Bernard Lietaer - The future of money

'As a result, charging-for-advertising gives every incentive to broadcast what a mass audience would tolerate. It gives no incentive to broadcast what a niche would love.'

Education Inc. After graduating from commercial TV kindergarten, Education Inc. could very well become the future of schooling, all the way to the most prestigious universities. 'This is the future: universities will have to become entrepreneurs, working with corporations on curriculum and other matters or they will die' was the conclusion of Del Weber, chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha,'2' after First Data Resources built an engineering school on his campus designed specifically for the needs of that corporation. Is this corporatization of the university yet another step in the direction that so many other aspects of society are already moving (see sidebar)?

There are indications that many people are becoming more aware of the risks of the Corporate Millennium. A few examples follow: Media credibility The credibility of the media in general has dropped to a historic low: a 1997 Harris Poll finds only 18% of the US public still have confidence in TV news, and 12% in the press. This percentage has shown a steady decline; the corresponding numbers in 1990 were respectively 27% and 18%. Another poll showed that in 1985, 84% of Americans felt their newspaper did a good job of being fair; by 1996 that number had fallen to 47%. In 1985, 55% of Americans believed that news organisations' got their facts right'. By 1997 that number had declined to 37%. It has become a practice for many magazines to submit articles for prior review by the advertisers. The Los Angeles Times has even reorganised its management structure in order to maximise advertiser-editor co-operation.