The politico-media complex (PMC, also referred to as the political-media complex) is a name given to the network of relationships between a state's political and ruling classes and its media industry. It may also encompass other interest groups, such as law (and its enforcement), corporations and multinationals. The term PMC is used as a pejorative, to refer to the collusion between governments, individual politicians, and the media industry.Swanson, David L. "The Political-Media Complex at 50: Putting the 1996 Presidential Campaign in Context." American Behavioral Scientist 40 (1997): 1265.
Early media institutions Before Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type to Europe in 1450, most information was delivered by town criers, ministers from the pulpit, or bartenders. Town criers spread information and news including royal edicts, police regulations, important community events and war news. These early methods of communication were often delivered by messengers on foot and could be easily controlled by the ruling class. With the invention of the printing press, written news began to spread. Corantos, which were semi-regular pamphlets that reported the news, are an example of the early politico-media complex. Popular in England, corantos reported mostly foreign news as the royal government attempted to control what domestic news reached the masses. Corantos eventually would become regular periodicals that were subject to less political control and mark one of the earlier forms of industrialized media.Patterson, Catherine. "Inventing the News." Engines of our Ingenuity. University of Houston. 2005. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1983.htm. Dec. 14, 2009.
Global print media The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers"."The Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. 2009. UN.org
Although print media in the West has suffered from declining advertising trends, many newspapers and magazines in the Middle East continue to publish well."Middle East Newspapers Struggle in New Age". October 26, 2009. Zawya.com For countries in which the majority of the population does not have easy access to the Internet or television, newspapers and magazines are some ways to get the news.Geography of the Third World. pg 303. Routledge. New York. 1996. However, the independence from political influence and dependability of newsprint is questionable in many countries. The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, an index measuring the amount of press freedom in the world implies that in Western first world countries, the rights of the press are not fully respected, and that the press is not completely free to investigate or criticize the government. However, the index also reports the situation is worse in politically unstable nations."Press Freedom Index 2009". RSF.org
The West
Newspapers and magazines open two-way dialogues between readers and journalists. Some studies have shown that the print media are more likely to reinforce existing political attitudes of the masses than change them.Byerly, Caroline. Ross, Karen. “Women and media: international perspectives”. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2004.
Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organization that promotes freedom of the press, produces an annual Press Freedom Index assessing countries' press freedom. Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said at the release of the 2009 Press Freedom Index: "It is disturbing to see European democracies such as France, Italy and Slovakia fall steadily in the rankings year after year [...] Europe should be setting an example as regards civil liberties. How can you condemn human rights violations abroad if you do not behave irreproachably at home? The Obama effect, which has enabled the United States to recover 16 places in the index, is not enough to reassure us."
Asia The press is censored in the People's Republic of China through the Golden Shield Project known worldwide as the Great Firewall of China. Reporters Without Borders ranks China's press situation as "very serious," the worst possible ranking on their five-point scale."The News by Country". Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved August 25, 2006 China's press was ranked 173rd out of 179 countries in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index. The Chinese government maintains the legal authority to censor the press, and in defense of censorship, claims that the Chinese Communist Party has the most freedom of the press since there is no wealthy minority controlling it."History of Publishing." Encyclopædia Britannica. November 2, 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. In the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, China dropped 5 places to 177.
The Middle East and North Africa Middle Eastern print media is mainly paid for by private funders, either a specific family or specific government party. Some Middle Eastern newspapers and magazines have been accused of having obvious political ties.Lewis, Bernard. pg 11. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. Britain. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1995. Many countries in the Middle East and Africa have harsh government restrictions concerning what can be published. Restricting rationales may include politics or economics. Iran, ranked 174 out of 179 in 2013, is described as highly censored, as the Iranian government maintains strict control over much of the print and broadcast media and news websites. Reporters Without Borders has said that journalists in Israel "enjoy real freedom of expression despite the existence of military censorship." However, Professor Yoram Peri of the University of Maryland has said that Israel experienced a media control crackdown as the government censors coverage of military action coverage, displaying how governments often limit press freedom during times of war.Peri, Yoram. Between Battles and Ballots: Israeli Military in Politics. pg 2. Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. 1983. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2009, Eritrea in Northern Africa is the worst ranked country for journalistic freedom. Eritrea is currently a one-party "transitional government" which has yet to enact its ratified constitution."Eritrea." The World Fact Book. The Central Intelligence Agency. Other African countries at the bottom of the 2009 Press Freedom Index include Syria (165) and Somalia (164). Both countries exhibit little journalistic freedom and are infamous for their unstable transitional governments and near constant warfare."Syria" & "Somalia." The World Fact Book. The Central Intelligence Agency. &
Struggles Where newspapers used to represent an exclusive connection between readers and advertisers, print media now competes with the power of the Internet.Ivan, Robert. The Krugman Paradox: newspaper websites' inability to generate economically sustainable advertising revenue. New York University. Fall 2008. pg. 18.MA Thesis PDF Because of declining advertising revenue and shrinking audiences, print press has been described as declining. Today a little more than half of Americans read a newspaper every day. However, a 2004 report notes that 55 million newspapers are sold daily in the United States,"The State of the News Media 2004". Stateofthemedia.org and newsprint still plays a significant role in the politico-media complex.
In addition to economic struggles and readership decline, newsprint has also struggled with losing readers' trust. Surveys have found that people tend to trust newspapers less than other news media, in part because they believe that newspaper journalists are "isolated and out of touch" and motivated by commercial interests."The State of the News Media 2004". Stateofthemedia.org Most people believe their local and national news television stations more than their local and national newspapers. The only news medium that people trust less than newspapers is print magazines.
Some old people out there have speculated that the youth today are more visually inclined, and are therefore less likely to be influenced by written political news or propaganda. One Pew Center study found that 28% of the younger generations such as Gen Z or Gen Y read the paper in a day, and average only 10 minutes of reading time. Harvard Professor Thomas Patterson said: "What's happened over time is that we have become more of a viewing nation than a reading nation, and the internet is a little of both. My sense is that, like it or not, the future of news is going to be in the electronic media, but we don't know what that form is going to look like."Jones, Juston. "Young Adults Are Giving Newspapers Scant Notice". July 16, 2007. New York Times
Radio
History of political radio
The early American radio industry was composed of commercial shipping companies that used radio for navigation, and amateur radio enthusiasts who built radios at home. This mixture of military, industry, and community went unregulated until the Radio Act of 1912, which required all ships to use radio communication and keep a constant radio watch, amateur users to be licensed, and began regulating the use of wavelengths for radio transmissions.An Act to Regulate Radio Communication, August 13, 1912. This act represents one of the earliest interactions between the government and the radio media and also set a precedent for later radio legislation, including the Radio Act of 1927, which established the Federal Radio Commission and added further regulation to radio users, both commercial and amateur.Public Law No. 632, February 23, 1927, 69th Congress. An Act for the regulation of radio communications, and for other purposes. Government regulation increased again with the American entrance into World War I, when President Woodrow Wilson ordered naval control of all radio stations and ordered that amateurs cease all radio activity. Jonathan Reed Winkler, a noted WWI historian, said: “It was only during World War I that the United States first came to comprehend how a strategic communications network-the collection of submarine telegraph cables, and long-distance radio stations used by a nation for diplomatic, commercial and military purposes- was vital to the global political and economic interests of a great power in the modern world.”Winkler, Jonathan Reed. Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I. pg. 2. Harvard University Press. 2008.
After World War I, radio was introduced to broader civilian audiences when Westinghouse released the Aeriola Jr. in 1919, and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) released the Radiola in 1920. The Aeriola Jr. and Radiola helped established a new channel for the politico-media complex to enter into thousands of American homes. By 1919 the oldest licensed American radio station, KDKA, from Pittsburgh, PA began broadcasting regular music shows, and soon music, educational programming, sports coverage and eventually news coverage became popular.Bliss, Edward. Now the News: the Story of Broadcast Journalism. pgs. 10, 13-16. Columbia University Press. 1991. Coverage of politics quickly caught on across the countries as stations began covering elections and reporting news of government actions. The close politico-media complex between government and radio was evident in 1924 when the Republican and Democratic National Conventions were covered, while the conventions of the other parties were ignored. Candidates made the eve of election speeches, the first instance of radio broadcasting that was meant to affect the American political process.Bliss, Edward. Now the News: the Story of Broadcast Journalism. pg. 18. Columbia University Press. 1991. Progressive candidate Robert Lafollette claimed that the "radio trust" had undermined his campaign.