A member of the conservative Murdoch family looks to step into leftist media

For decades now, media consolidation has been on the rise, and as of April 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says about 90% of American media is owned by 50 companies.

Today, six corporations comprise almost all American media: Comcast, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Skydance, Sony and Amazon. But that number may drop to five, pending the Justice Department’s approval of a deal between Paramount and WBD.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. And it’s not just national news.

Local news stations are seeing consolidations as well, most recently with the Tegna-Nexstar merger. The FCC approved that deal in March, allowing one company to now cover 80% of U.S. TV-watching households.

CPJ says that with these corporations and investors purchasing news media organizations comes a threat to press freedoms, noting many have signaled a willingness to comply editorially with U.S. politicians.  It says media consolidation “is a threat to democracy that puts press freedom at the mercy of fewer and vastly wealthier owners whose fortunes may depend on government laws and support.”