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Comcast Corp. already produces movies, television shows and national and local news programs while operating theme parks and the largest pay-TV system in the U.S.

And now, with one bold stroke, the Philadelphia conglomerate could dominate the flow of information and entertainment into American homes with historically unprecedented power.

Comcast's proposed $45.2-billion takeover of Time Warner Cable would allow it to provide television, telephone and Internet service and even home security systems to nearly 30 million homes across the country.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

The company's reach would encompass the nation's largest markets, among them Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. By taking over Time Warner Cable's nearly 1.8 million Southern California customers, Comcast would become the region's dominant pay TV operator.

The audacious move comes just three years after Comcast took control of media giant NBCUniversal in a deal that was valued at more than $30 billion. It continues the half-century quest of Pennsylvania's Roberts family to build the nation's preeminent media company.

Six decades ago, Comcast founder Ralph J. Roberts, now 93, made a living selling suspenders and belts. But in 1963 he gambled on new technology by buying a 1,200-subscriber cable TV system in Tupelo, Miss.

Now the company controlled by his son Brian L. Roberts, 54, is hoping to build an electronic beltway into nearly a third of all homes in the U.S. with pay TV.

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"Brian Roberts is, in fact, the John D. Rockefeller of the 21st century," Harvard Law School visiting professor Susan Crawford said Thursday. "He's cornered an essential input into every aspect of American life."

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Comcast plans a media powerhouse

When wars assume new forms, a commitment to serve freedom of information means taking risks that are hard to calculate. The negative correlation between conflicts and freedom of information was highlighted by the way Maliand Central African Republicplunged in the index.

Control of the media has always been a strategic goal in conflicts. When soldiers led by Capt. Amadou Sanogo staged a coup d'tat in the Malian capital of Bamako in March 2012, their first move was to take over the national radio and TV broadcaster. Thanks to new technology, traditional media such as radio stations and newspapers are no longer the only news outlets, and the number and type of news aninformation providers operating on the ground has increased.

Conflicts in Africa are also now assuming many different forms. No longer limited to battles between armies, they may take the form of lower-level or asymmetric conflicts pitting armed groups against more or less proper armies or against other armed groups. At the same time, the terrorist threat is increased by the way some groups with a political agenda use armed conflict for economic gain, as seen in the internecine wars for the control of mineral deposits in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

These problems impact the flow of news and information. Because of the dangers, journalists find it increasingly difficult to access the terrain of military operations. During France's Operation Serval in Mali, some reporters chose to travel with military convoys going to the front line into order not to leave the French military as the only source of information about this war. But this method nonetheless resulted in very partial coverage, froma single viewpoint, of events on the ground.

Armed conflict's new protagonists, especially terrorist groups, do not feel bound by the Geneva Conventions, which protect civilians, including journalists, during armed conflict. On the contrary, journalists become high-value targets in an "information war."

Somalia's Islamist militia Al-Shabaab, for example, has always targeted journalists as unwanted witnesses of its terrorist methods. With seven journalists killed in 2013, Somalia is Africa's deadliest country for media personnel. No fewer than 18 were killed in terrorist attacks in 2012.

The threat in Mogadishu is so great that some media went so far as to let their journalists live at their work place to avoid dangerous commutes. Can a terror campaign be presumed successful when journalists can no longer move about freely in search of information?

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Africa: Wars and Terrorist Threats Weaken Media Africa

A new Reporters Without Borders index cites hot spots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia as being among the worst offenders of press freedom. The journalism rights group also says there has been a significant decline in press freedom in the United States.

Reporters Without Borders says Syria has become an increasingly dangerous place for journalists during the nearly three-year conflict between the government and the opposition.

The group's U.S. director, Delphine Halgand, said Syria ranks near the bottom of the index of 180 countries. "You have to keep in mind that more than 130 news providers have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict in March 2011, including 45 since last year. On top of that, at least 16 foreign reporters and 26 journalism providers are right now detained, kidnapped or missing," she said.

Elsewhere, Halgand said a "privatization of violence" is problematic in some African countries.

"What we mean is that non-state groups are the main source of violence against the media. This is the case in many countries in Africa like the M23 in the [DRC] Congo or the al-Shabab group in Somalia," said Halgand.

Reporters Without Borders looked at factors including transparency, media independence and level of abuses in its annual ranking of countries.

It says government attempts to crack down on social media sites and bloggers played a role in Vietnam's low index ranking of 174.

Viet Youth for Democracy co-founder Huong Nguyen said several of her friends who are bloggers have been jailed for using social media to express their views.

"The thing with social media is that it is so difficult for the government to control what people are talking about and for people to use and to discuss public affairs in the social media. That is why there has been a lot of focus from the Vietnamese government on restricting the freedom of information on the Internet," she said.

Reporters Without Borders says a government "hunt" for leaks and whistleblowers played a role in propelling the U.S. ranking down 13 positions to 46 on the index.

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Media Group: Press Freedom Slipping in Some Countries

Document Information:

Tittle : Media Control Author : Noam Chomsky Classification Number : 300-51 Database : Thamboo Library Data Base Publisher : Seven Stories Year : 1997 Page : 59

Abstract:

Bahasa :

Noam Chomsky melihat terdapat propaganda yang terjadi yang terjadi pada demokrasi, yaitu model demokrasi yang masyarakatnya aktif berpartisipasi dan demokrasi yang mana masyarakatnya di manipulasi dan dikendalikan. menurut Chomsky, propaganda yang terjadi merupakan satu bentuk negara yang otoriter, di Amerika Serikat, media massa menjadi salah satu cara untuk menyampaikan propaganda tersebut ke masyarakat.

English :

Noam Chomskys backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracyone in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky, propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state, and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States.

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Media Control | THAMBOO PROJECT : BETA v.0.1

BENGKULU: Communication and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the initiative to organise a National Media Day in Malaysia should come from its own media community in line with the freedom of press.

I should ask the Malaysian press if they want to organise it. If they do then we will support them. In Indonesia its the media community which organises the event and the government supports them, he said.

He was speaking to reporters after the Indonesian National Press Day (Hari Pers (Media) Nasional (HPN) assembly at Fort Marlborough, Kota Bengkulu here yesterday .

Ahmad Shabery was responding to queries from Malaysian journalists as to whether the Malaysian authorities intended to have such a celebration in Malaysia.

The HPN was attended by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the 10th and final time as the leader of the republic before the end of his term in October.

Ahmad Shabery said the government did not want to be misunderstood as trying to control or own the media if it initiated the event.

All this while we have supported the Malaysian Press Institute. The Prime Minister always attends their annual dinner, so theres no reason for the government not to support an event like this if its organised by the media itself, he said.

The Indonesian Media community yesterday awarded Yudhoyono the title of Media Friend in appreciation of his service and contribution to the media and as a farewell present as Indonesias sixth president. Bernama

In his speech, Yudhoyono said he and his family were never spared from being criticised and attacked by the media during his 10 years as President.

He stressed however that they had done him a service by making him stronger and able to lead Indonesia and its population of more than 240 million.

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Malaysian media community should initiate National Media Day, says Ahmad Shabery