The Changing Role of the U.S. News Media The internet is our modern source for news media; the importance of the newspaper has not only declined, it is in a sense, obsolete. We now turn to the internet for opinions, news, and entertainment. Even though the way in which we consume information (PBS) has changed, the importance of an unrestricted and watchful media has not changed. (Magleby, Light, & Nemacheck, 2010) The Framers of our constitution were well aware of the importance of the press as a judge to discuss the implications and review the actions of politicians and the government. Although the Bill of Rights guaranteed the freedom of the press, in the beginning adequate funding was only provided by wealthy politicians. The press was financed through goals of politicians, in order to get their word out to the voting masses (white men who owned property); around the same time Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson looked to keep voters informed through a means of publishing and circulating pamphlets. Hamilton recruited John Fenno and Jefferson employed Phillip Freneau to edit and publish these newspapers, and as a result, began the partisan divided competition between news sources. These funding-by-politicians also limited journalistic independence. Financial Independence was obtained when the right to vote was extended to all white men. With independence from political party influence, the news changed; Rather than targeting the few elite, the press sought to appeal to the mass of people. Literacy rates began to rise, as did the rates of political participation; another game changer included the way newspapers were financed. The “Penny Press” method allowed for the spread of information to be wider than ever. This method al... ... middle of paper ... ...ver over powers the minorities. Works Cited (2010). The Changing Role of the U.S. News Media. In D. B. Magleby, P. C. Light, & C. L. Nemacheck, Government By the People, 2011 National Edition (pp. 274-295). Longman Pub Group. McNamara, R. (n.d.). Penny Press. Retrieved from 19th Century History: http://history1800s.about.com/od/1800sglossary/fl/Penny-Press-definition.htm PBS. (n.d.). Yellow Journalism. Retrieved from Crusible of Empire: http://www.pbs.org/crucible/frames/_journalism.html PewResearch. (2012, September 27). IN CHANGING NEWS LANDSCAPE, EVEN TELEVISION IS VULNERABLE. Retrieved from PewResearch Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/section-1-watching-reading-and-listening-to-the-news-3/ watergate.info. (n.d.). Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon. Retrieved from Watergate.info: http://watergate.info/
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Media finds its central role in the democratic debate in providing information, analysis, and a diversity of perspectives to the public. In recent years, with what is known as a media revolution, the amount of telecommunication outlets has increased dramatically. Often called “a product of healthy market competition,” the media revolution has theoretically expanded the public’s access to a multitude of facts, opinions, and general information (Miroff, et al. 2015). However, with a
News outlets within the United States have always formed an agenda to persuade the people to formulate their decision between the two political party systems. This essay will examine how the Federalist Papers helped shape this nation and give reason as to why this nation needed a strong federal government. Also, comparing the “agenda setting” of our earliest construction of this nation and how the news of today uses “gotcha” journalism to move the public to support the democratic process or even go against the government. News throughout the United States history has used political and economic means to move the society to achieve the elitist agenda. For instance the Federalist Papers were used to give the public a raising concern why the Articles of Confederation was failing and the need for the ratification of the United States Constitution. Today the news industries are owned by corporations that seek a rightist or leftist view and move the people to one of these views to achieve their own interest. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the overall agenda of the news to persuade the public to achieve the corporations or politicians agendas.
...ation and framing issues in a certain manner; the media may certainly effect the opinion of the American people; thus effecting the lens of which is given to the people and not allowing them to see the true issues that arises within the government. The news media constantly want to create controversy, and create a frenzy; this interludes how the people may elect public officials which in turn help create public policy; and public policy contributes to the United States Democracy.
The news is now filled with personal problems and insignificant little stories. It has transformed from making truths aware, even if they are bad, to nurturing and protecting against problems. The founding fathers are turning in their graves. This is exactly what they were fighting against, censorship and control laying with a few not the people. The Internet has formed a revolution in the way we obtain and interpret information. There is not a corporation or political influence, in most cases, and awareness about issues can be done cheaply and inexpensive without the censorship of the FCC or other organizations. We should have a new Constitution stating: separation between church, state, media (news), big business, and politics.
The 21st century marks the crisis of journalism as the rise of social media and the oversaturation of news outlets for consumers has caused a steady decrease in viewership, especially in younger viewers, as well as the inevitable death of the traditional newspaper. According to Geoffrey Baym, the public has become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of news mediums as the lines between news (public) and business interests are being increasingly blurred. This is due to major news network like NBC, CBS, or ABC turning their news programs into “infotainment”. The emphasis of these news programs are on entertainment rather than reporting on traditional current events and politics. Although traditional journalism is coming to a close, alternative methods of journalism have emerged. One such example is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. While the main objective of the show is to entertain, increasingly more people are gathering their information about current events from satirical news programs like The Daily Show and late-night talk shows. The Daily Show establishes itself as a credible, alternative source of journalism by using satire to question figures of authority, critique current events by use of parody, and create a forum for discussion of subjects related to democracy.
McCartney, J. (1997). News lite. In B. Levy & D.M. Bonilla (Eds.), The power of the press (pp. 44-54). New York: The H.W. Wilson Company.
The Hidden Relationship Between Government and Media Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structures, have always been dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally exploits the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality.
In order to understand new media, one must first have a solid background of the old media. The old media traces its origins back to the “elite or partisan press [that] dominated American journalism in the early days of the republic” (Davis 29). With the advent of the penny press around 1833, the press changed its basic purpose and function from obtaining voters for its affiliated political party to making profit (Davis 29). With more available papers, individual companies competed with each other with “muckraking journalism”—investigative journalism exposing corruption—and “yellow journalism”—sensationalist journalism that completely disregarded the facts (Davis 30). The press continued to evolve its journalistic approaches and next shifted to “lapdog journalism,” r...
As time has gone on political parties have begun to be less influential compared to what they once were, and media has become more and more dominant. While media has become more important, separate sources of information have begun to focus on different topics, or reporting more about one subject as compared to another. Certain news sources focus more on entertainment, some focus on global issues, and others focus on politics in the United States. From looking at different media outlets it is visible that different forms of news focus on different stories and headlines, and they present it in all different ways.
Journalism has a particularly interesting influence on crime and the justice system, which first began in the early to mid 1800’s (Feldstein). Urbanization had a big impact on the development of journalism, as it allowed for the wide distribution of newspapers. However, the penny press essentially created the ethical issues concerning serial killers and media contact (Feldstein). The penny press first started in 1833 with Day’s launch of The New York Sun. Because the newspaper cost one cent instead of six, it targeted an entirely different au...
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.
It’s a question that keeps floating around in the public sphere: is print advertising and newspapers dead? The world is becoming more and more fast-paced and although, our want and need for the up-to-date news and breaking stories has not changed, the way in which we consume it has. This background report investigates and explains the downfall of the newspaper and the technological shift to online news. It will also discuss differing opinions of this relevant topic of the future of journalism from a range of reliable primary sources and investigative data.
... relies is its audience—without an audience there would be no purpose in broadcasting news and information. The symbiotic relationship between the press and its audience is continually changing. Today, with the development of technology at an almost exponential rate, the media is having a continually increasing presence in daily life. Information is now available immediately almost anywhere, to the point where it is actually difficult to escape it’s influence. Advertising and social media plague almost every form of technology available. Though these state of the art advancements in technology make communication as simple as a click of a button, the true effects on society are yet to be seen. The beginnings of mass media from the 1930s to the 1960s ultimately formed the foundation for modern media, which will undoubtedly have profound effects for much time to come.
In our presentation, we talked about how sensationalized journalism attacks our baser instincts such as fear and sometimes love. Airplane crashes were taken as an example. In addition to this, Ebola and its influence on western media was also talked about. We led to a conclusion that exaggerated media coverage leads people to become fearful and vulnerable at levels that are far disproportionate to the actual risk. This further causes panic and negative beliefs among the common folk. In our opinion, Media channels should, for once, look beyond ratings and TRPs and concentrate on delivering quality