Monopolies are a common aspect of business across many fields. This is true for journalism as well, though monopolies are a sensitive subject they are a prevalent part of the American lifestyle.
There are multiple companies that have become responsible for leading the media, however some larger corporations have become umbrellas for many smaller companies. Though there are independent media companies, many sources of the media come from a long line escalating up to these large corporations.
The top six media owners in order from 1st to 6th largest are Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, Comcast, Viacom and Sony. To show the size of these corporations, and how their ownership covers a large portion of media one can analyze Disney. Disney owns Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, film studios. TV like the ABC broadcast network, ESPN, and several other cable networks. And has also become a leader in streaming with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star. The company also operates 14 theme parks, cruise lines, and resorts.
An example of this on a smaller scale can be seen by analyzing Fox. Under the umbrella of FOX News falls Fox News Media, Fox Sports, Fox Entertainment, Fox Television Stations, Tubi Media group and others. While they are mostly branded by FOX each are sperate entities all owned by the larger corporation.
Just by examining these two conglomerates, it is apparent that most aspects of the media are owned by a larger corporation. This means that the big businesses have the most say in what is viewed by the general public. This can create issues because it has the opportunity to silence those with opposing ideas and filter out any concept those mega companies do not wish for the public to know.
