman: Will Rupert Murdoch's play to own and operate the Wall Street Journal have a silver lining for liberals?
-
Stealth Media
Corporate Media & Consolidation
Ana Marie Cox: Corporations used to disguise their attempts to masquerade as "indie," but now they've become invisible to the naked eye.
- Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
- If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
