Is America run by it's media?

Question

a recent survey revealed that Americans during the Iraq war had to tune into british TV channels to see both sides of the story in Iraq! as the american stations were only showing a side favoured to americans! apperantly to push votes! Allegedly!!!

Answer 1

This is correct. Please america open your eyes to what is really going on in iraq,100,000 children dead in 10 years from US & UK led bombings. 48 billion dollars spent on war. Stations like CNN and FOX are owned by global corporations with vested intrests in 'spinning' us the 'official' version of events. The old days of the news being impartial and telling us the facts as they really are, are long gone. Always question who benefits from them telling you this one sided view of events!!

Answer 2

I really don't think that you can say the American media is showing the positive facts about the war. I'd love to see that survey so I know who sponsored it and what kinds of questions they asked.

The media rarely covers any of the positive things that are happening over there. We have improved life for the Iraqi people. Schools and hospitals are being built or rebuilt. The general infrastructure of the cities are being improved (running water and those kinds of things that we take for granted).

I hear first-hand stories from soldiers about the gratitude of the Iraqi citizens, but I never hear those stories in the "mainstream" media. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and the like are more interested in reporting the mistakes that will be made in any war. They focus on the rare instance of bad behavior here and there instead of the 99.99% of the things that are positive.

With the exception of FOX news and conservative talk radio, I can't believe that anyone would say that American media is showing only pro-American stories. Please list your source.

Answer 3

I live in the UK and watch CNN / ABC news on a regular basis and find that the reporting is wholly biased, not just on the issue of the Iraq war. News stations in the US tend to report the facts, but never relate these to anything else. For example ABC may report that the US is increasing aid to developing countries (which sounds good), but in actual fact they are giving less per head than most South American countries (which doesn't sound so good). Generally the US media is produced through star spangled specs!!

Answer 4

The media plays part in everything in Britan too! Whats in whats not what you should look like and how you should act. The media is brainwashing the free minds of Britan into watching stupid new age comedy CRAP like "little Britan" Politically correctness is everywhere whatever happened to the days a comedian could tell a joke about religon or culture, the wife, husband or mother-in-law without having to keep turning around to check there are NO police or goverment MPs. The world is beserk this ne age comedy is encoraging violence and making the disabled appear stupid and homos seem thick or dirrty. This is not the world I wish to live in, bring back the comedy greats!

Answer 5

The US goverment and foreign policy is not "runned'" but rather 'heavily influenced' by the mass media. The american "partisan" media have its own agenda and doesn't neccessarily kowtow the white house. Press freedom is becoming a thing of the past, corporate greed dictates the rules of engagement. Media is still big business, complete with stockholders and dividens.

Answer 6

This is not true. You need to find out the truth before you spout something like this on the internet. We have cable channels.. Most of the channels are run by Democratic sympathizers. There is only one conservative cable channel. We in America have the choice to listen to a lot of television channels. We make up out own mind. I think that it is England who is only getting one side of the story.

Answer 7

America isn't being run by its media, but unfortunately, most Americans appear to rely ONLY on their media for information about international events. And most of the media in the US is more concerned with readership/viewership than with thoughtful situational analyses. This means that the leadup to a situation is often ignored in favour of a quick thumbnail sketch of events, that may not present viewers/readers with the depth of information they need to make a fair assessment of the situation. And as both broadcast and print media charges for advertising are based on the numbers of their viewers/readers/listeners, quite naturally the accounting department wants to make sure that there are as many subscribers as possible, editorial commentary, as well as entertainment programs, are aimed at the greatest number of people. It is sometimes called the LCD or 'lowest common denominator' school of determination.
British media, on the other hand, delights in picking things to pieces, having in a variety of experts from various schools of thought, and letting them battle it out between themselves. It's a much easier proposition in England, because there are so many more media outlets are supported by small groups of consumers, but because of the density of the population (physical, not mental!) there is a sufficient base to support all these different points of view. It makes for very entertaining listening, reading and watching, and you will find Brits purchase several papers, just to compare and contrast the editorial and news content, and happily chase down any discrepancies between them. They also receive information from France, Germany, Spain and other European centres, so have additional input from these sources. The end result of all this is a remarkably well informed population, who happily question everything, unlike the American population, who seem to happily accept everything, especially if it comes with the endorsation of a movie star.
So the answer to your question (forgive my rambling) is that America isn't run by its media, but the media IS consumer oriented and too many Americans are content to accept whatever is given them, unquestioningly, so they often see only the patriotic side. I don't believe it is done maliciously, but I do believe it is done for a profit motive.

Answer 8

Not so much by the media - but by the "Special interest groups" though... Oil companies & the like.... They buy politicians like sweets - what they say goes!!! The yanks have always had a crappy media system & unfortunatly they get bombarded by crap everyday so much - they believe it... Then its the rest of the world that has to live with its repercussians..

Answer 9

Yes the media can change public opinion with just the flip of words
ie. if police kill 10 bank robbers the papers could say "Police Massacre!" or "Police Save all Hostages in Daring Rescue" the media goes with MASSACRE! because more people will buy the paper and also it makes police look bad. in my opinion media people are evil.

Answer 10

No,
Run by little children playing computer games with Freedom of speech with self lack of knowldge and miscommunication with communication failures.
That spreads like wild-fire with imagination running wild.
When they could not differentiate between reality and fantasy or ghost stories on planet earth.