In 1983, 90 percent of all U.S.-based media was created and controlled by 50 companies. Today, just five companies - AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Viacom, and Fox - collectively own 90 percent of the professional media content currently being produced in the United States. At the same time, the internet has brought us all more content than we know what to do with, created by professionals and amateurs alike. To understand how all of these types of media affects us as individuals, we must understand the U.S. media landscape and the motivations of the individuals and entities that built it and profit from it. 

Join Mount Desert Islander Managing Editor Faith DeAmbrose and Maine Monitor Reporter Kate Cough for a presentation and discussion on the effects of this consolidation, the differences between information that is intermediated (from larger media organizations, such as a news outlet) and individual users, and how we process information differently based on how our brains identify the type of content. How do media business models (e.g., free content, paywalls) affect users’ understanding and interpretation of information, and how has the proliferation of small, disintermediated outlets often results in echo chambers and confirmation bias.

Kate Cough covers energy and the environment for The Maine Monitor as a 2021 Report for America corps member. She was previously a reporter for The Ellsworth American before becoming the inaugural digital media strategist for The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander. Kate graduated with honors from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Magna Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College.

Faith DeAmbrose is the managing editor of the Mount Desert Islander. With 20 years’ experience in Maine’s newspaper industry, she holds a master’s degree in communication from the University of Maine and currently serves on the Maine Press Association’s board of directors.