Who owns CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal etc...?

and most other major purveyors of news that we digest here in the USA?

I am speaking of the actual people, the majority stock holders, the ones who have the power to shape an agenda or political leaning of a particular news source.

When you look at who the owners are, would you then say that the most such news organizations lean most towards being liberal or conservative....and what does this tell you about the news that we get?

15 Answers

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Best Answer

    GENERAL ELECTRIC --(donated 1.1 million to GW Bush for his 2000 election campaign)

    Television Holdings:

    * NBC: includes 13 stations, 28% of US households.



    The "MS" in MSNBC

    means microsoft

    The same Microsoft that donated 2.4 million to get GW bush elected.

    Other Holdings:

    * GE Consumer Electronics.


    * GE Plastics: produces military hardware and nuclear power equipment.

    * GE Transportation Systems: runs diesel and electric trains.




    whos #1 on the Board of Directors? None other than:

    Frank Carlucci (of the Carlyle Group)

    Television Holdings:

    * CBS: includes 14 stations and over 200 affiliates in the US.


    * Country Music Television, The Nashville Network, 2 regional sports networks.

    * Group W Satellite Communications.

    Other Holdings:

    * Westinghouse Electric Company: provides services to the nuclear power industry.

    * Westinghouse Government Environmental Services Company: disposes of nuclear and hazardous wastes. Also operates 4 government-owned nuclear power plants in the US.

    * Energy Systems: provides nuclear power plant design and maintenance.



    Television Holdings:


    * 20 major market US stations.

    Media Holdings:


    * Simon & Schuster Publishing.


    DISNEY / ABC / CAP (donated 640 thousand to GW's 2000 campaign)

    Television Holdings:

    * ABC: includes 10 stations, 24% of US households.

    * ABC Network News: Prime Time Live, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America.


    * Disney Channel/Disney Television, Touchtone Television.

    Media Holdings:

    * Miramax, Touchtone Pictures.

    * Magazines: Jane, Los Angeles Magazine, W, Discover.

    * 3 music labels, 11 major local newspapers.

    * Hyperion book publishers.

    * Infoseek Internet search engine (43%).

    Other Holdings:

    * Sid R. Bass (major shares) crude oil and gas.

    * All Disney Theme Parks, Walt Disney Cruise Lines.


    TIME-WARNER TBS - AOL (donated 1.6 million to GW's 2000 campaign)

    America Online (AOL) acquired Time Warner–the largest merger in corporate history.

    Television Holdings:


    * Largest owner of cable systems in the US with an estimated 13 million subscribers.

    Media Holdings:




    Other Holdings:

    * Sports: The Atlanta Braves, The Atlanta Hawks, World Championship Wrestling.


    NEWS CORPORATION LTD. / FOX NETWORKS (Rupert Murdoch) (donations see bottom note)

    Television Holdings:

    * Fox Television: includes 22 stations, 50% of US households.

    * Fox International: extensive worldwide cable and satellite networks include British Sky Broadcasting (40%); VOX, Germany (49.9%); Canal Fox, Latin America; FOXTEL, Australia (50%); STAR TV, Asia; IskyB, India; Bahasa Programming Ltd., Indonesia (50%); and News Broadcasting, Japan (80%).

    * The Golf Channel (33%).


    * Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight.


    * 25 magazines including TV Guide and The Weekly Standard.

    * HarperCollins books.


    * Sports: LA Dodgers, LA Kings, LA Lakers, National Rugby League.

    * Ansett Australia airlines, Ansett New Zealand airlines.

    * Rupert Murdoch: Board of Directors, Philip Morris (USA).

    *(Phillip Morris donated 2.9 million to George W Bush in 2000

    • Peggy4 years agoReport

      You indicate that donations were made to GWB. Do you have specific campaign committees?

  • ?
    Lv 4
    3 years ago

    Who Owns Fox News

  • -
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    The majority stock holders in these companies are mutual fund owners. Go to yahoo finance and you can see who hold the most shares in all these companies. As I said though it's mostly big mutual fund companies that own the majority of the stock.

    Fox and just recently the wall street journal is run by News corp

    MSNBC is run by General Electric and Microsoft.

    CNN is run by Time Warner

  • henle
    Lv 4
    3 years ago

    Cnn Dow Jones

  • 1 decade ago

    The nature of the mainstream media today reminds me of the movie "Network" (1976). When it was released, the idea that network news could become for-profit programming, with news content determined by its potential to generate revenue, was merely a "shades of 1984" Orwellian "what if" scenario. Another "futuristic" concept in that movie was that the media airwaves could be wrestled out of the hands of the public domain and placed in the control of a powerful, omnipotent few.

    Today, those "theoretical" concepts are now the reality of our mainstream mass media and the examples you cite are the proof. It's conglomerate-controlled and combines sensationalism and 'homogenization' to deliver us, as a market, to the corporations. Money is the real politics and the corporation is the party, it just so happens that Murdoch's empire tends towards conservatism.

    Perhaps I'm overly cynical, but I see defining a 'liberal' vs a 'conservative' lean to be much like asking a pig if they'd prefer a truck or a train for the trip to the slaughterhouse. The scenery might be different, but the end is still the same. On a lighter note though, at least "Network" is still worth watching and it hasn't lost it's edge in thirty years!

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Mr Erwin Parker; GE may own NBC and it's subsidiarys, but NBC has proven to the be the most bias of the network news by their hiring and editorial practices.

    Murdock did make the deal for Dow Jones which owns the Wall Street Journal. Murdock also owns part of American Idol and News Corp.

    Time Warner is partially owned by Ted Turner (hey all you guys are Jesus freaks).

  • ?
    Lv 4
    3 years ago

    Sounds weird

  • 3 years ago

    Actually, it's the Rothschild's. They spread it out to their lackeys to keep thier name in the shadows. They also own, the us federal reserve, Reuters, the associated press, Bp, ever major Hollywood studio, and almost every us politician.

  • Tmess2
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    My understanding is that CNN is part of Time Warner. The largest shareholder in Time Warner is Disney which also is the largest shareholder in ABC/ESPN. For the most part, the "main stream" media is held by major corporations. However, the owners for the most part stay out of meddling in the news divisions as long as the news media stays within the main stream and does not rock the boat.

  • 3 years ago

    dont forget the saudi prince who owns big stakes in fox news.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    GE owns MSNBC

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