# American media consolidation

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "American media consolidation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/american-media-consolidation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of why American news coverage is uniform: the entire national media is owned by six corporations or oligarchs, a number the Warner Brothers sale would reduce to five. He attributes the consolidation to profit rather than politics, and describes the practical consequence as an audience that turns on a cable channel believing it is being educated when it is being propagandised, with independent media the only alternative and almost nobody with the time to find it.*

- **The count:** Six corporations or oligarchs; 'now it's going to be five'
- **The driver:** 'Billions and billions of dollars in profits' rather than ideology
- **The alternative:** Independent media, which few Americans have the time to seek out
- **The consequence:** 'They think they're being educated. In fact they're not. They're being propagandized'

**American media consolidation** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s explanation for the uniformity of American news, and one he keeps separate from his claims about [CIA influence on the press](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-media-relations).

## The count

*"Essentially the entire American media is run by six corporations or oligarchs. Now it's going to be five."*[1] The reduction he was referring to was the contested sale of Warner Brothers, the parent of CNN.[2]

## Why owners want more of it

Asked why the buyers needed still more control when, in the interviewer's framing, the networks had long been available to the agency anyway, Kiriakou allowed that coverage of Gaza was probably part of it but put the main weight elsewhere: *"I think the real reason is a little bit more crass, and that is just billions and billions of dollars in profits."*[3][1]

## The consequence

The effect he describes is not censorship but the absence of an alternative anyone reaches for. *"The only place you can go is independent media. But so few Americans have the time or the inclination to seek out independent media. They just sit in front of the television, turn on CNN or MSNBC, now it's called MS Now, or Fox News, and they think they're being educated. In fact, they're not. They're being propagandized."*[1][4]

## See also

- [CIA media relations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-media-relations)
- [The CIA and Hollywood](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-and-hollywood)
- [Operation Mockingbird](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/operation-mockingbird)

## Sources

1. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou REVEALS ALL on US-Israel All (2025-12-15), at 6:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbpBecvpQ0&t=384s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-afshin-rattansi-s-going-un-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-reveals-all-o/
2. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou REVEALS ALL on US-Israel All (2025-12-15), at 3:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbpBecvpQ0&t=226s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-afshin-rattansi-s-going-un-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-reveals-all-o/
3. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou REVEALS ALL on US-Israel All (2025-12-15), at 5:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbpBecvpQ0&t=354s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-afshin-rattansi-s-going-un-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-reveals-all-o/
4. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou REVEALS ALL on US-Israel All (2025-12-15), at 6:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbpBecvpQ0&t=416s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-afshin-rattansi-s-going-un-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-reveals-all-o/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/american-media-consolidation/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt