The media—has it changed? Of course. In what ways? The major evolution over the past decade has been delivery of content to reinforce the views of their audience, rather than an attempt to be neutral and impartial. These changes have been clear in all forms of media: broadcast TV, cable channel TV (so many people now are on cable or satellite that it hardly makes a difference any longer), blogs, Internet sites, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.
Newspapers long have taken an editorial position, however the op-ed page was separate from the general news coverage. Once the FCC allowed a single owner to have multiple TV and radio stations as well as newspapers in a single major market, the effect of a corporate position often became apparent from the op-ed columnists and editorials, even the slant on the news coverage.
AM radio stations exhibit a particularly stark example of a common programming strategy to reinforce the views of their audience (as well as convince as many others as possible). AM stations can have a very broad reach, since their signals "skip" at night, unlike FM. Thus a powerful station that is the only one on a particular frequency can cover up to half the country at night. At this time, there are 89 stations in the U.S. that run the maximum power allowed, 50,000 watts. Of these, 27 are non-directional, meaning the antenna pattern is omni-directional, a giant circle. 62 have a directional pattern. All of them reach out hundreds of miles in the day, and thousands of miles at night. The programming, according to the latest information in The Worldwide Listening Guide is as follows:
35 Conservative Talk
16 Local/Diversified Talk and Sports
11 Sports
7 News
5 Christian Evangelical
5 Non-English (4 Spanish, 1 Navajo)
3 Liberal Talk
3 Country Music
4 Other (Farm/Agriculture, Business, Disney)
In addition to these powerful (often called clear channel) stations, the "next level" of licenses include "regional" AM radio stations, with at least 5,000 watts and often more (but not the maximum of 50,000 watts). These stations provide excellent daytime coverage to an area of between 25 miles to 100 miles, depending on the antenna system and the frequency. Nearly every medium-sized community has at least one of these stations, and many of them carry the "conservative talk radio" format with syndicated national figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity anchoring the format, along with local hosts, nearly always with compatible viewpoints. Limbaugh and Hannity each are carried nationwide over approximately 600 total stations, counting both AM and FM, and in many areas, the stations hosting them have the best coverage. At this time, there is little argument that commercial talk radio now is the heart of conservative political views and sports coverage.
Non-commercial radio, primarily FM radio, supported mainly by contributions from listeners, is the province of NPR (National Public Radio), religious programming, and specialized music (jazz, bluegrass, classical, and alternative/college). A Harris telephone survey conducted in 2005 showed NPR (federal and local grants account for around 15% of its funding) was the most trusted news source in the U.S. NPR's domestic reach has expanded to approximately 980 stations in the U.S. alone. At this time their international news teams work from 17 foreign news bureaus, topping many other U.S. news organizations in terms of scope and reach..
The explosion of cable channels on TV present some of the most obvious examples of content that takes a definite position on politics, making no pretense of neutrality. CNN, the original cable news channel, which still strives to be "unbiased," has lost much of its original ratings dominance to Fox News, which is conservative leaning (even though it uses a "fair and balanced" tagline, clearly a marketing gimmick), and MSNBC, which has taken on a liberal (now called "progressive") position.
Blogs and Internet sites are exploding in number and content. Check out the Political Blogs Directory,
for a menu of approximately 450 different blogs. A few Internet sites have reached critical mass based on content excellence and marketing. These include the Huffington Post, a news website, content aggregator, and blog founded in 2005 as a liberal commentary and alternative to other Internet news aggregators such as the Drudge Report, considered a conservative viewpoint.
There is a full range of political viewpoints available in the American media. The only area that is slanted overwhelmingly to one position is AM radio, which clearly has a conservative bent. Some criticize non-commercial radio, based on the dominance of NPR, as a liberal voice, but at least as many, if not more, argue the opposite. Newspapers traditionally have reflected a conservative, business-oriented editorial position, with the Wall Street Journal heading the list, however the Journal keeps news separated from their op-ed page.
Take your pick. It's all out there.
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James Kennedy George, Jr (Jim George)
Author, Reunion, a novel about relationships.
Available in Hard Cover, Soft Cover, and all eBook formats on the Internet from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all other Internet retailers, as well as in print format from any book store. In stock at several book stores, including Book People in Austin, Texas, Tamarack on the West Virginia Turnpike, and Hearthside Books in Bluefield, West Virginia.
Several book clubs in Central Texas have read Reunion, and/or have selected the novel for the first half of 2013. The author will be glad to attend your book club for discussion and to answer questions regarding book and the publishing process. Contact him at <n3bb@mindspring.com> for additional information and scheduling.
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