The News Business October 19, 2017

Ownership Private businesses, often large corporations, own and operate most media outlets in the United States. Media outlets are often part of large chains. Media ownership is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer large corporations. Note: Most media outlets are not government owned. (The exceptions are Armed Forces Radio, etc.)

Most Media Outlets Seek Profit It’s all about the ratings, circulation figures, or number of hits. Even NPR wants a large audience for pledge drives. As we discussed earlier, most media outlets have been financially strained by declining audiences and declining advertising revenues.

Implications To attract readers and listeners, media outlets focus on the sensational rather than the serious. Trivial news sometimes gets more attention than hard news.

Cable media have time to fill The cable news networks (CNN, Fox News, HLN, and MSNBC) broadcast 24 hours. They have hours to fill, even during slow news days. Soft news stories, focusing on celebrities and crime, consume hours of air time.

News Gets Less Coverage This trend is important because it may indicate that the media are less equipped to play their role in ensuring a strong democracy.

News Media and Democracy Watchdog over government Clarify electoral choices Provide information about government policies

Signaling Role Political scientists say that the press plays a signaling role, a term that refers to the accepted responsibility of the media to alert the public to important developments as they happen.

What You Have Learned Are most media outlets privately owned or government owned? Are most media outlets for-profit or non- profit? How have news outlets responded to declining audiences and advertising revenues? How do smaller news staffs affect the media’s ability to play it role in democracy? What is the media’s role in democracy?