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Mass media in the United States

This article is about all forms of mass media. For news media, see News media in the United States.
"American Media" redirects here. For the publishing company also known as American Media, see A360media.

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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.

Many media entities are controlled by large for-profit corporations who reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and sale of copyrighted material. American media conglomerates tend to be leading global players, generating large revenues as well as large opposition in many parts of the world. With the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, further deregulation and convergence are under way, leading to mega-mergers, further concentration of media ownership, and the emergence of multinational media conglomerates. These mergers enable tighter control of information.[1] Currently, a handful of corporations control the vast majority of both digital and legacy media.[2][3][4] Critics allege that localism, local news and other content at the community level, media spending and coverage of news, and diversity of ownership and views have suffered as a result of these processes of media concentration.[5]

Theories to explain the success of such companies include reliance on certain policies of the American federal government or a tendency to natural monopolies in the industry, with a corporate media bias.

The organization Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. In 2023–24, United States was ranked 55th out of 180 countries (a drop of ten places from the previous year) and was given a "problematic" rating.[6] A 2022 Gallup poll showed that only 11% of Americans trust television news and 16% trust newspapers.[7] On the future of Spanish-language media in the U.S., Alberto Avendaño, ex-director of El Tiempo Latino/Washington Post, claimed that "Hispanic-American" news coverage in the English-language media is "absolutely pathetic," but he was optimistic, arguing that demographic shifts would inevitably render the Latino media a significant presence in the context of American media.

According to a May 2023 AP-NORC poll, 74% of respondents said the media is to blame for increased political polarization in the United States.[8]

  1. ^ Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005. p. 671 ISBN 0060838655
  2. ^ Higdon, Nolan; Huff, Mickey (2022). Let's Agree to Disagree: A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management, and Critical Media Literacy. Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 978-1032168982.
  3. ^ These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America. Business Insider. June 14, 2012.
  4. ^ Frances Goldin, Debby Smith, Michael Smith (2014). Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0062305573 p. 189:
    • "Twenty years ago, thirty corporations controlled 90 percent of the media. Today, it is a grand total of six mega-corporations – Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, CBS and Comcast. Besides accumulating their own profits, the media are daily trumpets for the rest of the corporate world's advertising."
  5. ^ Converging Media, Diverging Politics: A Political Economy of News Media in the United States and Canada. Edited by David Skinner, James R. Compton, and Michael Gasher, Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. Robert William Jensen, review essay of "Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times," published in The Texas Observer, September 17, 1999, archived here Archived December 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "United States | RSF". rsf.org. November 6, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  7. ^ Brenan, Megan (July 18, 2022). "Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows". Gallup. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  8. ^ Klepper, David (May 1, 2023). "Americans fault news media for dividing nation: AP-NORC poll". Associated Press. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
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