chapter15_Mass Media.pptVIP

A Survey of USA:  Mass Medias Prof. Niangen Huang Mess Medias Technological advances in America have made mass communications inexpensive and immediately available to everyone. Americans spend more time absorbing the products of the mass communications media than in any other activities except working and sleeping. So pervasive is the medias influence in American life that a widespread reaction has risen against this dominating role. Although the media are under attack, public confidence in the media remains surprisingly favorable. The media are perceived as more trustworthy than business, state and local government, or the presidency. 1. Television Commercial television was inaugurated at the New York Worlds Fair in 1939, but World War I interrupted II development. Not until the decade after the war did television begin to dominate the other media. Today, there are about 99 million TV sets in the United States; 99 percent of American households have at least one set, and 54 percent have two or more. Color TV is in 60 percent of American homes. The average American between his second and sixty-fifth year spends 3,000 entire days (almost nine years of his life) watching TV. 1. Television In the United States, there is no government-owned television network. Nearly all TV is commercial, and programs are interrupted every quarter of an hour or so for advertisements. These breaks can be frustrating, especially during some exciting action in a thriller. However, commercials do make it possible to show programs on TV that are expensive to produce. 1. Television There is one channel where there are no commercial breaks. Programs on this channel are run by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and can be seen all over the United States. Although the PBS gets a grant from Congress, Congress does not interfere in any way in the organization of its programs. There are programs on everyday affairs, music, the arts, as well as serious discussions on all kinds of topi