By Betsey Piette
December 15, 2025

In pre-revolutionary France, when nobility ruled and the bourgeois class was struggling for power, the term “fourth estate” was applied to the press, deemed watchdogs over the clergy, nobility and commoners — the first, second and third estates. The more modern interpretation of the media’s role still places them separate and aloof from governments, businesses and workers.

But under late-stage capitalism, the media has become completely corporatized, monopolized and controlled by a small number of superrich capitalists. Any idea that corporate media plays a watchdog role today, other than to keep the workers oppressed, is fading fast.

According to the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life (CITAP) there has been a drastic decline in media outlets since 2005. Nearly 3,500 local newspapers have gone out of business. Jobs for journalists working in print media have declined by 71% in the last two decades.

The internet and social media have altered news consumption, while downgrading the quality of journalism. Meanwhile, large investment firms have purchased struggling papers, often resulting in staff cuts or closures, according to LocalNewsInitiative.Northwestern.edu.

Now, in the last stage of a dying capitalist system, the intense monopolization of media has placed control over what people know and how they should think into fewer and fewer hands. Corporate media is consciously moving in a right-wing direction, with a major shift against diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Ellison media spending spree

In his article “The seven richest billionaires are all media barons,” Alan MacLeod lays out the details of this media monopoly. (MintPress News, Nov. 26)

CIA contractor Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man and a close friend of both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been on a media spending spree. In August, he provided funds for his son, David Ellison, to purchase Paramount Global, which controls CBS, BET, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Paramount Streaming and Showtime. Upon his appointment as CEO of CBS News, David Ellison reoriented the network’s political outlook, fired staff and pushed CBS to become more pro-Trump. In October he made known Zionist fanatic Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News.

In September, Trump signed an executive order designed to force through the sale of TikTok to a consortium led by Larry Ellison’s tech company, Oracle. Should the sale proceed, it would give the Ellisons control over the news and entertainment platform used by over 60% of people under 30. But not satisfied, Larry Ellison is now leading a hostile takeover bid against Netflix for CNN’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.

The other billionaire media barons

Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, purchased Twitter in 2022 for around $44 billion, renamed it X and quickly used the platform to spread misinformation that advanced his far-right agenda. Musk also owns the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, known to generate more conservative responses to users’ inquiries.

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and began firing anti-establishment writers and hiring pro-war columnists. In 2014, Amazon paid around $1 billion to purchase Twitch, a streaming platform that hosts around 7 million broadcasters. Bezos also owns the movie studio MGM and the audiobook platform Audible.

French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the world’s seventh-richest man, owns a media empire that includes daily newspapers Le Parisien and Les Echoes, magazines Paris Match and Challenges and Radio Classique. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google co-founders, are collectively worth over a half trillion dollars. Google is a major player in social media, purchasing YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. Mark Zuckerberg made $203 billion through social media and tech ventures like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

MacLeod also described how some of these rich individuals have profited from contracts with the capitalist state. The Department of Defense gave Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle a $9 billion cloud- computing contract in 2022. Bezos signed a $600 million contract with the CIA in 2014.

Federal regulations have failed to stop mergers and acquisitions, leading to more intense monopolization. Workers’ jobs are being eliminated, wages reduced and working conditions worsened. The working class needs to fight back against the elimination of diversity and the shift of political content to the right. We need to promote media like The international Action Center that defends and uplifts international working-class struggles!