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Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Organizations that provide news through mass media in the United States are collectively known as the news media in the United States.
Journalism in the United States began humbly and became a political force in the campaign for American independence. Following independence, the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press and freedom of speech. The American press grew rapidly following the American Revolution. The press became a key support element to the country's political parties, but also for organized religious institutions.
During the 19th century, newspapers began to expand and appear outside the cities of the Eastern United States. From the 1830s onward the penny press began to play a major role in American journalism. Technological advancements such as the telegraph and faster printing presses in the 1840s helped expand the press of the nation, as it experienced rapid economic and demographic growth.
By 1900, major newspapers had become profitable powerhouses of advocacy, muckraking and sensationalism, along with serious, and objective news-gathering. Starting in the 1920s, technological change again changed American journalism as radio and television began to play increasingly important roles.
In the late 20th century, much of American journalism merged into big media conglomerates (principally owned by media moguls like Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch). With the coming of digital journalism in the 21st Century, newspapers faced a business crisis as readers turned to the internet for news and advertisers followed them.The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is the primary non-profit television service, with 349 member public broadcasters. News and public affairs programs include PBS NewsHour , Frontline , and Washington Week . In September 2012, PBS rated 88% above CNN in public affairs programming, [1] placing it competitively with cable news outlets [2] but far behind private broadcasters ABC, CBS, and NBC. [3] Due to its local and non-profit nature, PBS does not produce 24-hour news, but some member stations carry MHz WorldView, NHK World, or World as a digital subchannel.
National Public Radio (NPR) is the primary non-profit radio service, offered by over 900 stations. Its news programming includes All Things Considered and Morning Edition .
PBS and NPR are funded primarily by member contributions and corporate underwriters, with a relatively small amount of government contributions. [4]
Other national public television program distributors include American Public Television and NETA. Distributors of radio programs include American Public Media, Pacifica Radio, Public Radio International, and Public Radio Exchange.
Public broadcasting in the United States also includes Community radio and College radio stations, which may offer local news programming.
The Fox Broadcasting Company, television and cable networks such as Fox, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Sports, and 27 local television stations.
Holdings include: the Wall Street Journal , the New York Post , Barron's , book publisher HarperCollins and numerous websites including MarketWatch. [5]
Holdings include: CNN, the CW (a joint venture with Paramount Global), HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, Warner Bros. Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema. [5]
Holdings include: MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Showtime, Paramount Home Entertainment [5] Viacom 18 is a joint venture with the Indian media company Global Broadcast news.
Holdings include: ABC Television Network, cable networks including ESPN, the Disney Channel, A&E, Lifetime, National Geographic Channel, FX, 227 radio stations, music and book publishing companies, production companies Touchstone, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, and the cellular service Disney Mobile. [5]
Holdings include: NBC, Telemundo, cable networks including USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC, along with 11 NBC-owned and operated stations.
| Name | Means of distribution | Main media type(s) | Founded/launched |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABC News | Television [6] ,online | News | 1945 |
| CBS News | Television, magazines, and radio | News | 1927 |
| CNN | Television, online | News, politics | 1980 |
| Fox News Channel | Television, online | News, politics | 1996 |
| MSNBC | Television,online | News, politics | 1996 |
| NBC News | Television, online | News | 1940 |
| The New York Times | Newspapers, online | News, sports | 1851 |
| USA Today | Newspapers, online | News | 1982 |
| The Wall Street Journal | Newspapers, online | News | 1889 |
| The Washington Post | Newspapers, online | News | 1877 |
| Politico | Online | News, politics | 2007 |
| Bloomberg | Online | World news | 1981 |
| Vice News | Online [7] | News | 2013 |
| HBO | Online, [8] television [9] | Entertainment | 1972 |
| HuffPost | Online | News | 2005 |
| TMZ | Online | Celebrity news | 2005 |
| CNET | Online | Tech news | 1994 |
| NPR | Radio, online | News | 1970 |
| The Hollywood Reporter | Magazines, online | Hollywood film | 1930 |
| Newsweek | Magazines, online | News | 1933 |
| The New Yorker | Magazines, online | News | 1925 |
| Time | Magazines, online | News | 1923 |
| U.S. News & World Report | Magazines, online | News | 1948 |
An important role which is often ascribed to the media is that of agenda-setter. Georgetown University professor Gary Wasserman describes this as "putting together an agenda of national priorities — what should be taken seriously, what lightly, what not at all". Wasserman calls this "the most important political function the media perform". [10] Agenda-setting theory was proposed by McCombs and Shaw in the 1970s and suggests that the public agenda is dictated by the media agenda.
In a commercialized media context, the media can often not afford to ignore an important issue which another television station, newspaper, or radio station is willing to pick up. The news media may be able to create new issues by reporting or they can obscure issues through negligence and distraction. For example, if neighborhoods are affected by high crime rates, or unemployment, journalists may not spend sufficient time reporting on potential solutions, or on systemic causes such as corruption and social exclusion, or on other related issues. They can reduce the direct awareness of the public of these problems. In some cases, the public can choose another news source, so it is in a news organization's commercial interest to try to find an agenda which corresponds as closely as possible to peoples' desires. They may not be entirely successful, but the agenda-setting potential of the media is considerably limited by the competition for viewers' interest, readers and listeners.
Different US news media sources tend to identify the same major stories in domestic politics, which may imply that the media are prioritizing issues according to a shared set of criteria.
One way in which the media could set the agenda is if it is in an area in which very few Americans have direct experience of the issues. This applies to foreign policy. When American military personnel are involved, the media needs to report because the personnel are related to the American public. The media is also likely to have an interest in reporting issues with major direct effects on American workers, such as major trade agreements with Mexico. In other cases, it is difficult to see how the media can be prevented[ clarification needed ] from setting the foreign policy agenda.
McKay lists as one of the three main distortions of information by the media "Placing high priority on American news to the detriment of foreign news. And when the US is engaged in military action abroad, this 'foreign news' crowds out other foreign news". [11]
American news media are more obsessed than ever with the horse-race aspects of the presidential campaign, according to a 2007 study. Coverage of the political campaigns have been less reflective on the issues that matter to voters, and instead have primarily focused on campaign tactics and strategy, according to a report conducted jointly by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, part of the Pew Research Center, and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Harvard University, which examined 1,742 stories that appeared from January through May 2007 in 48 news outlets. Almost two-thirds of all stories in US news media, including print, television, radio and online, focused on the political aspects of the campaign, while only one percent focused on the candidates' public records. Only 12 percent of stories seemed relevant to voters' decision-making; the rest were more about tactics and strategy. [12]
The proportion of horse-race stories has gotten worse over time. Horse-race coverage has accounted for 63 percent of reports this year (2007) compared with what the study said was about 55 percent in 2000 and 2004. "If American politics is changing," the study concluded, "the style and approach of the American press do not appear to be changing with it".
The study found that the US news media deprive the American public of what Americans say they want: voters are eager to know more about the candidates' positions on issues and their personal backgrounds, more about lesser-known candidates and more about debates. [12] Commentators have pointed out that when covering election campaigns news media often emphasize trivial facts about the candidates but more rarely provide the candidates' specific public stances on issues that matter to voters. [13]
The same approach can also apply to issue politics. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center coined the term "tactical framing" to describe news coverage that focuses on the question of how a policy proposal will affect the next election, rather than whether or not it is a good idea. Jamieson cites coverage of the Green New Deal as an example. [14] Research by Jameson has found the presence of tactically framed stories can make voters more cynical and less likely to remember substantive information. [15]
The original incarnation of News Corporation was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Prior to its split in 2013, it was the world's largest media company in terms of total assets and the world's fourth largest media group in terms of revenue, and News Corporation had become a media powerhouse since its inception, dominating the news, television, film, and print industries.
There are several types of mass media in the United States: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and web sites. The U.S. also has a strong music industry. New York City, Manhattan in particular, and to a lesser extent Los Angeles, are considered the epicenters of U.S. media.
The media of Canada is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse, and very regionalized. Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. As a result, the preservation of a distinctly Canadian culture is supported by federal government programs, laws, and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Concentration of media ownership, also known as media consolidation or media convergence, is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates increasing levels of consolidation, with many media industries already highly concentrated and dominated by a very small number of firms.
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, news channels etc.
A Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/talk/public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul, also known as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, in the state of Minnesota, United States of America, has two major general-interest newspapers. The region is currently ranked as the 15th largest television market in the United States. The market officially includes 59 counties of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and extends far to the north and west. The radio market in the Twin Cities is estimated to be slightly smaller, ranked 16th in the nation.
Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term for continuing coverage of events of broad interest to viewers, attracting accusations of sensationalism.
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network. A news broadcast may include material such as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, political commentary, expert opinions, editorial content, and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience. An individual news program is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors. A frequent inclusion is live or recorded interviews by field reporters.
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio, television and the World Wide Web. Such media disperse pictures, visual text and sounds.
New York City has been called the media capital of the world. The media of New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific television studios in the world. It is a major global center for the book, magazine, music, newspaper, and television industries.
Claims of media bias have increased in the United States as the two-party system has become more polarized, including claims of liberal and conservative bias. " The U.S. media has come under intense scrutiny, with analysts, politicians, and even journalists themselves accusing it of bias and sensationalism". These claims generally focus on the idea of media outlets skewing information, such as reporting news in a way that conflicts with standards of professional journalism, or promoting a political agenda through entertainment media, on bias in reporting to favor the corporate owners, and on mainstream bias, a tendency of the media to focus on certain "hot" stories and ignore news of more substance. As "Americans’ concerns about media bias deepen, even as they see it as vital for democracy." A variety of watchdog groups attempt to combat bias by fact-checking biased reporting and also unfounded claims of bias. Researchers in a variety of scholarly disciplines study media bias.
Civic journalism is the idea of integrating journalism into the democratic process. The media not only informs the public, but it also works towards engaging citizens and creating public debate. The civic journalism movement is an attempt to abandon the notion that journalists and their audiences are spectators in political and social processes. In its place, the civic journalism movement seeks to treat readers and community members as participants.
The politico-media complex is a name given to the network of relationships between a state's political and ruling classes and its media industry. It may also encompass other interest groups, such as law, corporations and multinationals. The term PMC is used as a pejorative, to refer to the collusion between governments, individual politicians, and the media industry.
This article gives an overview of the media in Washington, D.C., United States. As the country's capital city, Washington has a heavy and historic media presence. Numerous of the country's main news outlets have either their headquarters in the Washington area or major offices in the area. Additionally, numerous local media organizations as well as international news companies have Washington correspondents that cover American political, cultural, and diplomatic news from the city.
Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. News is sometimes called "hard news" to differentiate it from soft media.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Crystal City, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programs to public television stations in the United States, distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Masterpiece, Sesame Street, and This Old House.
Mass media and American politics covers the role of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and social media from the colonial era to the present.
Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President — What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know is the sixteenth book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, published in October 2018 by Oxford University Press. The book concludes that Russia very likely delivered Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
