The Media's Influence

I think the answer to the question of "who has the bulk of the control over the US media?" is that the presidential administration has the most control in framing the news, followed by the other political elites in Washington.

Remember I've only had this class for 4 weeks, but here's my explanation. The media rely on sources for their information, right? And the best sources are the ones who have the most credibility - ie. administration sources, and the president is, of course, the number one source. What he says gets reported and quoted. So he has the most potential influence to shape events and news in ways that benefit him and his administration.

Because it takes journalists a while to develop their network of sources, and because they rely so heavily on these sources, it is argued, that they will be very reticent to report poorly on the administration, becuase then they'd be biting the hand that feeds them.

The time that other political elites can influence the news is when they have dissenting views from administration and they are willing to express those views. Of course, for various reasons they aren't always willing to express those views, from re-election reasons to thinking that they won't receive enough support to warrant sticking out their necks.

There's other reasons, too, but those are the main ones that I can think of right now!