Mass Media

The United States is sometimes called a media state, a society in which access to power is through the media. The print and broadcasting media not only convey information to the public, but also influence public opinion.

Newspapers and magazines have always reached large audiences. Today, more than 11,000 different periodicals are published as either weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or semiannual editions. More than 62 million copies of daily newspapers are printed every day and over 58 million copies are published every week.

Surveys show that most suburban readers prefer to get “serious” news from television and tend to read newspapers primarily for comics, sports, fashions, crime reports, and local news.

The U.S. has never had a national press or newspaper with a mass national circulation like, e.g., The Times and The Daily Telegraph in Britain. However, the influence of a few large metropolitan newspapers, most notably The New York Times and the Washington Post, has increased so that these papers come close to constituting a national press. Both papers syndicate (or reproduce) their staff-written stories to regional newspapers all over the country.

USA Today, launched in 1982, is the first attempt at a serious national daily paper of general interest, with a base in Washington but printed also in other centers, using the latest technologies.

The Wall Street Journal is widely read by people engaged in business and has a circulation of about over 1.5 million copies.

Most newspapers rely heavily on wire copy from the two major news services, the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI), which gather national and international news stories and sell them to subscribing newspapers. The stars of American journalism can build up reputations which make them better known than most members of the Cabinet – and such people have real influence. These stars are not all political. Some deal with football, baseball or other things which interest people.

It is interesting, that most American newspapers are sold within a geographically restricted market and concentrate on affairs that are of interest to their local readers. But it does not mean that newspapers are insubstantial. They have far more pages than their equivalents in other countries, and some Sunday editions have over 2000 pages, including many supplements.

Three genuinely “national” weekly journals of information and opinion, U.S. News, Newsweek and Time, are important throughout America and indeed all over the world. Even so, the American section of the London Economist often gives a more satisfying account of American events that any of these.

Media operations have become concentrated in the hands of just a few publishers and corporations. 97% of the cities carrying daily papers have but a single publisher. They are called “one-owner-towns”. Moreover, more and more of the remaining newspapers are under chain or group control. Chain publishers own newspapers all over the country. With total circulation of over 22 million, chain comprise more than one third of the total daily newspapers circulation in the US.

The principles of journalism are respected, such as separation of information from comment, and an insistence that views must be fairly stated without intention to mislead.

In the USA there is a device called presidential press conference, when the journalists attending them act as representatives of the American public entrusted with the task of conveying information. But the American journalists’ public responsibility goes beyond the reporting of political facts, beyond even comment on the facts. Investigative journalism is best illustrated in the Watergate affair.

The mass media in the United States claim explicit recognition of their right to be free from government control and censorship. The First Amendment to the Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom… of the press”.

Radio and television. Theoretically, anyone in the USA can start a newspaper or magazine, but to become a radio or television broadcaster one must be granted a portion of the limited radio-television spectrum by the government’s licensing board, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). For the most part, the American broadcasting system has always been a commercial system. It is supported by money from businesses through TV and radio commercials. Advertising messages are usually presented as 15, 30, or 60-second commercial announcements before, during, and after programs.

There is also noncommercial public broadcasting for radio and television. The funding for public broadcasting comes primarily from congressional appropriations, grants from foundations, and contributions from viewers. The programs, often educational or cultural, appeal to a highly selective audience.

Most radio stations offer listeners a variety of music programs, including country-western, pop music, classical music, and jazz. Other stations feature news, talk interviews and discussions, and religious programs exclusively.

Most commercial television stations are affiliated with one of the three major networks, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting Service), and NBC (National Broadcasting Company). Networks are essentially program distribution companies. A network buys programs from independent television production companies, most of which are located in Hollywood, and distributes these programs across the country to television stations that are affiliated with the network. The network is paid by advertisers to insert commercial announcements on the programs that network buys. The networks compete with each other for viewers and are intent on choosing programs that will win high audience ratings. Programs that aim at mass entertainment are preferred over educational and news programs. Evening news programs and other news shows are often criticized for concerning themselves with entertainment. Critics charge that network often emphasize the personalities of newscasters at the expense of issues of public importance.

About 35 million American are subscribed to cable television. They pay a monthly fee of approximately $17.00 for greater selection of programs. Cable companies can program 40 different channels, providing viewers with many specialized programs such as Hollywood musicals, local theater productions, and recent film releases.

Satellite TV was originally designed to offer a greater selection of programs to people in rural areas that could not easily be connected to the cable system. It now provides anybody who is ready to have a satellite dish installed in his or her backyard with the same programming as cable TV.