Who decides what is news and what is not news?
Eduardo De Jesus Hernandez Herrera Senior, Political Science
“In fulfillment of course requirements, PS 426/526 Politics of the News Portland State University, June 01, 2008�
Abstract The following research includes: a) A description of the theory behind news coverage in a democratic society, b) The function of the media in a democratic society c) Commercial interests pressuring the media’s function of providing unbiased news coverage, c) A case analysis in which the following actors are involved 1) Mass Media 2) Big corporations 3) A variety of news networks owned by the same entity 4) Journalists fighting for a honest news coverage against a big corporation 5) The judicial branch of the United States 6) The United States agency FDA, responsible for creation and executions of political policies of human health. The purpose of analyzing a concrete case is to test the rationality behind the theory that states that the Mass Media cannot perform its moral obligation and social function of informing the public in an impartial way due to its commercial role and nature in the market place.
Introduction
In democratic societies the role of the media is to keep the public informed in order to promote political participation, social integration, transparency of governmental acts, awareness of public needs, political action in public policies and social justice. If the Media performs a biased role informing the public, society will have an inaccurate perspective of the reality. Public policies cannot be performed if the public does not know real issues that threaten democracy. The Mass media needs to be one of the most honest and trustable sources of information in a democratic society. If there is a concentration of power and monopoly of information and news coverage, public opinion can be easily controlled and manipulated, public policies can be shaped, public consent can be addressed to satisfy the needs and demands of the powerful elite that decides what’s news and what is not news. The following research presents democratic doctrine of mass media and real case analysis that shows that our economic system needs to be challenged and addressed in order to follow those principles in which a democratic society was founded.
Thesis Statement and Literature Review
The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public informed. The Mass media works with financial resources earned by advertisements paid by big corporations such as Wal-Mart stores, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, General Motors and so forth. The Mass media as a business needs to have profits in order to function. The Mass Media is constrained and pressured by the economic system showing positive news coverage supporting big corporations. Big businesses are the main entities that provide financial sources to the Mass Media by buying advertisements. If the Mass Media presents news that damage the image of its clients (big businesses) the Mass Media might lose the companies that pay for advertisements. Big business will not pay for advertisements from those companies that present a bad image of them. The Mass Media needs to be biased in favor of big companies in order to be competitive, keep their main source of finances and keep its business going. Walter Lippman states that Democracy can not rely on newspapers at all. In Newspapers he states that newspapers have no objective standards on choosing what news need to be shown to the public. The main priority of a newspaper is to keep the reader engaged and entertained for a certain amount of time rather than educate or inform. In our economic competitive market the newspaper that keeps the reader more
engaged is the most successful newspaper. Walter Lippman states that news and truth are not the same thing. The function of the truth is to signal an event and the function of the truth is to bring to light hidden facts. Linda L. Putman in News coverage of environmental issues explains how the media establishes the framing in which conflicts are conducted. She collects data from a variety of conflicts using the NEWSBANK database, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and contributions from stakeholders interviewed in this study. Her work illustrates that the media needs societal conflict to function and it profits from the continuation of the conflict and how the media forms images of the nature of the dispute. Michaels in Why democracies need an unlovable press states that journalists are constrained in professional culture, dependent on official sources narrowing public discussion and diminishing democracy. Therefore the people who make the news and the audience who reads and watches news are middle upper class individuals. There is stratification in the ways in which news are delivered to the public. The Mass Media tries to reach clients that have enough financial resources. Those clients are the ones who have the economic capacity of buying products that the Mass Media shows in its advertisements and commercials. Therefore, the Mass Media is not interested in directing its news coverage to the lower economic class. There is a biases way of conducting news coverage. Everett M. Rogers and James W. Dearing's work of Agenda-Setting Research: Where has it been, where is it going? is focused on how different interests play an important role setting the media agenda, the influence of the media on perceptions and
attitudes towards the public, and what issues politicians need to address in relation with public opinion. It explains the importance of distinguishing an issue from an agenda when people take into account political issues. Their work demonstrates that the media impacts federal policymaking and implementation by either speeding up positive issue coverage or slowing down the process with negative coverage. The mass media needs to keep their business going. Legally and economically the main goal of a business is to increase its profits. In order to succeed in the market place Mass Media businesses needs to identify the wealthiest advertisement buyers. Those wealthiest advertisement buyers are the most important clients, and the Mass Media needs those wealthiest clients in order to succeed and compete in the market place. In other words, the Mass Media needs to have wealthy commercial buyers in order to function and exist. Even though keeping the public informed is a moral obligation of the media and a principle of journalism to present unbiased and impartial news, the role of the business takes priority over its moral obligation. As Noam Chomsky states: “the powerful are able to fix the premises of discourse, to decide what the general populace is allowed to see, hear, and think about, and to “manage” public opinion by regular propaganda campaigns, the standard view of how the system works is at serious odds with reality” Increasing profits remains the main goal of the Mass Media. The way in which conflicts are presented to the audience will attract more audience. Therefore, journalist tend to be sensationalist and melodramatic in order to increase newspaper sales, to increase the audience in T.V. shows, and gain more audience in news coverage in order to compete with the other Mass Media T.V. channels, radios and newspapers.
Linda L. Putman explains in News Coverage of Environmental Issues how the media establishes the framing in which conflicts are conducted. She collects data from a variety of conflicts using the NEWSBANK database, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and contributions from stakeholders interviewed in this study. Her work illustrates that the media needs societal conflict to function and it profits from the continuation of the conflict and how the media forms images of the nature of the environmental dispute. Furthermore, Delli Carpini in Constructing Public Opinion Michael and Bruce discover how television viewers interact intellectually with television during discussions as much as they were members of the environmental discussion, and such interactions were not limited to talk shows or environmental news coverage. Their work illustrates that those TV viewers have a limited autonomy when it comes to dealing with environmental issues. TV viewers in the report admitted the need to distinguish the dramatic elements from the more factual bases. If many channels carry the same message the greater the possibilities are that the audience will have limited autonomy creating their own opinion about news coverage, political issues and economic lifestyle. McQuail in The influence and effects of mass media points out that the more channels that carry the same message the greater the possibility of acceptance, stating that the whole society is affected by the social power of the mass media. Farnsworth in The Struggle over shaping the news explains that journalists' coverage can determine winners and losers in the political arena. The fight over who decides what news should be presented to the public becomes severe when financially powerful sectors compete against powerful political actors for media support. Journalists seek controversial
scandals of famous political actors in order to increase their profits and political actors try to influence the media with their power. This illustrates different levels of power that different political actors have in the political arena in contrast with different ranks of power that journalists and the media have in the economic and social sphere. The press should keep the public informed about important issues in society in an impartial way. Society needs to be objectively and well informed in order to have a functional democracy. On the other hand, there is a subtle principle of stratification of the language in which news is conducted. If only the college educated middle upper class has an understanding of the news, there is a marginalization of the uneducated sector of society, excluding them from the political arena. Michael Schudson in Why democracies need an unlovable press concentrates his work on how journalists have a clear and largely secular, college educated, upper middle class vision that excludes different sectors of society from exercising their freedom of expression. Schudson's essay shows that journalists are constrained in a professional culture, dependent on official sources narrowing public discussion and diminishing democracy. Furthermore, the majority of the population including audiences with college education and audiences without college education rely on soft news offered by traditional media. Mathew A. Baum in How Soft News Brings Policy Issues to the Inattentive Public discusses how news broadcasters discovered that real life human drama attracts a larger audience than fictional drama. Cheap framing and real life drama of soft news has successfully been accepted by the majority, explaining and informing the public about complex economic and political issues. Soft news tends to reach more of the public than academic complex news, and that the inattentive public appears to be a
majority of the audience. MaQuail in The influence and effects of mass media focuses on general behavior in society such as buying, donating to charity, portrayals of immigrants, attitude and so forth. If the Mass Media is controlled by big corporations, there will be a biased tendency to try to influence the public to spend money on goods produced by big corporations. Frank C. Erwin Jr.in What moves public opinion? is a specific study concentrated on media impact on a variety of opinions about public policy issues before and after audiences have been exposed to a variety of news. The study of Frank Erwin and Shapiro demonstrates how television affects, influences and shapes public opinion about public policy. Their work discovers an intrinsic and inherent connection between the way in which news is presented and public opinion. The study suggests that TV news influences short-term and long-term opinion change in issues such as rising educational levels, cohort replacement, racial migration, and alterations in the family. Gilliam in News Coverage Effects on Public Opinion about Crime illustrates how certain groups of society avoid neighborhoods and contact between specific racial groups that are criminalized by news coverage. Their work illuminates the focus of the study on media and politics, illustrating that there is a connection between news exposure to specific racial group perpetrators and support of more punitive justice policies, and how semantic and visual stimulation conditions public attitudes about crime. Thomas E. Patterson in The Miscast Institution argues that the news media fills a political role that political parties ought to play. He explains that the function and principles of the media differ with political values and principles that guide elections in a democratic society. He affirms that the United States is the only democracy that
organizes its national election campaign around the news media. Candidates use the media to reach voters and they are forced to follow commercial goals instead of moral principles of democracy. The work of Patterson questions the role of the mass media during election campaigns and delegating more responsibilities to political parties engaging voters with democratic processes and challenging our current political system's efficiency and legitimacy. Timothy E. Cook in The Uses of the News: theory and (Presidential) Practice establishes that the media should be the forth branch of the government. He believes that the more control the government has over the media the better that public policies can be executed and the more participation that society can have in the government. Timothy explains how different forms of government can be applied, challenging our system of governance, the way in which Mass Media works and questioning current legal institutions that are considered democratic. Karen M. Kedrowski in How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence Public Policy explains, in the major findings of four case studies, how Congress uses the media to influence public policy creation and execution. This essay illustrates that the media has an enormous amount of power over political policies. Further study should be made in order to determine which strategies should be applied in order to improve democratic participation and unbiased news coverage over public policies. Stephen J. Farsworth and S. Robert Lichter in The Struggle over shaping the news explain that journalist's coverage can determine winners and losers in the political arena. The framing of issues in which there is political conflict determines the influence of political movements. Doug McAdam Strategies of the American Civil Rights Movement
explains that civil rights movements have learned to take advantage of situations in which the government appears to be undemocratic because public support in favor of the dictatorial policies declines. Martin Luther King Jr. attracted media coverage of undemocratic actions and mobilized public support constraining social influence of segregation groups. This essay shows that the media can increase or decrease the power of different political sectors, and political actors can strategize planning on how to gain power through the media to pursue their political goals.
EVIDENCE
In order to test the hypothesis that The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public informed a case analysis will be conducted in which the following actors are involved 1) Mass Media 2) Big corporations 3) A variety of news networks owned by the same entity 4) Journalists fighting for honest news coverage 5) The judicial branch of the United States 6) The United States agency FDA that is the responsible entity of creation and executions of human health political policies. The case of Akre and Wilson Akre and Wilson reported that they lost their jobs at Tampa’s Fox-owned WTVT when they refused to change their news report about a product of Monsanto. Both reporters visited dairy factories and found out that bovine growth hormone (BGH) a product of Monsanto was injected to each cow in the region. The product was present in all the state’s milk products. The hormone product affected the health of the cows, making them sick and stimulating production of bacteria into the milk. Jane Akre states that: “….With Monsanto I didn’t realize how effectively a corporation could work to get something into the market place, the levels of coordination they had to have, they had to have university professors into the fold, that had to have reporters into the fold, and they had to get the FDA into the fold… and they did that, very, very well” Jane Akre states that the product was not properly tested on humans in order to verify if it would be harmful to humans. Jane Akre says that the federal government only did studies on rats for 90 days. Canadians scientists did not approve the use of BGH because it was extremely dangerous
and harmful for humans. Robert F. Kennedy Jr says that: “In various studies BGH has been linked to cancer, New Zealand, and the entire European community did not approve it. Akre and Wilson’s report said that Monsanto had been accused of fraud in connection with information it had provided to the EPA concerning dioxin, published deceitful statements about food safety, and funded favorable studies about the product from tame scientists. The newscast also reported on allegations that Monsanto had attempted to bribe public officials in Canada” Jane Akre states that Fox news was afraid of showing negative news of Monsanto’s product BGH because it was afraid of losing advertisement dollars. Therefore, they only wanted to show positive news about Monsanto. Jane Akre says that Rupert Murdock who owns 22 television stations was afraid of losing advertisement dollars from all Monsanto products in all the television stations. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson explained that Dave, the Director of Fox news, tried to change the report of Jane Akre and Steve Wilson into a positive way favoring Monsanto product: “…..we will tell you what the news is, the news is what we say it is” Steve Wilson affirms that Fox news tried to bribe his wife and him in order to prevent them from publishing the news that would show bad implications in health for humans and cows. David Boylan fired the reporters in December 1997. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson sued Fox news. Robert F. Kennedy points out: “In August 2000, following a five month trial, a Florida jury awarded Akre $425,000 under Florida’s private sector whistle – blower’s statute, which prohibits retaliation against employees who threaten to disclose employer conduct that is “in violation of a law, rule or regulation”
Akre and Wilson decision was reverted by the Florida’s Court of Appeals and the Court decided that they had to pay $1.7 million in legal fees to Fox in 2003. In 2003 Jane Akre and Steve Wilson won the “Nobel Prize for grassroots work”
Who owns the Media?1 1
Taken from http://live.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main
General Electric Television networks: NBC Networks, Telemundo Cable: A&E, History Channel (part), NBC Entertainment, NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC Television, NBC Universal, CNBC, CNBC World (Arabia, India, Asia, Europe), MSNBC, Bravo, Sci Fi Channel, Sundance Channel (part), Trio, Telemundo, USA, and Weather Plus Production and distribution companies: NBC Universal Television Studio, NBC Universal Television Distribution 26 television stations, owned
Time Warner Network: the CW (a joint venture with CBS), Kids' WB, Telepictures Productions, Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO, Cinemax, HBO Sports, HBO Pay-Per-View, HBO Video, HBO Independent Productions, HBO Multiplexes, HBO on Demand, Cinemax Multiplexes, Cinemax on Demand, HBO HD, Cinemax HD, as well as HBO channels around the world), Court TV (50% Time Warner, 50% Liberty Media), TBS, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Europe, Cartoon Network Latin America,
Walt Disney
News Corporation Disney Media Networks: Fox, Networks, a Fox Business company whose Channel, STAR holdings (satellite include: television in Asia), Fox The ABC Movie Television Channel, Fox Network: ABC News Channel, Entertainment, Fox College ABC Daytime, Sports, Fox ABC News, Sports ABC Sports, Enterprises, ABC Fox Regional Television, Sports ABC Kids, and Networks (14 Touchstone owned and Television. operated), Fox Sports En Cable Espanol, Fox Networks: Sports Net, Fox Sports Net Bay ESPN, ESPN2, Area (40%), ESPN Classic, Fox Soccer ESPNEWS, Channel, Fox ESPN PPV, Reality, Fox ESPN Deportes, Pan American ESPN Sports (38%), International, Premier Media ESPN Classic Group Sport Europe, (Australia ESPN Latin 50%), Premium America, ESPN Movie Asia, ESPNU, Partnership ESPN2 HD, (Australia Disney Channel 20%), Cine (cable and Canal (Latin satellite), America 23%), International Telecine (Latin Disney America 13%), Channels, Toon FUEL TV, FX, Disney, National SOAPnet, ABC Geographic
CBS Networks: CBS Network, Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI) owns Showtime, the Movie Channel, Flix, Showtime Too, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Next, Showtime Women, Showtime Familyzone, TMC XTRA, Showtime HD, the Movie Channel HD, Showtime on Demand, Sundance Channel (joint venture, SNI owns 30%), Showtime PPV, CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports, CSTV Networks, Inc. CBS Network consists of 27 stations. Programming: CBS Television
under the “NBC Universal” division. These include NBC affiliates, Univision affiliates, and a small number of independents. International Channels: 13eme Rue (France), 13th Street (Germany), Calle 13 (Spain), Sci Fi Channel UK, Studio Universal (Germany), Studio Universal (Italy), Universal Channel (Latin America), CNBC Asia, and CNBC Europe Programming: NBC Network News, NBC Universal Global Networks, NBC Universal International Channels, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News with
Cartoon Network Studios, Cartoon Network Asia Pacific, Cartoon Network Japan (70% share), NBC/Turner, Williams St. Studio, New Line Television, Turner Classic Movies, TCM Europe, TCM Asia Pacific, TCM Classic Hollywood in Latin America, Turner Network Television, Turner South, TNT, TNT HD, TNT Latin America, TNT CNN / US, CNN Airport Network, CNN International, CNN Headline News, CNN Headline News in Asia Pacific, CNN Headline News in Latin America, CNN en Español, CNN en Español Radio, CNNj, CNN+, CNN Turk, CNN-IBN, CNNfn, CNN
Family Channel, JETIX Europe, JETIX Latin America, A&E Television Networks (37.5% equity; includes A&E, the History Channel, the Biography Channel, History International, A&E International), Lifetime Entertainment Services (50% equity; includes Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Radio for Women, Lifetime Home Entertainment), E! Networks (39.6% equity; includes E! Entertainment Television, the Style Network), Buena Vista Television, Walt Disney Television The ABC Television Network has 226 affiliated stations
Channel (US 67% and Worldwide 50%), SPEED Channel, National Sports Partners, National Advertising Partners, My Network TV, Fox Television Studios In the United States, News Corp. owns 35 television stations. Satellite Television: Europe: SKY Italia includes Sky Sport, Calcio Sky, Sky Cinema, Sky TG 24; British Sky Broadcasting (37%) includes Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Travel, Sky One, Sky Movies Latin America:Sky Latin America DBS Platforms include Brazil (Sky Brasil 50%), Irect TV Latin America Asia:Space TV
Distribution: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Survivor, Everybody Loves Raymond, Jeopardy!, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, The Early Show, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Face the Nation, CW Network (50% with Time Warner), CBS Paramount TV, CSTV Networks, MountainWest Sports Network (50%), Smithsonian Networks (90%).
Brian Williams, Dateline NBC, Meet the Press, Early Today, CNBC, Squawk Box, Mad Money, Tim Russert, CNBC World, CNBC Arabia, CNBC-India TV-18, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Rita Cosby Specials Unit, Morning Joe, Mun2, Sleuth, A&E [part], The History Channel [part], The Sundance Channel [part], ShopNBC (27%), Ion Media Networks, Universal HD.
International, CNN Mobile, CNN Newsource, CNN Pipeline, CNN to go, CETV (China), n-tv (German news network; Turner owns interest), BOING (family channel in Italy; joint venture with Mediaset) Local cable news channels: Capital News 9 Albany, Albany, NY; MetroSports, Kansas City, MO; News 8 Austin, Austin, TX; News 10 Now — Syracuse, Syracuse, NY; News 14 CarolinaCharlotte, Charlotte, NC; News 14 CarolinaRaleigh, Raleigh, NC; NY1 News, New York, NY; R News, Rochester, NY; Urban Cableworks of Philadelphia (joint venture
reaching 99 percent of all U.S. television households. The company owns and operates ten ABC television stations in the nation’s top markets. Programming: Good Morning America, World News with Charles Gibson, World News Now, 20/20, Primetime, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, ESPNU
(India DBS 20%), Phoenix Satellite Television (38%), Hathway Cable and Datacom (26%), China Network Systems (17 affiliated cable systems), BSkyB (38%), DIRECTTV, SKY Italia. United States: DIRECTV Group (38%) Programming: Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Sunday, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes
with Urban Cableworks); Texas and Kansas City Cable Partners, LP (joint venture with Comcast) Programming: American Morning, CNN Newsroom, Live From The Situation Room, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper 360 On Demand Services: Video on Demand, Digital Video Recorders, High Definition Television, Local News Channels
DISCUSSION
The case of Jane Akre and Steve Wilson shows how corporate interests play a big role in the process of deciding which news needs to be presented, which news should not be presented, and how it has to be presented to the public. Jane Akre stated that Rupert Murdock was afraid of losing advertisement dollars from Monsanto products in the 22 television stations that he owns. In this case the thesis statement The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public informed is proven right. Rupert Murdock had to decide to support Fox’s interests of increasing profits. If Rupert Murdock had chosen to show the news report that would have demonstrated to the public that BGH is a very harmful product to human and bovine health, he would have lost Monsanto’s advertisements dollars. Many countries prohibited the use of BGH including Canada, New Zealand, and the entire European community. Akre states that in the United States Monsanto bought the approval of the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) in order to gain legal support for BGH in the marketplace. The FDA is an agency of the US department of human health responsible for safety and regulations of foods, biological products and so forth. FDA is one of the entities of the US government that is in charge of human health policies. Karen M. Kedrowski in How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence Public Policy explains in the major findings of four case studies that Congress uses the media to influence public policy creation and execution. How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence Public Policy shows that the media has an enormous amount of power over political policies. Therefore, if the Mass Media would have shown that BGH is a
harmful product to human health, the FDA would have changed its human health political policies due to the awareness of American milk consumers. The Mass Media has a tremendous influence over political policies. The agenda setting of Fox news shapes political and public opinion. As Timothy E. Cook points out in The Uses of the News: theory and (Presidential) Practice the more control the government has over the media the better that public policies can be executed and the more participation that society can have in the government. McQuail confirms in The influence and effects of mass media that the more channels that carry the same message the greater the possibility of acceptance by the audience, stating that the whole society is affected by the social power of the mass media. Rupert Murdock owns 22 big TV channels. Monsanto having the 22 biggest TV channels of the United States promoting and advertising Monsanto’s products represented a big and powerful business tool. In the case of Akre and Wilson the thesis statement of The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public informed has been verified. The Fox media made a biased decision in favor of Monsanto not showing the negative aspects of BGH. Fox’s commercial priority of market competition and increasing its profits determined the decision of censoring the news report of Akre and Wilson. The agenda setting of Fox supported Monsanto’s product along with the FDA. The social function of the Media of keeping the public informed of the harmful damages to human and bovine health was not a priority in Jane Akre and Steve Wilson’s case. The table show that News Corporation owns the following networks: Fox, Fox
Business Channel, STAR (satellite television in Asia), Fox Movie Channel, Fox News Channel, Fox College Sports, Fox Sports Enterprises, Fox Regional Sports Networks (14 owned and operated), Fox Sports En Espanol, Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports Net Bay Area (40%), Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Reality, Fox Pan American Sports (38%), Premier Media Group (Australia 50%), Premium Movie Partnership (Australia 20%), Cine Canal (Latin America 23%), Telecine (Latin America 13%), FUEL TV, FX, National Geographic Channel (US 67% and Worldwide 50%), SPEED Channel, National Sports Partners, National Advertising Partners, My Network TV, Fox Television Studios, In the United States, News Corp. owns 35 television stations. Satellite Television: Europe: SKY Italia includes Sky Sport, Calcio Sky, Sky Cinema, Sky TG 24; British Sky Broadcasting (37%) includes Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Travel, Sky One, Sky Movies Latin America: Sky Latin America DBS Platforms include Brazil (Sky Brasil 50%), Irect TV Latin America, Asia:Space TV (India DBS 20%), Phoenix Satellite Television (38%), Hathway Cable and Datacom (26%), China Network Systems (17 affiliated cable systems), BSkyB (38%), DIRECT TV, SKY Italia. United States: DIRECTV Group (38%) Programming: Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Sunday, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes. It means that if a decision was made in court supporting Jane Akre and Steve Wilson more than 50 networks news coverage would have changed, public policy of human health would have been affected and the profits of several multinational corporations would have decreased due to loss of profits produced from BGH. Conclusion
The Mass Media tries to survive as a business in an aggressive capitalist system in which only the strongest companies can survive. The main economic goal of a business is to increase its profits. There are many big corporations that have merged in the past 20 years in order to grow as a business. The bad side of the merging part is that there is oligopoly of the Mass Media. Concentration of power of the media leads to a misinformed public. In a democratic society there has to be a variety of companies competing to have the most impartial news coverage. In economic and democratic theory the market place is responsible for encouraging journalist to cover news in an impartial and professional way. The invisible hand would regulate efficiency and quality of the news coverage. In the United States there are a few powerful corporations who control the information, and they decide what is news and what is not news. There is a systematically biased system that does not allow the media to be honest. We have to create new mechanisms that will guarantee that news coverage will be produced by trustful sources. Honest journalism is one of the bases of our democracy. There should be laws that would punish the mass media when it presents wrong information to the public. Currently, here is no legal punishment to the media for being dishonest.
Citations •
Denis Mcquail (2003) The Influence and Effects of Mass Media. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 19-35) Washington, DC CQ Press.
•
Michael Schudson (2005) Why democracies need an unlovable press. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 36-45) Washington, DC CQ Press.
•
Walter Lippman (1950) Newspapers. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 48-55) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Linda L. Putnam (2002) News coverage of environmental issues. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 66-75) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Everett M. Rogers and James W Dearing (1988) Agenda-Setting Research: Where has it been, where is it going? In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 80-97) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Benjamin I. Page Robert Y. Shapiro, and Glen R Dempsey (1987) What moves public opinion? In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 98-55113) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Frank D. Gilliam Jr. and Shanto Iyengar (2002) News Coverage Effects on Public Opinion about Crime. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 138153) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Mathew A. Baum (1994) How soft News Brings Policy issues to the inattentive Public. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 154-166) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Michael X. Delli Carpini and Bruce A. Williams (1994) Constructing public
opinion: The uses of Fictional and Nonfictional Television in Conversations about the Environment. In Doris A. Graber (ed.) Media Power in Politics (pp. 154-166) Washington, DC: CQ Press. •
Darrel M.West (2005) Learning about the Candidates from Television Advertisements. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 169-180) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Thomas E. Patterson (1993) The Miscast Institution. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 202-209) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Stephen J. Farsworth and S. Robert Lichter (2005) The Struggle over shaping the news. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 243-250) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Karen M. Kedrowski (1996) How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence Public Policy. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 252-261) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Stephen Hess (1991) I Am on TV therefore I Am. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 262-267) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Doug McAdam (1997) Strategies of the American Civil Rights Movement. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 270-277) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
•
Robert F Kennedy, (2004) Jr How George W. Bush & his corporate Pals are Ploundering the Country & Hijacking Our democracy, Crimes Against Nature HarperCollings Publishers, New York.
•
Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman (1988) Manufacturing of Consent, The
Political Economy of the Mass Media Library of Congress Catalogating in Publication Data, Pantheon Books New York •
Jacqueline Vaughn, (2007) Environmental Politics Thomson Wadsworth, United States of America
•
Free Press, Reform Media, transform Democracy. Anational, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media, Chart of who owns the Media http://live.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main retrieved May 31, 2008.