I was trying to find out who has a monopoly on Japan's media. Like the U.S media, which is owned by just 5 corporations, it seems the Yomiuri Shimbun group have a big say in what the Japanese public are told through newspapers and TV sets. At the top of the tree is the megalomaniac, Tsuneo Watanabe.
Who Soc'd It?
That said, the most powerful people in the world aren't the ones that you see pulling the strings. It's the people you don't see
As for media monopolies - we used to have it down pretty good in Australia - all our media was own adn manipulated by 2 families. Sure it was an issue but the 2 families hated each other so much that they were always making sure their own journalists were investigating anything the other guys were doing to manipulate things and reporting on it - so at least we were informed.
Unfortunately the patriarch of one of the families dies a few years ago and the son has shown more interest in casinos (and China) than in media and has started selling off his media interests... to the other family
At least I know that someone is under the thumb of a particular proprietor when I read it in their newspaper - I have no idea what biases the "citizen journalist" might have (though admittedly they are usually worse at hiding their bias since they don't have the training lol.)
All sides of the journalistic tree are needed - we just need to be an informed public able to take into account what is going on.
I know quite a few people back in the Old Country that would disagree with you on that note. That said, I'm not one of them. I agree that people should consider for themselves where the source is coming from, and what kind of biases the news provider has shown in the past. Unfortunately, this means that getting the news can be an incredibly time-consuming process -_-