Question: Can We The People Buy a MSM outlet?

[Tommymac]

I am not a financial person, really don't know much about stocks and takeovers and such...please help me out if this is all wrong...I really am interested if it could be done.

It seems one can buy enough stock to control a corporation...isn't that what a 'hostile takeover is"?

If true, we have shown that we can raise hundreds of millions of dollars for grassroots political campaigns...why can't we apply this same type effort to a grassroots campaign buying enough stock for a publicly owned trust to gain a controlling interest in just one MSM publication or network?

Please, not looking for flames, just trying to think out of the box...the MSM is not working for the people because it is controlled by the corporations. Can we somehow use their own system against them?

If nonsense, please educate me in a constructive way. Thanks!

[Mythsaje]

1. Interesting question

I'd be interested to know the answer to this as well.

[Occulus]

2. I'll second that

with the added support of saying This Is A Damn Good Idea(tm).

[laura888]

3. Brilliant Idea!

Let's do it!

[MadisonProgressive]

4. There probably isn't enough outstanding stock

You'd have to convince some of the major stockholders to sell you their control. Just a wild ass guess!

[tecelote]

5. Choose a network and have everyone buy stock.

You can buy control of a public company.

It's expensive though.

Edited - And yes, there has to be enough stock available to buy.

[Tommymac]

8. I know it is expensive...

That is why it would have to be done as a grassroots effort involving We The People....

But we have shown that many small $5 to $100 donations equal the power of one big one...(thanks Gov Dean!)...and we can have a real voice in our Party now.

I for one would dig a bit deeper in my pockets to find that extra $50 or so if I knew that we could gain a real voice in the main stream media...not necessarily a liberal or progressive one only, but a truthful impartial one that would be free to conduct investigations, and let the nation and world know what is really going on. A real watchdog, not a corporate lapdog...

I know a lot of the stock is locked up...but then how do 'hostile' takeovers work? If we chip away over time, wouldn't we eventually be able to buy enough voting stock to have a real say in things? What would it take...5%, 10%, 30%... being voted through a Public trust proxy?

Looking for answers...thanks!

[Internut]

15. I am afraid $50 won't do it

 	
Network  Owned By                Market Cap
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NBC      General Electric        387 Billion
CBS,MTV  Viacom                  45  Billion
ABC      Disney                  55  Billion
CNN,TBS  Time Warner             78.6 Billion 
FOX      News Corporation Ltd.   18.6 Billion

The cheapest to buy is FOX's News Corp (stock symbol NWS). Let's say you get one million Democrats together who want to buy the controlling interest in it. Let's ignore for the moment the fact that when you do that the price goes up and leave it at 18.6B. Each one of those 1 million people will have to invest $9,300 in order to do this.

So all you have to do is to fine one million Democrats who are willing to invest $9,300 and then are willing to vote those shares as a block. (In real life it will cost probably somewhere closer to $13K per investor).

Even if you find 10 million Democrats to take over News Corp. each one will have to invest around $1,200. $50 just does not go far these days.

[MadisonProgressive]

11. Another obstacle is the fact that a news channel like FOXNEWS

MSNBC, CNN, etc, do not have stock (as far as I understand). They are just small parts of huge corporations that presumably would cost BILLIONS of dollars to own. In other words, to own MSNBC you would have to buy General Electric.

[Coexist]

6. they're trying to... check this out

http://www.iwtnews.com/

[iconoclastNYC]

7. Right-wing media and fiduciary responsibility.

Cared about their shareholders they'd make one.

They don't.

MSNBC's ratings are abysmal. More people probably watch the Golf Channel.

If they were worried about shareholder value they'd try out less right-wing format.

But ideology trumps the fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders.

[Tommymac]

9. Problem is the News division is meant to be a loss leader

because it is just one part of the corporate cartel.

The cartel is making money for the shareholders...they run the media divisions at a loss because of their importance as PR vehicles to only broadcast things favorable to the corporation.

My question is, how do we gain control of one of those dummy media corporations to break it away from the control of the cartel so it must answer to it's shareholders...and the majority of those would be us!

Also, ITV is great...but it is not mainstream yet. My goal would be to get control of an existing well established MSM outlet that people already know and 'trust'. Brand recognition is the key.

Hey, at the least we could maybe help Ted Turner get CNN back...lol.

[iconoclastNYC]

13. I think it will happen

Air American is a great success. I think we'll see it in the next 5 years....maybe right before the lead up to 2008.

[Justpat]

10. I've been thinking about this for years.

There has to be a way to do it

[RPM]

12. Sure - why not

start a non-profit, co-operative news network.

lets go!

[Internut]

14. Let's look at the networks:

Network  Owned By                Market Cap
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NBC      General Electric        387 Billion
CBS,MTV  Viacom                  45  Billion
ABC      Disney                  55  Billion
CNN,TBS  Time Warner             78.6 Billion 
FOX      News Corporation Ltd.   18.6 Billion

As we see the cheapest to buy is FOX's News Corp (stock symbol NWS). Let's say you get one million Democrats together who want to buy the controlling interest in it. Let's ignore for the moment the fact that when you do that the price goes up and leave it at 18.6B. Each one of those 1 million people will have to invest $9,300 in order to do this.

So all you have to do is to fine one million Democrats who are willing to invest $9,300 and then are willing to vote those shares as a block. (In real life it will cost probably somewhere closer to $13K per investor).