out of the general budget" Benjamin Compaine Benjamin Compaine believes that the current media system is "one of the most competitive major industries in U.S. commerce." He believes that much of the media in the United States is operating in the same market. He also believes that all the content is being interchanged between different media. Compaine believes that due to convergence, two or more things coming together, the media has been saved. Because of the ease of access to send the same message across multiple and different mediums, the message is more likely to be heard. He also believes that due to the higher amount of capital and funding, the media outlets are able to stay competitive because they are trying to reach more listeners or readers by using newer media. Benjamin Compaine's main argument is that the consolidation of media outlets, across multiple ownerships, has allowed for a better quality of content. He also stated that the news is interchangeable, and as such, making the media market less concentrated than previously thought, the idea being that since the same story is being pushed across multiple different platforms, then it can only be counted as one news story from multiple sources. Compaine also believed the news is more readily available, making it far easier for individuals to access than traditional methods. American public distrust in the media A 2012 Gallup poll found that Americans' distrust in the mass media had hit a new high, with 60% saying they had little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. Distrust had increased since the previous few years, when Americans were already more negative about the media than they had been in the years before 2004. Music industry Critics of media consolidation in broadcast radio say it has made the music played more homogeneous, and makes it more difficult for acts to gain local popularity. They also believe it has reduced the demographic diversity of popular music, pointing to a study which found representation of women in country music charts at 11.3% from 2000 to 2018. Critics cite centralized control as having increased artist self-censorship, and several incidents of artists being banned from a large number of broadcast stations all at once. After the controversy caused by criticism of President George W. Bush and the Iraq War by a member of the Dixie Chicks,