Mass media in the United States
This article is part of a series on the |
Culture of the United States |
---|
Society |
Arts and literature |
Other |
Symbols |
United States portal |
There are several types of
, are considered the epicenters of U.S. media.Many media entities are controlled by large for-profit corporations who reap revenue from advertising,
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
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.[9]
Newspapers
After being widely successful in the 20th century, newspapers have declined in their influence and penetration into American households over the years. The U.S. does not have a national paper. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today are the most circulated newspapers in the United States and are sold in most U.S. cities.[10]
Although the primary audience for The New York Times (NYT) had initially been the residents of New York City and its surrounding metropolitan region , the NYT, nicknamed "the Grey Lady" and which has won the most Pulitzer Prizes of any publication, has gradually become the dominant "newspaper of record" for the U.S. media. Apart from its daily nationwide distribution, the term means that back issues are archived on microfilm by every decent-sized public library in the nation, and the Times' articles are often cited by both historians and judges as evidence that a major historical event occurred on a certain date. The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal are also newspapers of record, to a lesser extent. Although USA Today has tried to establish itself as a national paper, it has been widely derided by the academic world as the "McPaper" and is not subscribed to or archived by most libraries.[11]
Apart from the aforementioned newspapers, all major metropolitan areas have their own local newspapers. Most metropolitan areas will generally support one or two major newspapers, with many smaller publications targeted towards particular audiences. Although the cost of publishing has increased over the years, the price of newspapers has generally remained low, forcing newspapers to rely more on advertising revenue and on articles provided by a major news agency wire service, such as the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and Reuters[12] for their national and world coverage.
With very few exceptions, all the newspapers in the U.S. are privately owned, either by large chains such as
Most general-purpose newspapers are either being printed one time a week, usually on Thursday or Friday, or are printed daily. Weekly newspapers tend to have much smaller circulation and are more prevalent in rural communities or small towns. Major cities often have "
As competition from other media has evolved, the number of daily newspapers in the U.S. has declined over the past half-century, according to Editor & Publisher, the trade journal of American newspapers. In particular, the number of evening newspapers has fallen by almost one-half since 1970, while the number of morning editions and Sunday editions has grown.
For comparison, in 1950, there were 1,772 daily papers (and 1,450 – or about 70 percent – of them were evening papers) while in 2000, there were 1,480 daily papers (and 766—or about half—of them were evening papers.)
Year | Circulation |
---|---|
1960 | 58.8 million |
1970 | 62.1 million |
1980 | 62.2 million |
1990 | 62.3 million |
2000 | 55.8 million |
The primary source of newspaper income is
Additionally, as investigative journalism declined at major daily newspapers in the 2000s, many reporters formed their own non-profit investigative newsrooms. Examples include
The largest newspapers (by circulation) in the United States are USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
In August 2019, it was announced that
La Opinión is the most read newspaper website in the United States, reaching more than 6 million readers each month. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and the second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after The Los Angeles Times).
Magazines
Thanks to the huge size of the English-speaking North American media market, the United States has a large magazine industry with hundreds of magazines serving almost every interest, as can be determined by glancing at any newsstand in any large American city. Most magazines are owned by one of the large media conglomerates or by one of their smaller regional brethren. The American Society of Magazine Editors sponsors the annual National Magazine Awards recognizing excellence.
The U.S. has three leading weekly news magazines: Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. Time and Newsweek are center-left while U.S. News & World Report tends to be center-right. Time is well known for naming a "Person of the Year" each year, while U.S. News publishes annual ratings of American colleges and universities.
The U.S. also has over a dozen major political magazines, including The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine and Foreign Policy among others. In entertainment the magazines Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, L.A. Record and Billboard are very popular. In arts Smithsonian and Art in America magazines are major magazines.
Finally, besides the hundreds of specialized magazines that serve the diverse interests like
Radio
American radio broadcasts in two bands: FM and AM. Some stations are only talk radio – featuring interviews and discussions – while music radio stations broadcast one particular type of music: Top 40, hip-hop, country, etc. Radio broadcast companies have become increasingly consolidated in recent years. National Public Radio is the nation's primary public radio network, but most radio stations are commercial and profit-oriented.
Talk radio as a political medium has also exploded in popularity during the 1990s, due to the 1987 repeal of the
The
A new form of radio that is gaining popularity is
During the advent of the internet in the 21st century,
Digital Audio Broadcasting goal is to replace FM broadcasting and become the future of radio. Some industry experts are wary of this new transmission method. ... However, this method of transmission could benefit internet radio stations that want to develop local coverage and keep up to speed with FM radio stations.
Television
Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one. .
Several Spanish language broadcast (as well as cable) networks exist, which are the most common form of non-English television broadcasts. These networks are not as widely distributed over-the-air as their English counterparts, available mostly in markets with sizable Latino and Hispanic populations; several of these over-the-air networks are alternatively fed directly to cable, satellite and IPTV providers in markets without either the availability or the demand for a locally based owned-and-operated or affiliate station.
The largest of these networks, Univision, launched in 1986 as a successor to the Spanish International Network. Its major competition is Telemundo (est. 1986), a sister network of NBC (which acquired Telemundo in 2001). Founded: 2009 Estrella TV is another Spanish-language broadcast television network.
Motion pictures
In the 20th century, the motion picture industry rose to become one of the most successful and powerful industries in the U.S. Along with other intellectual property industries, its relative importance to the American economy has strengthened as the importance of manufacturing and agriculture have decreased (due to globalization).[24]
Rise of the home video market (1980s–1990s)
The 1980s and 1990s saw another significant development. The full acceptance of
Rise of digital distribution
DVD and high-definition
During the
Video games
The United States has the largest video games presence in the world in terms of total industry employees.[26] In 2017, the U.S. game industry as a whole was worth US$18.4 billion and consisted of roughly 2457 companies that had a rough total of 220,000 people employed.[27][28] U.S. video game revenue is forecast to reach $230 billion by 2022,[29] making it the largest video game market in the world.[citation needed] Over 150 million Americans play video games, with an average age of 35 and a gender breakdown of 59 percent male and 41 percent female.[30]
In 2011, the average American gamer spent an average of 13 hours per week playing video games.[31]
Internet
The Internet has provided a means for newspapers and other media organizations to deliver news and keep archives public. Revenue is generated through advertising or subscription payments. Aside from web portals and search engines like
Online streaming
Online
The
Broadcast and entertainment cross-ownership
Most of the current major film studios have become part of corporate conglomerates that also include major television broadcast networks and some of the most popular news and entertainment cable television channels. Sony Pictures has been an exception, and Fox sold its film properties to Disney in 2021, retaining its television and radio broadcast operations. All of the major entertainment companies have launched streaming services as they face competition from new media companies. Amazon purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of the "big five" studios in the Golden Age of Hollywood, in 2022. Comcast is also a major Internet service provider, representing a high degree of vertical integration.
This conglomeration gives owners the ability to reuse the same content between theaters, broadcast, and streaming, and to use intellectual property from
See also
- News media in the United States
- Media bias in the United States
- Communications in the United States
- Telecommunications policy of the United States
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration
- Federal Communications Commission
- List of American journalism awards
- Media in New York City
- Western media
References
- ISBN 0060838655
- ISBN 978-1032168982.
- ^ These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America. Business Insider. June 14, 2012.
- ISBN 0062305573p. 189:
- "Twenty years ago, thirty corporations controlled 90 percent of the media. Today, it is a grand total of six mega-corporations – . Besides accumulating their own profits, the media are daily trumpets for the rest of the corporate world's advertising."
- 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
- ^ "World Press Freedom Index 2014". Reporters Without Borders. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
- ^ Brenan, Megan (July 18, 2022). "Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows". Gallup. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ Klepper, David (May 1, 2023). "Americans fault news media for dividing nation: AP-NORC poll". Associated Press. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
- ^ Stynes, Tess (October 28, 2014). "USA Today Remains Top Newspaper by Circulation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Shaw, David (August 23, 1987). "The making of McPaper: The inside story of USA Today". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ Darcy, Oliver (August 5, 2019). "USA Today owner Gannett merges with GateHouse Media to form massive newspaper company". CNN. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ "New Media Investment Group to Acquire Gannett". www.businesswire.com. August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ Tracy, Marc (November 19, 2019). "Gannett, Now Largest U.S. Newspaper Chain, Targets 'Inefficiencies'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ "Television". www.csun.edu. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- ^ Schneider, Michael (December 29, 2022). "Most-Watched Television Networks: Ranking 2022's Winners and Losers". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- ^ Gasparino, Charles; Moynihan, Lydia (August 13, 2019). "CBS, Viacom agree to merge, forming a $28B entertainment firm". Fox Business. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ Szalai, George; Bond, Paul; Vlessing, Etan (August 13, 2019). "CBS, Viacom Strike Deal to Recombine". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ "CBS and Viacom To Combine" (PDF). CBS. August 12, 2019.
- ^ "Viacom and CBS Corp. are officially back together again". CBS News. December 4, 2019.
- ^ Consumers wary of Comcast, Time Warner Cable merger – USA Today, February 13, 2014
- ^ Craig Hunter (November 17, 2013). "T2's Robert Patrick & More Join 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series'". Thehollywoodnews.com. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
- PMID 20713399.
- ^ Oscars 2015: The Guinness World Records alternative Academy Award
- ^ "US still the gaming super power | GamesIndustry International". Gamesindustry.biz. December 11, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (February 14, 2017). "The U.S. game industry has 2,457 companies supporting 220,000 jobs". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- ^ Gough, Christina (August 12, 2019). "Video Game Industry – Statistics & Facts". Statista. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
- ^ "Games software/hardware $165B+ in 2018, $230B+ in 5 years, record $2B+ investment last year | Digi Capital". Retrieved August 24, 2019.
- ^ "Industry Facts". Entertainment Software Association.
- ^ "Time spent gaming on the rise – NPD". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- S2CID 125570249.
- ^ "Streaming Wars". www.theverge.com. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ 'Netflix houses', where fans can immerse themselves in their favorite shows, will open in US by 2025
Further reading
- Margaret A. Blanchard, ed. (2013) [1998]. History of the Mass Media in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-91749-4.
- Cynthia L. Clark, ed. (2011). "Media". The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 282+. ISBN 978-1-59884-461-0.
- Anthony Fellow (2011). American Media History (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning, Inc. ISBN 978-1-111-34812-0.
- ISBN 9780814725313.
External links
- "United States Profile: Media", BBC News, August 28, 2019
- "Media History Digital Library". David Pierce and Eric Hoyt, directors. USA.
Non-profit...dedicated to digitizing historic books and magazines about film, broadcasting, and recorded sound
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - Barry Brummett, "Media: An Overview", in Simon J. Bronner (ed.), Encyclopedia of American Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press