Politics and the Media

In the first chapter, McChesney describes the political problem that affects the mediaùcorrupt policy-making (56). Since the media are always involved in any societyÆs power struggle, especially in democratic countries, the relationship of the media to the government policy makers is a critical one. As a free people, United States citizens have a right to be informed, and the media is the vehicle for informing them. However, politics in the United States have become skewed toward allowing the media to become overly commercialized; the government provides the media with licenses to become monopolies, and this has created a political problem that requires a political solution (McChesney, 18, 19). McChesney examines the notion of the American

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rvatives were reporting the news, it would be in line with conservativesÆ views (McChesney, 99). Countering these assumptions, he says that owners of news media have more power than conservatives want to admit (McChesney, 100); disagrees that journalists are liberal, since the requirement to attend journalism school and go through a period of internship suggests that only wealthy conservatives can afford to become journalists (McChesney, 105); and states that there is little evidence to prove that journalists abuse their position for politics (McChesney, 108). Finally, he contrasts the self-restraint of liberal journalists with the lack of restraint demonstrated by right-wing talk radio hosts who favor the views of media owners and advertisers (McChesney, 117). The author sees the complaints of conservatives as a right-wing political campaign directed against the media (McChesney, 111) but also acknowledges that the media enjoys being labeled as liberal (McChesney, 114). He concludes that election coverage is journalismÆs acid test, pointing out that election coverage and the lack thereof are all about money (McChesney, 129). Chapter 4 highlights the increasing role that advertising plays in funding the media and the resultin
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Approximate Word count = 1865
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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