Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

It’s not just newspapers or TV stations that join into (generally politically conservative) large media conglomerations. As our attention is drawn to the traditional media gobbling itself up, the same could be happening on the Web.

As with the traditional media, these Web conglomerates will be controlled by moneyed conservative interests.

Media Matters for America highlighted the progress of Examiner.com, whose traffic they report already ranks 21st among U.S. news sites, in becoming one such media empire through its acquisition of NowPublic.

Given the newspaper industry's struggles, it isn't inconceivable that Examiner.com could quickly become a key source of news and information for many Americans. At which point, based on []Examiner owner Philip] Anschutz's history, it'll be like having a local version of Fox News Channel in every city in America.

Examiner.com is hyper-local and NowPublic has contributors, according to this story, in 140 countries. The article notes that it already reaches 129 markets within this country. That’s already a sizeable empire.

Should newspaper readership continue to deteriorate and as more and more readers flee to and depend upon the Web for their news, the Right is moving to grab choice chunks of cyberspace in preparation. Newspapers that are building a large Web presence (as is the Gannett chain very successfully) may already be camped to the Right of center.

As with traditional media, the Left may find itself Left Behind.