The History of the Modern Political Media Communications & Media Essay

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The History of the Modern Political Media
The American media has gone through a massive transformation since the colonial era. Advances in the creation and distribution of content have influenced the changes since the existence of the Gutenberg Printing Press (McManus, 2012). Historically, the political systems undermined the press's freedom as political leaders used available tools to restrict the independent power of the press whenever they felt threatened by the media. However, democratic organizations later proscribed this restriction, forcing the politicians to undermine the media outlets' credibility that seemed to be hostile to them (McManus, 2012). Radios, Televisions, and Newspapers were the available media outlets at the time. Newspapers relayed information about local events and activities. In the 1920s, radio news made its appearance to the media. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Colombia Broadcasting System (CBC) began running sponsored news programs and radio drama that lasted for around 15 minutes (McManus, 2012).
The discovery of Television changed media forever as it combined elements of radio and pictures. The first official broadcast in the US was President Franklin Roosevelt's speech at the World's Fair opening in New York in 1939 (McManus, 2012). As TV’s became more common in the 1950s, radio and wire services continued to provide news, but people began tuning in to the nightly news programs. In the mid-twentieth century, the media landscape became unusual. The media faced coordinated attacks followed by the increase in political press criticism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (McManus, 2012). These events led to the emergence of a so...