Presented in partnership with MintPress News. Video missing? Click here.

MINNEAPOLIS — Whether it’s current events or ancient history, the media is our lens for learning about the world around us.

But never has this lens been more narrow, sensational, manipulative, and extreme than it is today.

The establishment media went from being owned by over 50 corporations in the 1980s to just six by 2001. These six corporations — General Electric, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS — control over 90 percent of what Americans see, hear and read.

And it begs the question why stories like ISIS, Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons, Donald Trump’s racist rants and raves, and cute cat videos choke up the airwaves while other real important stories completely go under the radar.

Like: the war on whistleblowers, NATO and the US military aggressively expanding their military presence surrounding Russia and China, the acidification of our oceans, Big Ag’s genocide of the bees, government violations of our Constitution, and possibly one of the most important stories: that over 60 percent of the world’s wealth is now in the hands of the 1% elite.

Through this process of media consolidation and corporate ownership, the entities the press is meant to hold accountable became the owners of that media.

These media corporations spend billions to craft stories that distract, fear monger, entertain and propagandize rather than inform.

They’ve effectively turned the media into a lapdog for those in power, dulling the teeth of the watchdog the First Amendment was written to protect.