United States of America

Anna & Eve

Political State and Organization President, Congress and judiciary share the

power. Democratic system. Two main political parties dominate the US

and third parties have less political influence than in other democratic countries.

There are 50 states in America.

Media Institutions

6 corporations control 90% of the media in the US.

-GE (NBC, Comcast, Universal Pictures etc.)

-Viacom (MTV, Paramount Pictures, BET etc.)

-Disney (Pixar, ABC, ESPN etc.)

-CBS (Showtime, NFL.com, Jeopardy etc.)

-Time Warner (CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. etc.)

-News Corp. (Fox, Wall Street Journal, NY Post etc.)

Facts:•In 1983 90% of American media was owned by 50 companies.•In 2011 that same 90% is controlled by these 6.

Freedom of Speech Laws Protected by the First Amendment to the US

Constitution. Freedom of Speech Laws are protected as

they are written in the US Constitution. The legal protections of the First

Amendment are some of the broadest of any industrialized nation and remain critical and occasionally controversial.

Censorship Political, legal, economic and

cultural factors continue to constrain free expression.

Technology and online behaviour challenge freedom of expression in the US.

Generally healthy. Regarding the internet;

gambling, cyber security and dangers to children are on-going debates.

Censorship Definition:Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive," happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others.

Big Brother? Even the most open democratic governments have

sought laws and new forms of surveillance. The U.S. government asked Google for data on its

users more than 31,000 times in 2012 alone and they rarely obtained a search warrant.

"A number of democratic states have considered or implemented various restrictions in response to the potential legal, economic, and security challenges raised by new media," notes the Freedom House report "Freedom on the Net 2012.“

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) met in December 89 countries including Russia, China, Cuba and Iran, supported a treaty that would give individual governments more control over the Internet's infrastructure. The U.S. disagreed.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/02/27/special-report-surveillance-and-censorship-america/

Edward Snowden Case An American computer specialist and former

CIA employee and NSA contractor. He has been charged with espionage and theft

of government property as he released NSA material and claimed it was “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them”.

He is living in Russia under temporary political asylum and is considered a fugitive from justice by American authorities.

Propaganda Spread by government and media entities within

the United States. Not only in advertising; it is also in radio,

newspaper, posters, books, and anything else that might be sent out to the widespread public.

Domestic propaganda;-WW1 & WW2: Promote war bonds/stamps to stimulate economy. Posters encouraged people to reduce waste. ‘Why We Fight’ is a famous series of US government propaganda films to justify involvement in WW2. -Cold War: Propaganda against communism and the Soviet’s. Fake news items discrediting communists.

-Iraq War: Following the 9/11 attacks the US launched a campaign aimed at Muslim’s that American Muslims were living happily and freely.

Examples of Poster Form Propaganda

Internet Coverage/ Use of Social Media Statistics from 2010:

-310, 232, 863 population estimate.

-239, 893, 600 Internet users. 81% of American’s use the Internet. Around half of all American’s are

now members of at least 1 social network.

America is one of the top 10 countries who are most engaged in social networking.

They spend an average of 7.6 hours per month using social networking.

Citizen Journalism Examples Boston Bombings:

https://blog.twitter.com/2013/the-boston-bombing-how-journalists-used-twitter-to-tell-the-story

9/11:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQuRbAs-JLQ