Sheepish US Media losing audience - Foreign news sees increase

[KurtNYC]

In the run up to the Iraq war in 2003, many news junkies in the US became disgruntled with the lack of journalism in US-based news media. Major stories went un-reported or were buried. And it continues as bad as ever.

Looking for analysis and coverage which goes beyond freedom fries , Americans have been flocking to foreign-based news services.

In January (2003), for example, half the visitors to the Guardian Unlimited news site, an umbrella site for Britain's left-leaning Guardian and Observer newspapers, were from the Americas.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, 49 percent of the Guardian's 1.3 million unique visitors (that's the number of different visitors, not the site's total traffic) in January originated from the Americas.

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,58056,00.html

As for the decline on this side of the pond, graphs of the drop in local news viewership are here: http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/narrative_localtv_audience.asp?cat=3&media=6

And the slow death of nightly network news: http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/narrative_networktv_audience.asp

Btw, the Guardian's site is here (come see what your neighbors are reading): http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Just how free is the US's "free press?"

Cultural and Commercial Influences on the Free Press
Dr. James Zogby
Arab American Institute

Monday 17 January 2005


Just how free is the US's "free press?" Does the absence of direct government control, by itself, create a "free press?" In a paper I recently presented at a conference organized by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, I sought to make a contribution to this discussion by examining the influences that impact US media.

While there is no direct political influence or control of US media, such as may exist in societies with state-run media, there is, nevertheless, influence that "controls" coverage that can be subtle, but is at all times, pervasive and decisive.

Most US-based news organizations like to claim objectivity as their trademark, from Fox News' claims to be "fair and balanced" to the New York Times boasting that it covers "All the news that's fit to print." While critics from both the right and the left argue that these networks and newspapers report the news with either a liberal or conservative slant, in fact, the forces that shape bias in media coverage run deeper and are more complex. Cultural, commercial and political influences have a profound impact on editorial decisions made by media outlets, as well as on the content of the information they dispense.

Major reporters, their editors, TV news presenters and commentators, and the government officials and other newsmakers they cover, form a very small circle in Washington DC and New York.

More at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/011905I.shtml

[FrenchieCat]

4. The "Free" Press

has been bought. Presstitutes and mediawhores now reside within just about every sound room available.

The right to a "Free" press was included in the Bill of Rights for a reason that made sense then, and makes even more sense now....yet the "rule of Law" in regard to this right has been shredded into very small pieces and now only means that Presstitutes can write anything they want and not be subject to any standards or accountability (hey, just like George Bush!).

I loath the American Corporate Press and I am one of the 1.3 million who regularily visits the Guardian as well as other Foreign Internet publications.

Without a "Free" press, there is little hope that America will turn itself around and become the country that it tries hard to say that it is.

Maybe we should organize a Mass National Media Funeral of the "Free Press". We have to find some way to let the masses know about what is wrong with our media. Until then, it will be an uphill battle filled with loses for us, the frontline media soldiers in the trenches!

[katinmn]

2. State of the News Media report data goes only till 01 or 02

There's no doubt been an even greater drop off during the past two years. (Can't wait to see those numbers.)

Still, you can see the influence of major media starting to decline, just as media consolidation increased.

Surprises to me:
People trust CNN more than the others.

People trust TV more than newspapers.

Very interesting reports. Thanks for posting!

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. I wish we could force Comcast to carry BBC

Even "BBC America" is restricted to those who want to waste $70 a month on digital TV and pay for 200 channels of unwatchable crap.

[Roland99]

5. Media Control

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9103-media-control.html


Or get the book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583225366/104-8485642-8374313

Or listen to it:
http://www.alternativeradio.org/programs/CHON069.shtml

[Guaranteed]

6. Excellent. nt