A board of directors is a group of individuals chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company.Board members in most legal jurisdictions have specific fiduciary duties, whereby they act for the benefit of others.In the United States and most other industrialized countries the board hires a chief executive officer (CEO), President, and other professional managers to run the day-to-day operations of the company, while the board retains a high-level form of oversight.Typically corporate boards are involved in issues of ownership, strategy, financing, and mergers and acquisitions.
The Project Censored team researched the board members of 10 major media organizations from newspaper to television to radio. Of these ten organizations, we found there are 118 people who sit on 288 different American and international corporate boards proving a close on-going interlock between big media and corporate America.
We found media directors who also were former Senators or Representatives in the House such as Sam Nunn (Disney) and William Cohen (Viacom). Board members served at the FCC such as William Kennard (New York Times) and Dennis FitzSimmons (Tribune Company) showing revolving door relationships with big media and U.S. government officialsThese ten big media organizations are the main source of news for most Americans. Their corporate ties require us to continually scrutinize the quality of their news for bias.
Disney owns ABC so we wonder how the board of Disney reacts to negative news about their board of directors friends such as Halliburton or Boeing.
We see board members with connections to Ford, Kraft, and Kimberly-Clark who employ tens of thousands of Americans.
Is it possible that the U.S. workforce receives only the corporate news private companies want them to hear?
Do we collectively realize that working people in the U.S. have longer hours, lower pay and fewer benefits than their foreign counterparts?
If these companies control the media, they control the dissemination of news turning the First Amendment on its head by protecting corporate interests over people.
| Media Company (Assets in Millions) | Associated Boards | Board of Directors |
| Gannett Total Current Assets 1,370,695 Total Assets 15,399,251 | Asia Pacific Fund, Inc. Associated Press Carlisle Companies, Inc. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Chubb Corporation Continental Airlines, Inc. Electronic Data Systems Corporation Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University KB Home Corporation Lennar Corporation Lockheed Martin Corporation Orange S.A. PepsiCo, Inc. Prudential Mutual Funds SunTrust Banks, Inc Target Corporation Temple-Inland Corporation Trustee, Financial Accounting Foundation UnitedHealth Group WGL Holdings, Inc | Douglas H. McCorkindaleLouis D. BoccardiJames A. JohnsonDuncan M. McFarlandStephen P. MunnDonna E. ShalalaSolomon D. TrujilloKaren Hastie Williams |
| New York Times Total Current Assets 613,893 Total Assets 3,949,857 | Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America) APCOA Parking AG, German Augustana College Bewerbungskomitee Leipzig 2012 Carlyle Group, 2001 Eli Lilly and Company Fitch Ratings, a U.S./U.K. Flamel Technologies S.A Ford Motor Company Hallmark Cards, Inc. International Herald Tribune Johnson & Johnson Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. Lucent Technologies Inc. PepsiCo, Inc. Polestar Corporation, a British company Times Square Business Improvement District U.S. Venture Partners W.R. Grace & Co. | John F. Akers |
Washington PostTotal Current Assets 754,367 Total Assets 4,316,641 | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Brookings Institution Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Georgetown University IAC/InterActiveCorp, USA Interactive Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP BrassRing, Inc Pulitzer Prize Board, District of Columbia College Access Program Federal City Council in Washington, DC. Summit Fund of Washington Coca-Cola Company Gillette Company Life Trustee Urban Institute Member American Academy of Arts and Sciences IAC/InterActiveCorp Coca-Cola Company New York University Medical Sciences at UCLA Conservation International Channel 13/WNET School of Cinema-Television, USC University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education drugstore.com White Mountains Insurance Group, Inc. Madison Square Boys and Girls Club Pinkerton Foundation Life Director and Chairman Emeritus, National Multiple Sclerosis Society John M. Olin Foundation William S. Paley Foundation Arthur Ross Foundation Museum of Television and Radio The Jackson Laboratory RAND Corporation USC Annenberg School for Communication Southern California Public Radio Berkshire Hathaway Edison International City National Corporation Dun & Bradstreet Corporation Moody's Investors Service J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc. Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York Union Pacific Corporation Yankee Publishing Inc. General Electric Investments Advisory Board of Directorship White Burkett Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation Newspapers of New England, Inc. Bakersfield (California) Californian Associated Press | Donald E. Graham |
| Knight-Ridder Total Current Assets 549,795 Total Assets 4,222,278 | Adobe Systems, Inc. Echelon Corporation Economics Studies, Inc H&R Block, Inc Kimberly-Clark Corporation Public Broadcasting Service Starwood Hotels and Resorts Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | Mark Earnest Kathleen Feldstein Thomas Gerrity Ronald McRay Pat Mitchell Kenneth Oshman Vasat Prabhu Anthony Ridder Gonzalo Valdes- Fauli John E. Warnock |
The Tribune CompanyTotal Current Assets 1,452,444 Total Assets 14,168,196 | 3M Company Allstate Corporation Aon Corporation Big Shoulders Fund Boys and Girls Clubs Business Council Carpenter Technology Corporation Caterpillar Inc. Nicor Inc. Chandler Ranch Co Chandler Trusts Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Chicago Horticultural Society Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chicago Urban League Children’s Hospice International Children’s Memorial Foundation Children’s Memorial Medical Center Cincinnati Association for the Performing Arts CINergy Corp. Commercial Club of Chicago ConocoPhillips Control Data Corporation Economic Club of Chicago ElderPort Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Executives’ Club of Chicago Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Fortune Brands, Inc. General Electric Information Services. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Grocery Manufacturers of America Harvey and Mildred Mudd Foundation Hydril Company Illinois Tool Works Inc. Inter-Con Security Systems Inc. Interspan Communications Junior Achievement of Chicago Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern Lake Forest Academy Board of Trustees Lake Forest Bank and Trust Lake Forest College Louise Taft Semple Foundation Lyric Opera of Chicago McCormick Tribune Foundation McDonald’s Corporation Media Security and Reliability Council, FCC Museum of Science and Industry, Northwestern University Boy Scouts of America Newspaper Association of America Nordstrom Inc. Northern Trust Corporation Northwestern Memorial Foundation Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP PepsiCo Inc Quaker Oats Company Reyes Holdings LLC Ronald McDonald House Charities Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center Schering-Plough Corporation Schlumberger Limited Secretary of Defense to the Defense Policy Advisory Committee on Trade (DPACT) Southern Star Group and Fifth Third Bancorp Standard Technology, Inc. Taft Broadcasting Comp The Union Central Life Insurance Company Tupperware Corporation United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc. University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees Wells Fargo & Company Wintrust Financial Corporation World Business Chicago YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago | Dennis J. FitzSimons Jeffrey Chandler, |
| News Corp. Total Current Assets 9,931,785 Total Assets 41,783,141 | Allen & Company LLC Arthur M. Siskind British Airways Georgetown University Independent Newspapers Limited Partner Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers Rothschild Investment Trust C.P. Tsinghua University of Beijing | K. Rupert Murdoch , Chase Carey, Peter Chernin, Kenneth E. Cowley, David F. DeVoe, Viet Din , Rod Eddington, Andrew S.B. Knight, Lachlan Murdoch, Thomas J. Perkins, Stanley S. Shuman, Arthur M. Siskind , John L. Thornton |
AOL/Time WarnerTotal Assets 123,339,000 Total Current Assets 14,639,000 | Apollo Theatre Foundation Citigroup Estee Lauder Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Museum of Modern Art Howard University Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy Barksdale Management Corporation Colgate-Palmolive Company Harvard University Hills & Company Hilton Hotels Corporation ZG Ventures, L.L.C. | Richard D. Parsons, James L. Barksdale, Carla A. Hills , Stephen F. Bollenbach, Reuben Mark, Stephen M. Case, Michael A. Miles, Frank J. Caufield, Kenneth J. Novack, Robert C. Clark, R.E. Turner, Miles R. Gilburne, Francis T. Vincent, Jr. |
| General Electric
2004 Earnings: $16.6 billion | America Movil American Accounting Association American Film Institute American Museum of Natural History Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Ann Taylor Stores Avon, U.S. Babson College Bechtel Group, Inc. Boston Museum of Science Boys & Girls Clubs of America ChevronTexaco Corporation Chubb Corporation Coca-Cola Company Columbia Business School. Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. Dell Inc. GE Capital Services General Electric Company General Motors Corporation Grupo ALFA Grupo Carso Grupo Mexico Grupo Televisa Hamilton College and Xavier University Home Depot, Inc. Internet Security Systems, Inc. Investment Co. of America. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Kellogg Company Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, S.A. Lauder Institute Board of Governors (Wharton School of Arts & Sciences) Mexico Fund, Inc. Microsoft Corporation Motorola, Inc. Museum of Television and Radio Motion Picture and Television Fund Corporation NBC Universal New York Presbyterian Hospital Nuclear Threat Initiative Ogilvy & Mather North America CEO, chairman Partners Healthcare Penske Corporation Procter & Gamble. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Simmons College United Auto Group, Inc. United States Senate Ret. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. World Wildlife Fund | Jeffrey R. Immelt, James I. Cash, Jr., William Castell LVO, Dennis D. Dammerman, Ann M. Fudge, Claudio X. Gonzalez, Andrea Jung, A.G. Lafley, Rochelle B. Lazarus, Sam Nunn, Roger S. Penske, Robert J. Swieringa, Douglas A. Warner III, Robert C. Wright |
Walt DisneyTotal Current Assets 9,369,000 Total Assets 53,902,000 | Boeing Company California Health Care Foundation CB Richard Ellis, Inc. Northwest Airlines Corporation Clorox DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP Duke University Estée Lauder Companies Inc. FedEx Corporation Georgetown University Gillette Company Halliburton Co. ImpreMedia, LLC Inditex S.A. International Air Transport Association. KMart Holding Corporation Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,New York City McKesson Corporation. Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios Siemens Pyramid Staples Inc. SunAmerica Asset Management Corp. Sybase, Inc. Tenet Healthcare Corporation. The Keck School of Medicine, at USC United States Senator from 1980 to 1995 University of California University of Southern California Western Asset Yahoo!, Inc | |
Viacom | American Express Co. American International Group, Inc., Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Bear Stearns Companies Inc. Brandeis University Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Cardinal Health, Inc. CineBridge Ventures, Inc. Cohen Group Combined Jewish Philanthropies National Association of Theatre Owners Consolidated Edison, Inc. Dana Farber Cancer Institute DND Capital Partners, L.L.C European Fine Arts Foundation Gabelli Asset Management Head N.V. John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Lafarge North America Inc. Lourie & Cutler Midway Games Inc. MovieTickets.com, Inc Museum of Fine Arts in Boston National Amusements, Inc. National College of Probate Judges Oracle Corporation Popular Inc. Rising Star Media Sonesta International Hotels Corporation. Lourie & Cutler, P.C. United States House of Representatives 1973-1979 Willis Group Holdings Limited Winer and Abrams | Sumner M. Redstone, George S. Abrams, David R. Andelman, Joseph A. Califano, Jr., William S. Cohen, Philippe P. Dauman, Alan C. Greenberg, Charles E. Phillips, Shari Redstone, Frederic V. Salerno, William Schwartz, obert D. Walter |
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