News media (United States)

Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Those who provide news and information, and the outlets for which they work, are known as the news media.

Some high-quality news media organizations exist in the United States. However, some critics suggest they are undermined by lower quality media, which do not satisfactorily provide information and critical analysis. Others argue that the news media are simply catering to public demand. The role of the government-funded media is small in the US in comparison to the public media in most other countries.

Structure of US news media

The American media is made up of profit-making and nonprofit enterprises. A private, nonprofit news service, which is called the Public Broadcasting Service or PBS, is partially funded by the U.S. government and partially funded by charitable donations.

Private-sector news media

There are thousands of newspapers in the United States. Some are available throughout the country, such as the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (owned by the New York Times), the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times (owned by the Washington Post), as well as news magazines such as Time and Newsweek. They often keep editorial opinions in separate columns from news.

The "big six" compaines are:

General Electric

media-related holdings include television networks NBC and...
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