As in Poland the media in the USA are called the Fourth Estate, besides executive, legislative and judicial. It is as important as the three branches of the government and its freedom has been guaranteed by the constitution since the late 18th century. It the famous First Amendment to the Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights, which banned all tries to limit the freedom of speech of the people and of the press as well. The first newspaper on the American soil was published in the city Boston in the colony of Massachusetts in 1690. During the next fifty years newspapers or magazines started appearing in other cities. The press was the main source of information till the beginning of the 20th century when radio broke its monopoly of informing people about the events. Later, shortly after the Second World War, another, more powerful than the radio and the press, competitor appeared on the market: it was the television. The two other media had to struggle to maintain its audience who was lured by more attractive medium. Another major improvement to the television, which was satellite technology, deleted distance limits and allowed this medium to reach audience on other continents. The constantly improved television and electronic media like computers and the Internet, seems to be the most dominant now, putting newspapers and radio in the shadow. All the media together plays an important role American society by providing the citizens with information and entertainment. The survey carried in the USA recently shows that almost every American household (98%) has a TV set. 82% of Americans possessing it are watchers of the "prime time" programming and 71% of them cable programming during a week. 45% American households are connected to the Internet; however, in some groups this percentage is as high as 70%. 84% of the population listens to the radio every day. The shape of the information that is transmitted to American household is determined by the group that owns the particular medium. Although non-profit organisations have their share in the market, the majority of newspapers, radios and televisions are in the hands of people who use them to make money. The media are a powerful income generator; the revenues reach the sum of more than 242 billion dollars. It is one of the most important areas in the American market. In the year 2000, a statistical person, an adult, spent more than $675 on getting the information and amusement. Another major source of income of the media owners are firms that want to advertise their products. They spent more than $215 billion to place their ads in the media. The media are one of the biggest employers on the market in the USA. They give jobs to many artists, writers, performers, technicians' etc. they also play a role of the opinion setter by influencing the beliefs of the readers, listeners and viewers. The right to be provided with information about the current events is rooted deeply in the history of the USA and it is one of the major principles of the society. The Founding Fathers of the American Nation believed that it should be the people not the government who has the right to inform the population about recent happenings. In order to makes sure that no government would ever interfere with the free flow of information they put the right to free speech in the constitution. In 1791 they updated the existing constitution with Bill of Rights which consisted of ten Amendments. The first one, which is the most important for the media, says that: " Congress shall make no law; abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Since that virtually anyone could establish a newspaper, later a radio station or a television broadcasting company, and present his or her beliefs and point of view on the events. The government could not do anything to prevent him o her from doing it.
Since the 18th century to modern times the First Amendment protects the rights of the people of the media. At the beginning they were only authors of pamphlets, books or newspapers. Nowadays they include owners of televisions, radios and the people who publish in the Internet. The people speak about "the press" but this term is not limited to newspapers and magazines. It includes any media that are concerned with providing information.
Because of the fact the freedom of speech and right of the press are protected by the constitution there are not many other laws regarding the media in the USA. The few laws that exist extend the protection of the media to the areas not covered in both the Constitution and constitutions of particular states. Such laws are for example: The Privacy Act that came into power in 1974. It provides the rules for taking information about private persons from the archives of federal agencies. Many laws are concerned with protection of people from the interference of the government. The Privacy Protection Act makes it difficult for the police to make searches in the newsrooms. Freedom of information Act of 1966 allows the press to use the state records.
Very important for the freedom of speech and the press were decisions of the Supreme Court that interpreted the First Amendment. The general belief is that the role of press is to watch the government and inform the public about any actions that may endanger the freedom. Therefore, the media should not be restricted by any laws. However, problems occur there. Sometimes the publications of the press reveal information that may endanger the national security. In this case the belief is that such action should not be protected by the First Amendment. FCC (which stands for the Federal Communications Commission) was established in 1934. Its responsibility is to oversee the media. It has power to give licences and make rules in order to secure the public interest. It tries to diversify the ownership and content of the media.
The beginnings of the American media were difficult. The first newspaper that appeared on the American soil in 1690, Publick Occurrences: Both Foreign and Domestick, was quickly closed by the British authorities. However, they could not prevent other newspapers from emerging and by the 1730 the press created by the colonists was strong enough to challenge the government of the colonies. In 1734 a trial of a journalist John Peter Zenger took place and this event is considered to mark the beginning of free press. After the colonies gained independence in 1783, the Founding Fathers decided to protect the freedom of speech of the press in the Constitution, in the Bill of rights. The statement that: ": "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press..." allowed for the development of the free press and made it possible for the media to become the watchdog of the American government. The journalism is strongly connected with the American history, as it was a political journalist, Thomas Pain, who played an important role in convincing the colonists to get out of the British rule. His pamphlet "Common Sense" stirred up the sentiment for the independence.
The age of modern media began in the 19th century. It was the time when the USA made a great progress in many areas, including the technological development. Quicker means of transport appeared, for example trains and steamships, and allowed for faster spread of information. The invention of telegraph made it possible to send an information from one side of the country to another almost instantly. More and more Americans could read and soon the owners of newspapers realised that they should create journals that would appeal to an average reader. In the following years a cheap, commonly available newspapers appeared. They also had many advertisements. Those times set a standard that was followed by the next generations of journalists and media owners. The press people of those times were often idealists who wanted to reform the society. Often they wrote against slavery and supported the everyman. The impact of the newspapers on the immigrants cannot be overestimated. They showed the American way of life and played an important role in assimilation of the newcomers. About 400 weekly magazines were published in the USA in the 1820s. Moreover, there were about 25 daily newspapers. New York Tribune was established in 1841 by Horace Greeley and soon achieved status of the most important newspaper in the States. The 1850s saw the rise of other daily newspapers, for example New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. After the Civil War two giants appeared on the market. They were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. They began what is now called "yellow journalism", that is journalism that deals often with inaccurate information which is meant to create sensation among the readers. The power of such journalism was demonstrated when the publications in newspapers created anti-Spanish atmosphere and encouraged the government of declares war on Spain in 1890s. In the 20th century chains of newspapers that is owned by the same person or corporations became very common. After the First World War chains owned by Scripps-Howard and Cowles were added to those existing (for example of Hearst). After the Second World War they appeared even more of them. In 1990, there were about 1,230 newspapers no the market that were owned by 135 companies. It was ¾ of the market. The number of cities in which there are several newspapers owned by the same company changed from 66 in 1971 to 36 in 1995. Despite the fact that the Internet and TV are available, more than 66% of Americans read newspapers regularly. The five newspapers which have the highest circulation are: the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. There were changes in the number of newspapers on the market during the fifty years after the Second World War. In 1946 there were 1,763 daily newspapers, while in 1999 there were 1,438 of them. The number of Sunday papers increased: from 497 to 905. The total number of newspapers was 2,388. There is no other country in the world in which there are such a large number of newspapers on the market. Nowadays powerful competitors, beside TV, appeared on the market, and they are; interactive television, local cable programming, and Internet based services, publications sent by the mail directly to the reader. Newspapers also modernise themselves. The electronic editions appear in the Internet, where they can be accessed for a small fee.
Magazines addressed to mass of people also appeared at that time. The same elements that allowed for the increase of the circulation of normal newspapers made their appearance possible. They were low prices of magazines, money from advertisement, methods of fast printing. There were few types of such magazines. Atlantic Monthly or the Nation was opinion journals that started in the late 19th century. However, they were minority. The most successful were magazines concerned with free time activities and consumerism. They were for example Cosmopolitan or Saturday Evening Post. They published many advertisements. At that time newspapers were published in particular regions and addressed only to local communities. Magazines were available in the whole country and because of that they were attractive to the producers of goods. They could reach many people in all parts of the USA by advertising their products in magazines.
In the same time as magazines, a new type of journalists appeared. They were called "muckrakers" and they were investigating and revealing darker parts of reality. Their actions increased the demand for social reforms. However, it was not until 1920s and 1930s when the magazines became players at the political scene. In that period of time weeklies appeared, for example Time. It was started in 1923 by Henry Luce. The target group were people who did not have time to read daily newspapers but who wanted to know what is happening. Another such magazine was Newsweek that started 10 years later. Other important magazines were Business Week and U.S. News and World Report. News in such magazines was divided into sections, for example: national affairs, foreign affairs, science, culture etc.
A trend appeared to target the magazines at specific readers. A great help in this quest were computers. Magazines became more and more specialised and their number at the market increased from 6,960 in 1970 to about 10,000 in 1999.
The monopoly of printed media to inform the people about the events ended with the appearance of radio in 1920. New media could act very quickly and were more persuading. At the end of 1930s there were three radio networks that covered the whole country. Two of them belonged to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and one to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS.
For the most of the time radio was used as an amusement. However, the ability to inform about the event immediately after it happened or even during also attracted mass audience, especially during the Second World War. The power of the radio was recognised by the president Franklin D. Roosevelt and he used it to reach every American household during the depression. He informed them about his new plans to fight the depression and about the situation at fronts of the war. After the war a new competitor appeared - it was the television. Its main advantage was that it combined sound and pictures and because of that was more appealing. In order to response to that many radios changed their programs. Now they were broadcasting music interrupted by news. Car radios became a standard feature of new models in the 1950s. It helped the radio broadcasting companies as the Americans began listening to the radio once again - while driving.
Another change in radio broadcasting occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time the FM radio, of better sound quality but lower range than AM radio, began expanding and eventually it dominated the market. Smaller radios that appeared at the same time only helped in the process. In the new FM radios most time was dominated by music, whereas traditional AM radios broadcaster more news and talk programmes. "Talk radio" which was almost non-existing 25 years ago nowadays grew in popularity. The idea is that experts and famous people are invited to the radio and they answer listeners' questions, comment the situation and give advice. It allowed AM radios to return on the market. As in the case of magazines, radios are becoming more and more specialised. For example they play only one kind of music rock, oldies, country etc.
The radio continues to be a popular medium in spite of the existence of such a powerful medium as television. In 1999 the research showed that one or more radios were in 99% of the households in the USA. The average number is five radios per one house. Every day 80% of the population listen to the radio and the income of radio companies increased from $8.4 billion in 1990 to $17 billion in 1999.
In 1998 there were 4,793 AM and 5,662 FM commercial radio stations. Moreover, there are 1,460 public radio stations in the USA. They are usually owned by universities or public authorities and they got money from public/private funds or radio licences. The owners use them for educational purposes. National Public Radio (NPR) that was created in 1970 has several functions. It is the leader of newsgathering and production and it connects all American stations that are not commercial.
Television appeared after the Second World War and immediately became popular. Its main advantage that attracted audience was the fact that there was not only sound present but also the image. As it developed it reached the stage when nothing can beat it in terms of popularity. It greatly influenced the way of life of many American families. At last one TV set is in every house - the research from 1999 showed that the percentage of TV-owning household is as high as 98%. In the survey from 1991 70% of Americans declared that television is their primary source of news. 90% of the TV market is in the hands of three private television companies. There are NBC, ABC and CBS. They offer a free broadcast.
Cable Television
However, their monopoly was threatened by cable television, especially in the 1980s. In 1999 about 70% of all American houses were connected to cable TV. The origins of cable TV lie in the late 1940s when the cable used to transmit TV programs was invented. Its purpose was to allow the people living in areas outside the range of TV signal, like mountains or very remote regions, to receive it. The cable as we know it today originated from the works on domestic communications satellite. The technology allowed cable programmers to distribute their programs at a very low price. In 1975 the first program that could be received through the satellite appeared and it was Home Box Office. It was owned by Time Inc and it offered movies for the whole day. The second one was a local TV station which owner was Ted Turner. It offered its program to the people in the whole country and so it was known as a superstation. Ted Turner later established CNN (Cable News Network), thanks to the same technology. It was the first news channel that broadcasted new all day. Another example, MTV (Music TV) is watched in more than 30 countries in the world. Only in the USA it is watched by more than 46 million people. As magazines and radios, the cable television began to concentrate on particular type of audience. Since the late 1970s, more and more cable televisions became specialised. They started offering programs targeted at selected group of people. New kind of service, an interactive television, appeared as the cities became wired thanks to modern technologies. A combination of a TV set and a computer allows the viewer to take active part in the process of watching. He or she can now choose what movies do he or she want to see. Moreover, it allows for buying things without the need of leaving home (Shop-at-home).
Public and Christian Television
Apart from commercial stations there are also public ones. They all are connected through organisations like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Its mission is to give the money coming from taxpayers to particular TV stations and producers. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) that was created in 1969 also links public TV and takes care of distributing programs. The National Association of Public Television Stations (NAPTS) offers to public TV stations advice in the field of planning and research. The third group of TV stations, apart from commercial and public ones, are Christian TV stations. They are financed from money given to them by the watches and they are occupied primarily with religious affairs.
