An assessment of the fundamental differences between mainstream and independent media : a content analysis of the print media

Author

Chadford D. Roush

Date of Award

2003

Degree Name

Sociology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Julia Fox

Second Advisor

Richard Garnett

Third Advisor

Kenneth Ambrose

Abstract

The mainstream media in the United States is an institutional arrangement of structural power within the political economy of capitalist society. The concentration and centralization of the media corporations creates the structural constraint for ideological social control. A few multinational corporations control a vast amount of media access that creates a filtering process for information. The mainstream media is extremely powerful in American society. The media helps to mold opinions on an array of news topics. Major media sources in the US are conforming their news coverage to be “industry friendly”. In simply terms the American people are only getting part of the story. At a more abstract theoretical level, this organizational analysis of power is referred to the propaganda model of the news. The number one source of structural control in the media today is the fact media moguls are so deeply integrated vertically and horizontally with other large corporations by the capitalist class. Through the process of content analysis three controversial news topics will be analyzed in both mainstream and independent media sources to compare their latent content.

Subject(s)

Press.

Journalism -- Objectivity.

Recommended Citation

Roush, Chadford D., "An assessment of the fundamental differences between mainstream and independent media : a content analysis of the print media" (2003). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. 814.
https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/814