Politics and Media

In the United States, the role of the news media is often characterized as a check on public servants, a vehicle to speak truth to power, and a necessary defense against tyranny and corruption. Though freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment, at times the US government has attempted to restrict that right, complicating the relationship between politics and media in the United States. Though the US government supports or houses several media entities, such as the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Voice of America, part of the US Agency for Global Media, most news media is created independently by private organizations with no official ties to state media. The introduction of commercial radio, television,...