Mass media are forms of communication—such as television, radio, web sites, blogs, newspapers, and magazines—that reach large public audiences. More media outlets and more information mean that Americans must devote ever-increasing time, effort, and money to sort out what is relevant to them.

Media ownership can influence the kind of news we get. Early political parties and candidates created newspapers to advocate their issues. When newspapers suddenly became cheap and thus accessible to the general public in the 1830s, papers aimed for objectivity as a way to attract more readers. Later, newspaper owners used sensationalist reporting to sell more newspapers and gain independence from political interests. Some observers argue that the newspaper is a dying media resource. Today’s media, still profit driven, are now owned by a few large corporate interests, creating a commercial bias in the news we get. The 1934 Federal Communications Act, which created the Federal Communications Commission, imposed order on multiple media outlets and attempted to serve the public interest through three provisions: the equal time rule, the fairness doctrine, and the right of rebuttal.

Journalists, as gatekeepers, have great influence over news content and presentation, but public skepticism of the media has increased in recent decades. Some critics believe the homogeneous background of journalists—mostly male, white, well educated, with northeastern roots—biases the press, as does their predominantly liberal ideology. Others claim that the revolving door, the practice of journalists taking government positions but later returning to reporting, severely damages news objectivity.

The media influences politics by shaping public opinion through agenda setting, priming, framing, and persuasion, although citizens have their own armor against this influence, called selective perception. Journalists also tend to reduce politics to conflict and image, especially through the widespread practice of horse-race journalism, the frequent use of sound bites, and the feeding frenzy they engage in at the whiff of scandal. Politicians respond by turning politics into public relations, running what amounts to a permanent campaign, by mastering the techniques of news management, attempting to control with spin and the judicious use of leaks any news that affects them. The result of this complex relationship between the media and politicians is a reduction in political accountability.

Because the media play such a central role in democracy, the degree to which they fail to provide relevant, objective information about government is worrying. The growing use of the new media, including blogs, has the potential to restore journalism to its more traditional watchdog and information-provider role.