The Preamble

The Preamble

A Handful of Families Control the News

As media ownership shrinks, government influence grows

Kathleen Grathwol's avatar
Kathleen Grathwol
Jun 15, 2026
∙ Paid

Is American press freedom in a crisis that threatens our democracy itself? A strong case can be made that the answer is yes.

Murdoch, Ellison, Bloomberg, Redstone, Roberts, Smith, Hearst — if these names sound familiar, it’s no coincidence. These families, along with a handful of tech billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, con…

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Kathleen Grathwol's avatar
A guest post by
Kathleen Grathwol
Former college English professor, last at Howard University, Kathleen Grathwol lives in the DC metro area and now writes full-time. She is working on a memoir based on her experience as a child of losing her 3-year-old brother to a rattlesnake bite.
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