American Politics
Media consolidation
Media consolidation refers to the act of directing ownership of news or media sources to fewer corporations (Murat, 2018). The consolidation of ownership of media is seen as a great challenge facing the media world. This consolidation is responsible for the following negative impacts. First, there is less likelihood to listen to the diverse views of the masses. Secondly, there are few or no opportunities for the minorities to air their views, and thirdly, there is reduced competition in the market, and thus, prices are hiked, and innovation is less likely to happen. Those who criticize the concentration of media ownership raise a concern of whether the monopolistic local media can be reliable to meet the expectations of the public interest. For instance, it is questionable whether the conglomeration of two media in a market would present divergent opinions or provide information that may be putting their business in jeopardy. In relation to this information, many reporters have been turned down in the media stations; they present information that may be damaging to the parent’s company or the advertisers of the media’s outlet.
Subsequently, when a company chooses to ignore individual stories that are associated with every stakeholder in that particular media outlet, the public loses grip of information that is consequential and imperative to them. Then the issue that arises is that who will raise the pressing concerns? Critiques have argued that the consequences of media consolidation are undiversified information and poor quality information (Brienza, 2016). Evidently, the critiques are right. The deserving masses end up being fed with information that is not authentic as well as biased information. People end up being fed with information just from one outlet, which in the end, is not diversified. Therefore it is important to have diversity in terms of the plurality of media stations.
Migration
The first immigrants to enter the United States arrived around 400 years ago (Meeusen, 2016). The immigration has, in a big way, contributed to the social, political, and economic wellbeing of the country. Since the first immigration, many more groups of people have continued to enter the US to date. Immigration, therefore, is somehow responsible for the economic development in the United States. This has resulted in the government adopting significant economic realities.
Various concerns surround immigration in America. First of all, there is the issue of unauthorized immigrants. These navigate through the bonders illegally without the required documentation or through fraudulent means (Geddes, 2016). The illegal immigration dates back to the 1970s. Although immigration has brought about economic growth, there has been resentment by people who fault immigrants of certain social vices such as entry of drugs in the country. On the issue of employment and earnings, immigrants have had the opportunity of getting employment and thus promoting the economy. On the other hand, immigrants are likely to suffer poverty than those natively born in America. Hispanics are more prone to a high poverty rate than Asians and other ethnic groups.
Although many Americans have the insecurity of being around immigrants, research has shown that immigrant dominated neighborhoods are less likely to have crime as compared to those dominated by natives. However, there is evidence that there is more crime associated with the third and second generation of immigrants. In conclusion, there have been huge numbers of immigrants in the United States. Immigrants have been accused of more wrongs than right in the United States. What measures can the government take to curb the fraudulent means through which immigrants enter the united states?
Interest groups
Interest groups are organized bodies of individuals who share certain common objectives and whose aim is to influence policymaking in the public sector. These groups are significant in America as citizens use them as a vehicle to carry their ideas and views to those who are elected to office. People normally select an interest group that they feel will address their issue regardless of the gravity of those issues. Informal traditions and formal structures provide a place for interest groups (Skilling, 2019). Weak party loyalty provides space for the interest group’s hand in elections. The supported candidate by the interest group wins then the group is involved fairly in making policies. Additionally, Political power decentralization supports the interest groups. The interests of the groups, therefore, are highly supported. The judiciary in America also supports the interest groups in a big way.
Interest groups work hand in hand with political parties and compete for public influence. Although interest groups are perceived to go beyond party lines, most interest groups support certain political parties. Over time, specific interest groups have been known to support democrats and other republicans. Therefore, activists from these interest groups end up to become political party activists (Klüver, 2018). In conclusion, it is important to note that interest groups educate the general public on different policies and issues that bare pertinent to them. In as much as interest groups work as a link between the people and government, they also assist people in working on certain issues that are imperative in an attempt to influence the policies made for the public. The interest groups also seek agendas of the government and its programs
Work cited
Murat, Akser. “News media consolidation and censorship in Turkey: From liberal ideals to corporatist realities.” Mediterranean Quarterly 29.3 (2018): 78-97.
Brienza, Casey, and Matthias Revers. “The field of American media sociology: Origins, resurrection, and consolidation.” Sociology Compass 10.7 (2016): 539-552. Jacobs, Laura, Cecil
Meeusen, and Leen d’Haenens. “News coverage and attitudes on immigration: Public and commercial television news compared.” European Journal of Communication 31.6 (2016): 642-660.
Geddes, Andrew, and Peter Scholten. The politics of migration and immigration in Europe. Sage, 2016.
Skilling, Harold Gordon, and Franklyn Griffiths, eds. Interest groups in Soviet politics. Princeton University Press, 2019.
Klüver, Heike. “Setting the party agenda: Interest groups, voters and issue attention.” British Journal of Political Science (2018): 1-22.