New media owners, same old problems.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe

There is some legitimate concern involving the current worries that the latest round of mass media mergers may result in network news-gathering organizations being compromised and pressured to advance their corporate bosses' interests. But one thing to remember is that the concept of a free American press always has coexisted with the unpleasant reality that the boss was always right, no matter how wrong he or she might be.

Newspaper and magazine reporters and editors have been quoted throughout the years complaining about stories not printed or revised dramatically. Time magazine rewrites were legendary, forcing many of its reporters to quit in a rage after seeing their articles twisted into a story more amenable to Henry Luce's philosophy.

Although most of the day-in-and-day-out stories weren't influenced by the owners, any controversial one or any story dealing with a pet concern of the owner (and editors knew their bosses' interests intimately or they didn't last long) was handled very, very carefully. Self-censorship on the owner's behalf was commonplace. This protective state of affairs was so oppressive that most of the time the boss didn't even know the story had been considered.

Television hasn't fared much better. The famous men who pioneered network news turned out to be just as sensitive to stories involving their interests as any newspaper or magazine owner. Stories involving Washington were always carefully watched. Network owners worried about the Federal Communications Commission and the politicians who controlled the FCC and did whatever was necessary to make sure the news operations either ignored such stories or treated them tactfully.

So, while concern that the integrity of independent newsgathering organizations will be compromised may be real, it certainly is not new. Media analysts are correct in worrying about the concentration of economic power and the control of information by fewer and larger owners. But Disney owning ABC is no more worrisome, and probably less so, than General Electric owning NBC or past compromises involving William Randolph Hearst's newspaper empire or Henry Luce's Time magazine.

There are two major problems involved here. The least important is the punishment directed toward anyone with views diametrically opposed to the owners involved. When Orson Welles was accused of providing a devastating portrait of a newspaper tycoon's mistress in "Citizen Kane," Hearst responded with vicious attacks on...