美國社會與文化期末論文

1、 It Is Time to Change: Let the Freedom Be FreeAbstract: These conglomerates control several types of media. “freedom of the press” was enshrined as a cornerstone of American society. Freedom of the press is only guarante

2、ed to those that own one. In most instances, the ethical journalist has been replaced by that which best addresses the desires of the media owner. It is an age when profit trumps public interest. What appears as news is

3、shaped by the need to make money. Even more destructive to the citizen’s needs of a free press is that such giant conglomerates are unattached to any communities. There is a mechanism of bias in news with the rise of pro

4、paganda. Because of Americans’ self-involvement, when foreign affairs are presented, it is in the trademark snappy headline followed by a superficial, short recitation that again, includes no context in which to place th

5、e story. We should clearly realize the challenges America are facing whatever in the freedom of speech or in the freedom of press, and how to minimize the bad influence becomes a priority for America.(173 words)A free so

6、ciety is dependent upon the press for information, plain and simple, as few individuals have firsthand access to what their government and other public bodies are doing. For most of us, information about those powers tha

7、t directly affect our lives is learned through the press and we rely on that profession’s integrity to do so in a truthful and neutral manner.These conglomerates control several types of media. Presently, there are fewer

8、 than 1,500 daily papers and 1,200 commercial stations in the United States. At the turn of the millennium, Gannett owned 93 daily papers, 15 television stations, and 19 radio stations. Cox Broadcasting owned 11 radio st

9、ations, 3 television stations, 4 cable vision systems, and nine newspaper companies. The New York Times Company owned 35 daily newspapers, 8 weeklies, 2 radio stations, five television stations, and numerous magazines. D

10、isney (following their purchase of Capital Cities/ABC) owned two television networks, 7 television mega-stations, 7 radio networks serving more than 3,000 affiliated radio stations, 18 radio stations, 75 weekly newspaper

11、s, and numerous trade magazines.Why is freedom of speech so solidly entrenched in our constitutional law, and disapproval? Was it by sheer coincidence that NBC never once broadcast the story of New York’s lawsuit with Ge

12、neral Electric over that corporation’s massive pollution of the Hudson River, even when all rival news groups did?In most instances, the ethical journalist has been replaced by that which best addresses the desires of th

13、e media owner.Consider the situation in the tiny town of Minot, North Dakota, where a train carrying anhydrous ammonia overturned putting the entire population at risk. Several people died. Yet, the local radio station d

14、id not even carry the story, having no reporters and no authority to broadcast anything other than the news feed from the corporate center. They offered no warnings, no guidance, no explanations during the crisis. The st

15、ory broke in Minot at the same time as the rest of the country, on the national news.Centralization of the media to a few very large conglomerates leads to less diversity in the information available. Gandhi once said th

16、e heart of a community is found in its newspaper. But what happens when that news is no longer rooted in our nation’s communities but in corporate headquarters far away?More endemic than self-censorship among journalists

17、 who go along to get along, is the near-complete lack of context given Americans on global issues. Such lack of knowledge allows poor foreign policies to go unchallenged, allows leaders to simplify and personalize very r

18、eal issues to snappy sound bites, such as G.W. Bush’s assertion that terrorists attacked on 9/11 because “the terrorists hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble

19、 and disagree with each other,“ and to have that not only believed but repeated until it became accepted fact.No background of the Middle East’s bloody history and America’s role therein was ever provided the viewers to

20、allow them to make sense of the tragedy. Without context, a leader can get away with reducing global problems to self-serving ideological, PR-written jingoes.Americans aren’t accustomed to thinking themselves as propagan