Media Growth and Its Influence in the US - Assignment Example

Media Growth and Its Influence in the United s Media Growth and Its Influence in the United States Question 1 Katherine Graham’s leadership of the Washington Post influenced her rise to stardom, which was barely unrecognizable before the Watergate Scandal. Despite gaining nationwide recognition and further international acclaim as the head of a newspaper family company, Katherine faced various challenges in her position. In the 60s and 70’s eras, there were numerous political, music and sexual liberation movements across the United States, which were important aspects that mattered to the realization of the present American culture. Media rights were also a part of the growing policy concerns in the States at that time. After taking charge of the Washington Post in 1963 after her husband’s death, Katherine was aware of the challenges and difficulties that awaited her at the helm of the newspapers leadership role. As she took this position, she noticed most leadership posts were predominantly headed by male figures. Sexual liberation was still a fundamental problem across the Nation. Women were mostly involved with family matters and not allowed to take huge roles when married, which was the cultural and societal norms during the time. Consequently, Katherine decision to be the head of the Washington post was met with criticism and objection from most of her friends, colleagues, and reporters within the post. The fact that she had a family made matters even more complicated for her. Widowed wives who had already established a family were viewed as incompetent. Family members such as children were seen to be an obstacle for such women as Katherine to accomplish their full potential. In the 1960’s, women were discriminated against in every significant aspect of the economy. Their roles in society were limited to household domestic chores. Katherine took a position where majority of the reporters and editors among other staff members were dominantly men. Delegating power on what to write and giving direction on the stories to publish was a new experience for her (Halberstam, 1979). Although Katherine was raised in a wealthy family, she never had an aspiration of holding the role of executing the authority. Additionally, she did not have a strong background on leadership duties and tasks that she had chosen to occupy, which meant that she needed assistance and counsel on the steps and decisions to take during her time in charge of the Washington Post. Katherine had an enormous task of ensuring gender balance and equity awareness when in charge of the Post within the company by hiring more black employees and qualified female staff. She had the power to hire and resign staff members, but the decision to create equality was more than just authoritative power. She had to accomplish this in a manner that other employees were made aware of the capabilities of women employees and sensitizing them on gender equality. The process required time, patience, and virtues, which lack substantially in media companies. A framework for such critical policy issues was necessary at the firm, and it was up to Katherine to ensure its formulation to protect the rights of every staff member regardless of their gender. Credibility and integrity of the Company depended on such crucial decision that she had to make during her tenure as publisher. Question 2 Otis Chandler was the Los Angeles Times publishers for two decades. Under his management, the newspaper grew tremendously, and he succeeded in improving the product that the Times printed. The newspaper only served the Los Angeles area, but his ambitions to make it of national importance and recognition was strong. Chandler was the fourth family member to hold the top most position in the company. The other three had guided the Times wisely, but still it was no match for other Posts on the East Coast. One major desire that drove Chandler to make the Times of National importance was to gain respect for his family name and the Newspaper from other major posts on the East Coast. The Newspaper was falling behind to major Newspapers such as the New York Times and the rise to stardom of the Washington Post. This facet made Chandlers ambition to gain respect from publisher in the East Coast his main agenda when running the Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Times had long been known for mediocrity and unimportant publishing’s within the region. Chandler was unimpressed with this title and wanted the newspaper to be known for high standard news services to the region and beyond. According to Chandler, his vision was to ensure that he raises the Newspaper to among the top three best in the country (Halberstam 1979). The Newspaper’s achievement of national importance came with its own rewards. Chandler knew the importance, privileges, and gains that such growth would bring to the newspaper. People will start taking his publishing more seriously. Recognition brings credibility into place as well. The LA Times lacked credibility in whatever it published. Chandler was aware of the financial benefits that come with such recognition. The New York Times and Washington were enjoying huge profits from their National customers. He needed the Newspaper to make profits from the business it was doing. This meant that an expansion to other regions could be easily achieved when financial constraints are minimized. When all these accomplishments were achievable, it meant that his long-term vision of respect would also come about. Chandler further desired to make a newspaper that could attend to the daily needs of his readers apart from respect, profitability, and paper credibility. Unlike other Newspapers that try to bring the daily top most news, Chandler wanted to create a daily magazine. He wanted to feature the daily news and have other news important for the regular reader and keeping them intrigued at the same time. Publishing advertisements enabled this vision to come true. The LA Times was able to double its circulation and won numerous Pulitzer accolades for the news that it published under his helm as the leader. The newspaper management mattered more to chandler than traditional family values and rights. After looking for a successor in his family tree and unable to find he chose one from outside the family. He was committed to ensuring enhancing the Newspaper and was not blinded by family traditions. These reasons that made him the most respected journalist of his time and the realization as well as accomplishment of his vision. He retired at 52 when he had already made the LA Times among the top three newspapers in the country. Question 3 The media comprise of a number of organizations whose main agenda is to pass news and information to the public through electronic and print channels including television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. In the United States, media has grown and is considered a multibillion-dollar business. This ranges from cable news networks, entertainment channels, newspapers, magazines, and radio companies. The same media has influenced people and culture to compete with the government through various ways. Media such as print and books are the oldest form of communication, which through advancement of technology, has been transformed to grow exponentially. Its influence over people and culture is also growing. Today, every aspect of the government as well as businesses depends on media for communication and dissemination of information. The availability and pervasiveness of media are what has made it so powerful. A government’s role is to run the country in an equitable manner through the elected representatives who are usually unavailable at most times. The difference between government and media is their availability. Even the government depends on media companies to impart governance. The dependence on media has become so wide, and it has been appreciated in almost every part of the world. Through media, policies can be changed. For example, through social media, awareness can be created over the gaps of certain governance policies, and the reaction from the users can generate public debate on the relevance of such changes taking place. All this has been enhanced by technology. Books and prints also were effective decades ago, but now the Internet has made things so much easier. Electronic print media companies also have an upper hand when it comes to influencing people. Over the years, the development of Satellite television networks and cable news network’s means that coverage of events is much faster than before. Presently, it is possible for the government to realize the occurrence of an event the same time as its citizens or even after. This is mainly due to such developments in the media industry. This creates public questions and demands on the occurrence, which puts the government under pressure. Numerous governments have been brought down due to media. Media has been influenced culture through worldwide coverage of films, lifestyle magazines, and television personalities who have celebrity status capable influencing the cultural perception of the fans. People indulge into such activities whereby cultural transference of ideas and views are shared at the global scene. Language has become so synonymous that at present, it is not only the Americans that produce big budget films, but also France that produce monies in French. The need to gather information and receive has grown exponentially such that every person wants to be involved with media one way, or another. Another aspect that has made media become influential is the owners or persons responsible for the message to be passed. Governments have tried to own their own media companies in the past, but lack of confidence, trust, integrity, and transparency from the public has led to the idea being pulled off. Private ownership has been seen as an alternative, and such companies have thrived. People are likely to trust their own rather than the government when it comes to critical issues of governance. The governments secretive nature on key issues such as security makes it impossible for them to control the dissemination of information to people regarding their security. Additionally, public opinions gained from media companies are also influential towards government. The government depends more on media for accountability in governance; hence, makes the latter become a force to reckon with over the years. Reference Halberstam, D. (1979). The Powers that be. New York: Knopf Read More