It’s a strawman because GP wasn’t commenting on whether or not there is a technical way of reaching the public, but rather that media consolidation hurts the public. Those are orthogonal issues.
It’s not orthogonal, consolidation of media is only important if it keeps people’s messages from getting distributed broadly. Is that really a problem in 2023?
The “media” - ie ways to reach people is less consolidated now than any time in history.
I can invent a new protocol and app right now thats 100x easier to publish on and access. No one is using yet, is the harm of propaganda stories in corporate media lessened in any way by the fact of that tools availability? No
Yes, that doesn’t mean the corporate media doesn’t have a huge amount of influence due to their consolidation. Technical ability to communicate is not the only factor in power of reach. I’m not sure how else to explain it.
Right because in the good old days, people weren’t propagandized to think it was dangerous for Black and White people to drink from the same water fountain or go to the same school, that gay people should go to jail (“anti-sodomy laws”) and that it’s a sin against God to allow interracial marriages (laws against miscegenation).