When the voices of our information come from fewer sources, the competition becomes degraded and the market for information shrinks.  The control over the media sources that we consume is not something to write home about.  In fact it is downright discouraging and dangerous for a free society to even tolerate.  But look around us, we allow our government to have more and more control, we allow our representatives to do what their constituents do not want them to do in the name of fear, or terror, or some other ridiculous reason.  I’m not quite sure just where we are headed, but at the rate we are traveling as a country, I’m thinking that the consequences of our behaviors will end us as the nation we were once known for…..Freedom!  Just where do you get your information from?

Estimates of consolidation over the last several decades has decreased down to the control of 6 major sources.  That’s consolidated from 50 companies back in 1983.

NOTE: This infographic is from last year and is missing some key transactions. GE does not own NBC (or Comcast or any media) anymore. So that 6th company is now Comcast. And Time Warner doesn’t own AOL, so Huffington Post isn’t affiliated with them.

But the fact that a few companies own everything demonstrates “the illusion of choice,” Frugal Dad says. While some big sites, like Digg and Reddit aren’t owned by any of the corporations, Time Warner owns news sites read by millions of Americans every year.

This infographic created by Jason at Frugal Dad shows that almost all media comes from the same six sources.