The rate and density of information flow has been
rising exponentially since the end of the Second World
War. The arrival of television networks, electronic
printing presses, satellites, cheap data routers, the
computer and the internet have meant that information
flow and processing have never been faster, easier,
cheaper or more far-reaching. Whilst this potentially
increases news flow, diversity and opinion, in reality
the counter-pressures of market forces and corporate
conglomeration, which has led to a virtual media monopoly
where only a handful of multinationals now own and
control the vast majority of mainstream media outlets,
have meant that there has actually been an overall
contraction in information diversity and opinion. Mainstream
media is now almost invariably mass-produced, corporate-friendly,
nationalistic and unchallenging, hooking the audience
with a riveting milieu of banality, fear, violence,
hatred, and sex.
