brief study of news how news are selected.

1. Who decides what is news and what is not news?
Eduardo De Jesus Hernandez Herrera
MsEd Information Technology
BA, Political Science

2. Abstract
The following research includes: a) A description of the theory behind news coverage in
a democratic society, b) The function of the media in a democratic society c) Commercial
interests pressuring the media’s function of providing unbiased news coverage, c) A case
analysis in which the following actors are involved 1) Mass Media 2) Big corporations 3)
A variety of news networks owned by the same entity 4) Journalists fighting for a honest
news coverage against a big corporation 5) The judicial branch of the United States 6)
The United States agency FDA, responsible for creation and executions of political
policies of human health. The purpose of analyzing a concrete case is to test the
rationality behind the theory that states that the Mass Media can not perform its moral
obligation and social function of informing the public in a impartial way due to its
commercial role and nature in the market place.

3. Introduction
In democratic societies the role of the media is to keep the public informed in
order to promote political participation, social integration, transparency of governmental
acts, awareness of public needs, political action in public policies and social justice. If the
Media performs a biased role informing the public, society will have an inaccurate
perspective of the reality. Public policies can not be performed if the public does not
know real issues that threat democracy. The Mass media needs to be one of the most
honest and trustable sources of information in a democratic society. If there is a
concentration of power and monopoly of information and news coverage, public opinion
can be easily controlled and manipulated, public policies can be shaped, public consent
can be addressed to satisfy the needs and demands of the powerful elite that decides
what’s news and what is not news.
The following research presents democratic doctrine of mass media and real case
analysis that shows that our economic system needs to be challenged and addressed in
order to follow those principles in which a democratic society was founded.

4. Thesis Statement and Literature Review
The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and
political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and
increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public
informed.
The Mass media works with financial resources earned by advertisements paid by
big corporations such as Wal-Mart stores, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, General Motors and so
forth. The Mass media as a business needs to have profits in order to function.
The Mass Media is constrained and pressured by the economic system showing
positive news coverage supporting big corporations. Big businesses are the main entities
that provide financial sources to the Mass Media by buying advertisements. If the Mass
Media presents news that damage the image of its clients (big businesses) the Mass
Media might lose the companies that pay for advertisements. Big business will not pay
for advertisements from those companies that present a bad image of them. The Mass
Media needs to be biased in favor of big companies in order to be competitive, keep their
main source of finances and keep its business going.
Walter Lippman states that Democracy can not rely on newspapers at all. In
Newspapers he states that newspapers have no objective standards on choosing what
news need to be shown to the public. The main priority of a newspaper is to keep the
reader engaged and entertained for a certain amount of time rather than educate or
inform. In our economic competitive market the newspaper that keeps the reader more

5. engaged is the most successful newspaper. Walter Lippman states that news and truth are
not the same thing. The function of the truth is to signal an event and the function of the
truth is to bring to light hidden facts.
Linda L. Putman in News coverage of environmental issues explains how the
media establishes the framing in which conflicts are conducted. She collects data from a
variety of conflicts using the NEWSBANK database, the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and contributions from stakeholders interviewed in
this study. Her work illustrates that the media needs societal conflict to function and it
profits from the continuation of the conflict and how the media forms images of the
nature of the dispute.
Michaels in Why democracies need an unlovable press states that journalists are
constrained in professional culture, dependent on official sources narrowing public
discussion and diminishing democracy. Therefore the people who make the news and the
audience who reads and watches news are middle upper class individuals. There is
stratification in the ways in which news are delivered to the public. The Mass Media tries
to reach clients that have enough financial resources. Those clients are the ones who have
the economic capacity of buying products that the Mass Media shows in its
advertisements and commercials. Therefore, the Mass Media is not interested in directing
its news coverage to the lower economic class. There is a biases way of conducting news
coverage.
Everett M. Rogers and James W. Dearing's work of Agenda-Setting Research:
Where has it been, where is it going? is focused on how different interests play an
important role setting the media agenda, the influence of the media on perceptions and

6. attitudes towards the public, and what issues politicians need to address in relation with
public opinion. It explains the importance of distinguishing an issue from an agenda
when people take into account political issues. Their work demonstrates that the media
impacts federal policymaking and implementation by either speeding up positive issue
coverage or slowing down the process with negative coverage.
The mass media needs to keep their business going. Legally and economically the
main goal of a business is to increase its profits. In order to succeed in the market place
Mass Media businesses needs to identify the wealthiest advertisement buyers. Those
wealthiest advertisement buyers are the most important clients, and the Mass Media
needs those wealthiest clients in order to succeed and compete in the market place. In
other words, the Mass Media needs to have wealthy commercial buyers in order to
function and exist. Even though keeping the public informed is a moral obligation of the
media and a principle of journalism to present unbiased and impartial news, the role of
the business takes priority over its moral obligation.
As Noam Chomsky states: “the powerful are able to fix the premises of
discourse, to decide what the general populace is allowed to see, hear, and think about,
and to “manage” public opinion by regular propaganda campaigns, the standard view
of how the system works is at serious odds with reality”
Increasing profits remains the main goal of the Mass Media. The way in which
conflicts are presented to the audience will attract more audience. Therefore, journalist
tend to be sensationalist and melodramatic in order to increase newspaper sales, to
increase the audience in T.V. shows, and gain more audience in news coverage in order
to compete with the other Mass Media T.V. channels, radios and newspapers.

7. Linda L. Putman explains in News Coverage of Environmental Issues how the
media establishes the framing in which conflicts are conducted. She collects data from a
variety of conflicts using the NEWSBANK database, the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and contributions from stakeholders interviewed in
this study. Her work illustrates that the media needs societal conflict to function and it
profits from the continuation of the conflict and how the media forms images of the
nature of the environmental dispute. Furthermore, Delli Carpini in Constructing Public
Opinion Michael and Bruce discover how television viewers interact intellectually with
television during discussions as much as they were members of the environmental
discussion, and such interactions were not limited to talk shows or environmental news
coverage. Their work illustrates that those TV viewers have a limited autonomy when it
comes to dealing with environmental issues. TV viewers in the report admitted the need
to distinguish the dramatic elements from the more factual bases.
If many channels carry the same message the greater the possibilities are that the
audience will have limited autonomy creating their own opinion about news coverage,
political issues and economic lifestyle.
McQuail in The influence and effects of mass media points out that the more
channels that carry the same message the greater the possibility of acceptance, stating that
the whole society is affected by the social power of the mass media. Farnsworth in The
Struggle over shaping the news explains that journalists' coverage can determine winners
and losers in the political arena. The fight over who decides what news should be
presented to the public becomes severe when financially powerful sectors compete
against powerful political actors for media support. Journalists seek controversial

8. scandals of famous political actors in order to increase their profits and political actors try
to influence the media with their power. This illustrates different levels of power that
different political actors have in the political arena in contrast with different ranks of
power that journalists and the media have in the economic and social sphere.
The press should keeps the public informed about important issues in society in
an impartial way. Society needs to be objectively and well informed in order to have a
functional democracy. On the other hand, there is subtle principle of stratification of the
language in which news are conducted. If only the college educated middle upper class
has an understanding of the news, there is a marginalization of the uneducated sector of
society, excluding them from the political arena. Michael Schudson in Why democracies
need an unlovable press concentrates his work on how journalists have a clear and
largely secular, college educated, upper middle class vision that excludes different sectors
of society from exercising their freedom of expression. Schudson's essay shows that
journalists are constrained in a professional culture, dependent on official sources
narrowing public discussion and diminishing democracy.
Furthermore, the majority of the population including audience with college
education and audience without college education relies on soft news offered by
traditional media. Mathew A. Baum in How Soft News Brings Policy Issues to the
Inattentive Public discusses how news broadcasters discovered how real life human
drama attracts a larger audience than fictional drama. Cheap framing and real life drama
of soft news has successfully been accepted by the majority, explaining and informing the
public about complex economic and political issues. Soft news tend to reach more of the
public than academic complex news, and that the inattentive public appears to be a

9. majority of the audience.
MaQuail in The influence and effects of mass media focuses on general behavior
in society such as buying, donating to charity, portrayals of immigrants, attitude and so
forth. If the Mass Media is controlled by big corporations, there will be a biased tendency
to try to influence the public to spend money on goods produced by big corporations.
Frank C. Erwin Jr.in What moves public opinion? is a specific study concentrated
on media impact on a variety of opinions about public policy issues before and after
audiences have been exposed to a variety of news. The study of Frank Erwin and Shapiro
demonstrates how television affects, influences and shapes public opinion about public
policy. Their work discovers an intrinsic and inherent connection between the way in
which news are presented and public opinion. The study suggests that TV news
influences short-term and long-term opinion change in issues such as rising educational
levels, cohort replacement, racial migration, and alterations in the family.
Gilliam in News Coverage Effects on Public Opinion about Crime illustrates how
certain groups of society avoid neighborhoods and contact between specific racial groups
that are criminalized by news coverage. Their work illuminates the focus of the study on
media and politics, illustrating that there is a connection between news exposure to
specific racial group perpetrators and support of more punitive justice policies, and how
semantic and visual stimulation conditions public attitudes about crime.
Thomas E. Patterson in The Miscast Institution argues that the news media fills a
political role that political parties ought to play. He explains that the function and
principles of the media differ with political values and principles that guide elections in a
democratic society. He affirms that the United States is the only democracy that

10. organizes its national election campaign around the news media. Candidates use the
media to reach voters and they are forced to follow commercial goals instead of moral
principles of democracy. The work of Patterson questions the role of the mass media
during election campaigns and delegating more responsibilities to political parties
engaging voters with democratic processes and challenging our current political system's
efficiency and legitimacy.
Timothy E. Cook in The Uses of the News: theory and (Presidential) Practice
establishes that the media should be the forth branch of the government. He believes that
the more control the government has over the media the better that public policies can be
executed and the more participation that society can have in the government. Timothy
explains how different forms of government can be applied, challenging our system of
governance, the way in which Mass Media works and questioning current legal
institutions that are considered democratic.
Karen M. Kedrowski in How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence
Public Policy explains in the major findings of four case studies how the Congress uses
the media to influence public policy creation and execution. This essay illustrates that the
media has an enormous amount of power over political policies. Further study should be
made in order to determine which strategies should be applied in order to improve
democratic participation and unbiased news coverage over public policies.
Stephen J. Farsworth and S. Robert Lichter in The Struggle over shaping the news
explains that journalist's coverage can determine winners and losers in the political arena.
The framing of issues in which there is political conflict determines the influence of
political movements. Doug McAdam Strategies of the American Civil Rights Movement

11. explains that civil rights movements have learned to take advantage of situations in which
the government appears to be undemocratic because public support in favor of the
dictatorial policies declines. Martin Luther King Jr. attracted media coverage of
undemocratic actions and mobilized public support constraining social influence of
segregation groups. This essay shows that the media can increase or decrease the power
of different political sectors, and political actors can strategize planning on how to gain
power through the media to pursue their political goals.
EVIDENCE

12. In order to test the hypothesis that The US Mass media is systematically biased in
favor of big corporations and political interests because its commercial role of market
competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes priority over its social
function of keeping the public informed a case analysis will be conducted in which the
following actors are involved 1) Mass Media 2) Big corporations 3) A variety of news
network owned by the same entity 4) Journalists fighting for a honest news coverage 5)
The judicial branch of the United States 6) The United States agency FDA who is the
responsible entity of creation and executions of human health political policies.
The case of Akre and Wilson
Reported that they lost their jobs at Tampa’s Fox-owned WTVT when they
refused to change their news report about a product of Monsanto. Both reporters visited
dairies factories and found out that bovine growth hormone (BGH) a product of
Monsanto that was injected to each cow in the region. The product was present in all the
state’s milk products. The hormone product affected the health of the cows, making them
sick and stimulating production of bacteria into the milk.
Jane Akre states that: “….With Monsanto I didn’t realize how effectively a corporation
could work to get something into the market place, the levels of coordination they had to
have, they had to have university professors into the fold, that had to have reporters into
the fold, and they had to get the FDA into the fold… and they did that, very, very well”
Jane Akre states that the product was not properly tested on humans in order to verify if
would be harsh to humans.
Jane Akre says that the federal government only did studies on rats for 90 days.
Canadians scientists did not approved the use of BGH was extremely dangerous and

13. harmful for humans. Robert F. Kennedy Jr says that: “In various studies BGH has been
linked to cancer, New Zealand, and the entire European community. Akre and Wilson’s
report said that Monsanto had been accused of fraud in connection with information it
had provided to the EPA concerning dioxin, published deceitful statements about food
safety, and funded favorable studies about the product from tame scientists. The newscast
also reported on allegations that Monsanto had attempted to bribe public officials in
Canada”
Jane Akre states that Fox news was afraid of showing negative news of
Monsanto’s product BGH because it was afraid of loosing advertisement dollars.
Therefore, they only wanted to show positive news about Monsanto. Jane Akre says that
Rupert Murdock who owns 22 television stations was afraid of loosing advertisement
dollars of all Monsanto products in all the televisions stations.
Jane Akre and Steve Wilson explained that Dave the Director of Fox news, tried to
change the report of Jane Akre and Steve Wilson into a positive way favoring Monsanto
product: “…..we will tell you what the news is, the news is what we say it is” Steve
Wilson affirms that Fox news tried to bribe his wife and him in order to prevent them
from publishing the news that would show bad implications in health for humans and
cows.
David Boylan fires the reporters in December 1997. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson
sued Fox news. Robert F. Kennedy points out: “In August 2000, following a five month
trial, a Florida jury awarded Akre $425,000 under Florida’s private sector whistle –
blower’s statute, which prohibits retaliation against employees who threaten to disclose
employer conduct that is “in violation of a law, rule or regulation”

14. Akre and Wilson decision was reverted by the Florida’s Court of Appeals and the
Court decided that they had to pay $1.7 million in legal fees to Fox in 2003. In 2003 Jane
Akre and Steve Wilson won the “Nobel Prize for grassroots work”
Who owns the Media?1
1
Taken from http://live.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main

15. General Time Warner Walt Disney News CBS
Electric Corporation
Network: the Disney Media Networks: Fox, Networks: CBS
Television CW (a joint Networks, a Fox Business Network,
networks: NBC venture with company whose Channel, STAR Showtime
Networks, CBS), Kids' holdings (satellite Networks, Inc.
Telemundo WB, include: television in (SNI) owns
Telepictures Asia), Fox Showtime, the
Cable: A&E, Productions, The ABC Movie Movie Channel,
History Home Box Television Channel, Fox Flix, Showtime
Channel (part), Office, Inc. Network: ABC News Channel, Too, Showtime
NBC (HBO, Entertainment, Fox College Showcase,
Entertainment, Cinemax, HBO ABC Daytime, Sports, Fox Showtime
NBC News, Sports, HBO ABC News, Sports Extreme,
NBC Sports, Pay-Per-View, ABC Sports, Enterprises, Showtime
NBC HBO Video, ABC Fox Regional Beyond,
Television, HBO Television, Sports Showtime
NBC Independent ABC Kids, and Networks (14 Next,
Universal, Productions, Touchstone owned and Showtime
CNBC, CNBC HBO Television. operated), Fox Women,
World (Arabia, Multiplexes, Sports En Showtime
India, Asia, HBO on Cable Espanol, Fox Familyzone,
Europe), Demand, Networks: Sports Net, Fox TMC XTRA,
MSNBC, Cinemax Sports Net Bay Showtime HD,
Bravo, Sci Fi Multiplexes, ESPN, ESPN2, Area (40%), the Movie
Channel, Cinemax on ESPN Classic, Fox Soccer Channel HD,
Sundance Demand, HBO ESPNEWS, Channel, Fox Showtime on
Channel (part), HD, Cinemax ESPN PPV, Reality, Fox Demand,
Trio, HD, as well as ESPN Deportes, Pan American Sundance
Telemundo, HBO channels ESPN Sports (38%), Channel (joint
USA, and around the International, Premier Media venture, SNI
Weather Plus world), Court ESPN Classic Group owns 30%),
TV (50% Time Sport Europe, (Australia Showtime PPV,
Production and Warner, 50% ESPN Latin 50%), Premium CBS
distribution Liberty Media), America, ESPN Movie Entertainment,
companies: TBS, Asia, ESPNU, Partnership CBS News,
NBC Universal Boomerang, ESPN2 HD, (Australia CBS Sports,
Television Cartoon Disney Channel 20%), Cine CSTV
Studio, NBC Network, (cable and Canal (Latin Networks, Inc.
Universal Cartoon satellite), America 23%),
Television Network International Telecine (Latin CBS Network
Distribution Europe, Disney America 13%), consists of 27
Cartoon Channels, Toon FUEL TV, FX, stations.
26 television Network Latin Disney, National
stations, owned America, SOAPnet, ABC Geographic Programming:

16. under the Cartoon Family Channel (US CBS Television
“NBC Network Channel, JETIX 67% and Distribution:
Universal” Studios, Europe, JETIX Worldwide CSI: Crime
division. These Cartoon Latin America, 50%), SPEED Scene
include NBC Network Asia A&E Television Channel, Investigation,
affiliates, Pacific, Networks National Sports Survivor,
Univision Cartoon (37.5% equity; Partners, Everybody
affiliates, and a Network Japan includes A&E, National Loves
small number (70% share), the History Advertising Raymond,
of NBC/Turner, Channel, the Partners, My Jeopardy!, The
independents. Williams St. Biography Network TV, Oprah Winfrey
Studio, New Channel, Fox Television Show,
International Line History Studios Entertainment
Channels: Television, International, Tonight, The
13eme Rue Turner Classic A&E In the United Early Show, 60
(France), 13th Movies, TCM International), States, News Minutes, 48
Street Europe, TCM Lifetime Corp. owns 35 Hours, Face the
(Germany), Asia Pacific, Entertainment television Nation, CW
Calle 13 TCM Classic Services (50% stations. Network (50%
(Spain), Sci Fi Hollywood in equity; includes with Time
Channel UK, Latin America, Lifetime Satellite Warner), CBS
Studio Turner Television, Television: Paramount TV,
Universal Network Lifetime Movie Europe: SKY CSTV
(Germany), Television, Network, Italia includes Networks,
Studio Turner South, Lifetime Real Sky Sport, MountainWest
Universal TNT, TNT HD, Women, Calcio Sky, Sports Network
(Italy), TNT Latin Lifetime Radio Sky Cinema, (50%),
Universal America, TNT for Women, Sky TG 24; Smithsonian
Channel (Latin CNN / US, Lifetime Home British Sky Networks
America), CNN Airport Entertainment), Broadcasting (90%).
CNBC Asia, Network, CNN E! Networks (37%) includes
and CNBC International, (39.6% equity; Sky News, Sky
Europe CNN Headline includes E! Sports, Sky
News, CNN Entertainment Travel, Sky
Programming: Headline News Television, the One, Sky
NBC Network in Asia Pacific, Style Network), Movies
News, NBC CNN Headline Buena Vista
Universal News in Latin Television, Latin
Global America, CNN Walt Disney America:Sky
Networks, en Español, Television Latin America
NBC Universal CNN en DBS Platforms
International Español Radio, The ABC include Brazil
Channels, The CNNj, CNN+, Television (Sky Brasil
Today Show, CNN Turk, Network has 50%), Irect TV
NBC Nightly CNN-IBN, 226 affiliated Latin America
News with CNNfn, CNN stations Asia:Space TV

17. Brian Williams, International, reaching 99 (India DBS
Dateline NBC, CNN Mobile, percent of all 20%), Phoenix
Meet the Press, CNN U.S. television Satellite
Early Today, Newsource, households. The Television
CNBC, CNN Pipeline, company owns (38%),
Squawk Box, CNN to go, and operates ten Hathway Cable
Mad Money, CETV (China), ABC television and Datacom
Tim Russert, n-tv (German stations in the (26%), China
CNBC World, news network; nation’s top Network
CNBC Arabia, Turner owns markets. Systems (17
CNBC-India interest), affiliated cable
TV-18, BOING (family Programming: systems),
Hardball with channel in Good Morning BSkyB (38%),
Chris Italy; joint America, World DIRECTTV,
Matthews, The venture with News with SKY Italia.
Rita Cosby Mediaset) Charles Gibson,
Specials Unit, World News United States:
Morning Joe, Local cable Now, 20/20, DIRECTV
Mun2, Sleuth, news channels: Primetime, This Group (38%)
A&E [part], Capital News 9 Week With
The History Albany, George Programming:
Channel Albany, NY; Stephanopoulos, Special Report
[part], The MetroSports, ESPNU with Brit
Sundance Kansas City, Hume, Fox
Channel [part], MO; News 8 Report with
ShopNBC Austin, Austin, Shepard Smith,
(27%), Ion TX; News 10 On the Record
Media Now — With Greta Van
Networks, Syracuse, Susteren, Fox
Universal HD. Syracuse, NY; News Sunday,
News 14 The O’Reilly
Carolina- Factor, Hannity
Charlotte, and Colmes
Charlotte, NC;
News 14
Carolina-
Raleigh,
Raleigh, NC;
NY1 News,
New York, NY;
R News,
Rochester, NY;
Urban
Cableworks of
Philadelphia
(joint venture

18. with Urban
Cableworks);
Texas and
Kansas City
Cable Partners,
LP (joint
venture with
Comcast)
Programming:
American
Morning, CNN
Newsroom,
Live From The
Situation
Room, Lou
Dobbs Tonight,
Larry King
Live, Anderson
Cooper 360
On Demand
Services: Video
on Demand,
Digital Video
Recorders,
High Definition
Television,
Local News
Channels
DISCUSSION

19. The case of Jane Akre and Steve Wilson shows how corporate interests play a big
role in the decision making process in which news needs to be presented, which news
should not be presented, and how they have be presented to the public. Jane Akre Jane
stated that Rupert Murdock was afraid of loosing advertisement dollars of Monsanto
products in the 22 television televisions stations that he owns. In this case the thesis
statement The US Mass media is systematically biased in favor of big corporations and
political interests because its commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and
increasing their profits takes priority over its social function of keeping the public
informed is proven right. Rupert Murdock had to make the decision of supporting Fox
interests of increasing profits. If Rupert Murdock had chosen to show the news report that
would demonstrate to the public that BGH is a very harmful product to human and
bovine health, he would have lost Monsanto’s advertisements dollars.
Many countries prohibited the use of BGH including Canada, New Zealand, and
the entire European community. Akre states that in the United States Monsanto bought
the approval of the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) in order to gain legal support for
BGH in the marketplace. The FDA is an agency of the US department of human health
responsible for safety and regulations of foods, biological products and so forth. FDA is
one of the entities of the US government that is in charge of human health policies. Karen
M. Kedrowski in How Members of Congress Use the Media to Influence Public Policy
explains in the major findings of four case studies how the Congress uses the media to
influence public policy creation and execution. How Members of Congress Use the
Media to Influence Public Policy shows that the media has an enormous amount of power
over political policies. Therefore, if the Mass Media would have shown that BGH is a

20. harmful product against human health, the FDA should have changed its human health
political policies due to the awareness of American milk consumers. The Mass Media has
a tremendous influence over political policies. The agenda setting of Fox news shapes
political and public opinion. As Timothy E. Cook points out in The Uses of the News:
theory and (Presidential) Practice the more control the government has over the media
the better that public policies can be executed and the more participation that society can
have in the government. McQuail confirms in The influence and effects of mass media
that the more channels that carry the same message the greater the possibility of
acceptance of the audience, stating that the whole society is affected by the social power
of the mass media. Rupert Murdock owns 22 big TV channels. Monsanto having the 22
biggest TV channels of the United States promoting and advertising Monsanto’s products
represented a big and powerful business tool.
In the case of Akre and Wilson the thesis statement of The US Mass media is
systematically biased in favor of big corporations and political interests because its
commercial role of market competition, agenda setting and increasing their profits takes
priority over its social function of keeping the public informed has been verified. The Fox
media made a biased decision in favor of Monsanto not showing the negative aspects of
BGH. The commercial role of fox of market competition and increasing its profits
determined the decision of censoring the news report of Akre and Wilson. The agenda
setting of Fox supported Monsanto’s product along with the FDA. The Social function of
the Media of keeping the public informed of the harmful damages to human and bovine
health was not a priority in Jane Akre and Steve Wilson.
The table show that News Corporation owns the following network: Fox, Fox

21. Business Channel, STAR (satellite television in Asia), Fox Movie Channel, Fox News
Channel, Fox College Sports, Fox Sports Enterprises, Fox Regional Sports Networks (14
owned and operated), Fox Sports En Espanol, Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports Net Bay Area
(40%), Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Reality, Fox Pan American Sports (38%), Premier
Media Group (Australia 50%), Premium Movie Partnership (Australia 20%), Cine Canal
(Latin America 23%), Telecine (Latin America 13%), FUEL TV, FX, National
Geographic Channel (US 67% and Worldwide 50%), SPEED Channel, National Sports
Partners, National Advertising Partners, My Network TV, Fox Television Studios, In the
United States, News Corp. owns 35 television stations. Satellite Television:
Europe: SKY Italia includes Sky Sport, Calcio Sky, Sky Cinema, Sky TG 24; British Sky
Broadcasting (37%) includes Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Travel, Sky One, Sky Movies
Latin America: Sky Latin America DBS Platforms include Brazil (Sky Brasil 50%), Irect
TV Latin America, Asia:Space TV (India DBS 20%), Phoenix Satellite Television (38%),
Hathway Cable and Datacom (26%), China Network Systems (17 affiliated cable
systems), BSkyB (38%), DIRECT TV, SKY Italia.
United States: DIRECTV Group (38%)
Programming: Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, On the
Record With Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Sunday, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and
Colmes. It means that if a decision was made in court supporting Jane Akre and Steve
Wilson more than 50 networks news coverage would have changed, public policy of
human health would have been affected and the profits of several multinational
corporations would have decreased due to profits produced of BGH.
Conclusion

22. The Mass Media tries to survive as a business in an aggressive capitalist system in
which only the strongest companies can survive. The main economic goal of a business is
to increase its profits. There are many big corporations that have merge in the past 20
years in order to grow as a business. The bad side of the merging part is that there is
oligopoly of the Mass Media. Concentration of power of the media leads to a
misinformed public. In a democratic society there has to be a variety of companies
competing to have the most impartial news coverage. In economic and democratic theory
the market place is responsible for encouraging journalist to cover news in a impartial an
professional way. The invisible hand would regulate efficiency and quality of the news
coverage. In the United States there are a few powerful corporations who control the
information, and they decide what are news and what are not news. There is a systematic
biased system that does not allow the media to be honest.
We have to create new mechanism that will guarantee that news coverage will be
produced by trustful sources. Honest journalism is one of the bases of our democracy.
There should be laws that would punish the mass media when presents wrong
information to the public. There is no legal punishment to the media for being dishonest.

24. Citations
• Denis Mcquail (2003) The Influence and Effects of Mass Media. In Doris A.
Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 19-35) Washington, DC CQ Press.
• Michael Schudson (2005) Why democracies need an unlovable press. In Doris A.
Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 36-45) Washington, DC CQ Press.
• Walter Lippman (1950) Newspapers. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in
Politics (pp. 48-55) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
• Linda L. Putnam (2002) News coverage of environmental issues. In Doris A.
Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 66-75) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
• Everett M. Rogers and James W Dearing (1988) Agenda-Setting Research: Where
has it been, where is it going? In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics
(pp. 80-97) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
• Benjamin I. Page Robert Y. Shapiro, and Glen R Dempsey (1987) What moves
public opinion? In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 98-55113)
Washington, DC: CQ Press.
• Frank D. Gilliam Jr. and Shanto Iyengar (2002) News Coverage Effects on Public
Opinion about Crime. In Doris A. Graber (ed) Media Power in Politics (pp. 138-
153) Washington, DC: CQ Press.
• Mathew A. Baum (1994) How soft News Brings Policy issues to the inattentive
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