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The Hearst, Knight Ridder, and Gannett corporations own most of the nation's newspapers, whereas Clear Channel Communications owns many radio stations. Large companies also own the major networks and other television stations. The Walt Disney corporation, for example, owns ABC and ESPN, along with the Disney Channel, and Viacom owns CBS and MTV. Rupert Murdoch's Media Corporation, meanwhile, owns all of the Fox channels, several radio networks, satellite television providers, and newspapers in many countries. And Time-Warner owns dozens of magazines, including Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated, as well as the CNN and Turner television networks.
The oldest media forms are newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and other printed material. These publications are collectively known as the print media. Although print media readership has declined in the last few decades, many Americans still read a newspaper every day or a newsmagazine on a regular basis. The influence of print media is therefore significant. Regular readers of print media tend to be more likely to be politically active.
The print media is responsible for more reporting than other news sources. Many news reports on television, for example, are merely follow-up stories about news that first appeared in newspapers. The top American newspapers, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, often set the agenda for many other media sources.
Media scholar Marshall McLuhan once said that "the medium is the message." He meant that the medium, or manner, through which the message is transmitted shapes the meaning of the message. Different types of media have different strengths and weaknesses, and how people perceive a story depends on how they receive it. For example, television is primarily a visual media. Strong pictures and video affect television viewers more than words, and pictures convey emotion better than arguments or discussion. Television viewers, therefore, are more likely to remember how a story made them feel than the actual details of the story. Print media, in contrast, are better than visual media at communicating details and information. An average newspaper story, for example, contains substantially more facts than a comparable television story. This is not to say that television news is inferior to print media; the two media simply communicate information differently.
Example: A debate in 1960 between presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy demonstrated that the medium truly is the message. Many people listened to the debate on the radio, whereas others watched it on television. Although a majority of radio listeners felt that Nixon had won the debate, a majority of television viewers thought that Kennedy had won.
All of the following are important roles for the media in American democracy EXCEPT
A.helping inform the public about current political issues and events.
B.providing a forum through which candidates, politicians, and even the public can debate policies and issues.
C.enabling privately owned companies to advertise their products to the public.
D.serving as a watchdog on the actions of politicians and other political actors.
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