ship into more and more conflicting groups. After all, the founding of the parties did not bring about any greater participation on the part of the people. The same white men were the only ones permitted to vote, although they now had candidates from two parties for which to vote. Through the nation's history one party, and then the other, has dominated for a time, with an occasional third party briefly entering the scene. Today, political parties continue to be run by elites at the top of the political process, but they have lost much of the power they once had: "Today, political parties compete with interest groups, pollsters, campaign consultants, nd the media, which provide the resources parties provided in the past" (Welch et al. 161). However, this change has not altered the elitist nature of the system. After all, elites lead or operate most powerful interest groups, polling organizations, consulting firms, and, especially, the mass media.
Even in the beginning of the nation, when running media was less expensive, elitists were in charge. The poor, the weak, the minorities, blacks and women were not even allowed to vote, so it is not likely that they would even consider starting up a newspaper to express their views about a system they were not even a part of. Then, "in the late nineteenth century, journalism started to become big business, and news organizations began to focus less on crusading for t
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