First, I did not "accuse" you of being a Clinton fan. It just appeared to me that you considered M. Powell to be a Bush lackey. As such, I thought the fact that he had been appointed by Clinton to be appropos.
Second, undoubtedly influence and money open doors for individuals. Whether or not the individual takes advantage of them is a different thing. I simply have not read over M. Powell's stuff to intellligently discuss the soundness, or lack thereof, of his positions. It does seem, though, that your criticisms of M. Powell, e.g. that he has led a "pathetic life" and that "everything he did he got via Daddy", seem exceptionally personal and harsh condemnations of man whom, I assume, you have never met.
I just did a quick search, here is a link which seems to indicate that M. Powell is not simply a hack towing the party, or anybody's, line:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2078879/. If you have an article with a counterpoint, I would (really, just to be sure to get both sides) like to read it.
Finally, I really was just ribbing you about the conglomerates stuff. But, oh please. Barring a complete takeover by the government of all media outlets, TV stations are not going out of business regardless of the restrictions placed on their content. First, they would simply find some mindless inoffensive pap to fill in the space between their commercials and someone would watch. Second, by the nature of the licensing restrictions, the demand for any properly licensed TV station well outstrips the supply of hte same. Even if a corporation couldnt air certain content or get a wide range of sponsors, it would still use the station as a loss leader - taking a loss in one part of its corporate structure to offset the tax liabilities created by its other more successful companies.