by Mary Szterpakiewicz
Barnes & Noble is proposing to acquire Ingram Book Company, the largest wholesale distributor of books in the world. Ingram serves more than 32,000 retail outlets and represents more than 12,000 publishers. Ingram distributes more than 115 million books, audio cassettes and multimedia CD-ROMs each year to customers around the world.If a merger between Barnes & Noble and Ingram is allowed, the largest controller of print media in Europe would also own both retail and distribution in the United States. Bertelsmann AG, a German company, is Europe's largest media mogul and the #3 media company in the world behind Time Warner and the Walt Disney Company. According to "The Industry Standard" company capsule, Bertelsmann has interests in more than 600 companies in more than 50 countries, including ownership interest in Random House Publishing, America Online (AOL), European TV, radio, magazine and newspaper publishing, and a 50% ownership in BarnesandNoble.com. Reinhard Mohn, a descendant of founder Carl Bertelsmann, has nearly a 90% controlling interest of the company, giving Mohn a prevailing interest and control of the book world.
Why should this be of concern to you the consumer? It means that Barnes & Noble would control not only what appears on retail shelves and its Internet web site, but also what gets distributed to all other retail outlets. Only a free market where competitors can freely publish, distribute and sell books, will individuals have free access to all available information.
What can you do to insure a free market for books and publications?
Think again before you shop for books at your favorite retail outlet or online bookseller. We urge freethinkers and freedom lovers to shop around before purchasing books and tapes and seek out alternative books shops and independent online booksellers such as Banned Books for titles you would not normally find at a big "chain" store.
When control of a media rests in the hands of one man or a few men, it inherently creates a position and opportunity for the use of power. Remember Lord Acton's words: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."