Effects of Media Consolidation and Fragmentation: Closer to Home Than We Think In recent decades, both the media and the practice of journalism have changed dramatically. Two main factors that contributed to this evolution were digital fragmentation and media consolidation. By giving the general public access to post their opinions on social media and by merging businesses together to create larger corporations with a larger majority, we have all witnessed major social shifts in how we absorb information. Specifically, media consolidation and fragmentation can and have had negative effects on smaller communities and the general population in ways that revolve around information absorption, transparency, and The Walt Disney Company, originally split into Walt Disney Productions, ltd; Walt Disney Enterprises; Liled Real estate and investment company; and the Disney Film Recording Company (prior to official consolidation and name change to its current title of Walt Disney Company in 1986) (Walt Disney Archives) has consolidated since the company's success began and now owns over 100 radio stations, news and television networks, news companies, and many other forms of media and services. In 1998, ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross covered a story that focused on inadequate security and child abuse problems at Disney theme parks (Mifflin, 1998). When Ross was ordered to drop the story by Disney, they stated that it had nothing to do with the fact that Disney owns the ABC network (Turow, 2013). While it was insisted that ownership was not the reason the story was never aired, it is a serious conflict of interest and any other reason for shelving the story was never offered. It is situations like this that pose grave security concerns and suggest that media consolidation (and corporations that have mass ownership of our information sources) are unlikely to act in the best interests of their primary consumers, the general. Because of this ease of access, it has become more difficult for people to distinguish fact from opinion, journalism from entertainment, and real news from satirical or parody articles. I experienced this firsthand about a month ago when I published an article on Odyssey Online about the Wausau Center Mall, the shopping center in my hometown. I've written about things we could put in empty stores to "save" him since he's been in financial trouble for years. I suggested things like a Build-a-Trump workshop, a cinema that shows only Leonardo films, and a NASA center so they can restart missions to the Moon. When I shared my work I met several people online who weren't at all clear that it was a light joke: they thought I was serious and that the ideas I proposed were actually being studied. While this may not be a traditional example of fragmentation, it shows that people will believe everything they read online. Interestingly, most of the people who took my article seriously were over 40. This alone shows how transparency in the media is less important to older generations than to millennials and people just a generation before us. Another example of fragmentation I encountered comes from The Black Sheep, a satirical publication here