That anyone could use the IMC newswires to publish a news story was the IMC's challenge to corporate media coverage of radical politics. Participants in the WTO protests were disgusted by what they saw as sensational and inaccurate coverage of their activism, which they attributed to media consolidation. In 1996, the Telecommunications Act dissolved a number of laws that regulated the number of media outlets a company could own. The resulting mergers concentrated media ownership in six huge companies, including Disney and Viacom, that now control virtually all mainstream media. Scholars like Lance Bennett, Robert McChesney, and Eric Klinenberg have thoroughly documented the effects of media consolidation on the corporate news media. These include a decline in the coverage of foreign and local news, a reliance on mainstream sources, a decrease in minority viewpoints, a reduction in substantive educational content, an increase in cross-promotion and sponsor-driven content, and a pro-government, pro-capitalist bias. These problems were especially relevant during the post– September 11 Bush administration, when progressives criticized corporate media for cheerleading the war effort and for failing to investigate policies carefully or provide historical context for government decisions. In contrast, online publishing provided a platform for people with views outside the mainstream to voice opinions and practice amateur investigative journalism.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 105