Media In The USA

The media of the United States consist of various forms of public communication: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Media in the US allow international students to learn about the country before they leave home (and throughout their stay in the US) via a range of print and broadcast media.

Television
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. It is estimated that 99% of American homes have a television set, and the majority of households have more than one. There are three basic types of television in the United States: broadcast (freely available to anyone with a TV in the broadcast area), cable television, and satellite television (both of which require subscriptions to receive). International students may be interested to know that the US offers broadcast television in languages other than English (LOTE). For example, Univision, a network of Spanish language stations, is the fifth-largest TV network behind NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. Its major competition is Telemundo, a sister network of NBC. Two other popular Spanish-language over-the-air networks are the TeleFutura (owned by Univision), which is aimed at a younger Hispanic demographic, and Azteca América, the American version of Mexico's TV Azteca. In addition, the Haitian Television Network, based in Miami, Florida, offers locally produced Haitian Creole and French language programming in Miami and parts of New Jersey, New York City, and Boston.

Radio
The US has 1,460 public radio stations. American radio broadcasts in two bands: AM and FM. There are 4,793 AM and 5,662 FM commercial radio stations in the US, and another type of broadcast, which is growing in popularity, is satellite radio. Satellite radio is a digital radio signal that is broadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider geographical range than terrestrial radio signals. It is available by subscription. Sirius XM radio is the major satellite radio service offered in the US (and North America). Radio stations may have different areas of focus: for instance, they may be dedicated to popular music, classical music, news or talk shows and interviews (talk radio) to name a few.

Click here for live streaming of college radio stations in the USA.

Newspapers
There are approximately 1,480 daily papers in the United States. The U.S. does not have a national paper; however, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are sold in most American cities. In addition, all major metropolitan areas have their own local newspapers. Major cities often also have "alternative weeklies" to complement the mainstream daily paper(s) as well as local business journals, trade papers relating to local industries, papers for local social groups, and ethnic papers published in Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Italian, Polish, Punjabi, among other languages. University and college student newspapers are also common.

Check out post-secondary student newspapers in the US here.

To find newspapers aimed at specific ethnic or religious groups, click here.

Magazines
On account of the immensity of the English-speaking North American media market, the United States has a large magazine industry with hundreds of magazines serving almost every interest imaginable. American magazines specialize in a variety of fields such as business, entertainment, fashion, film, travel, weddings, animals and wildlife, cooking, literature, home décor and recreation. Many states have their own regional magazines, and some cities also have magazines devoted to life and living in that particular area. The U.S. has three leading weekly newsmagazines: TIME, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, and it has over a dozen major political magazines, serving the entirety of the political spectrum (left to right). Lastly, there are also a number of American magazines published by professional organizations for their members, such as Communications of the ACM (for computer science specialists) and the ABA Journal (for lawyers).

To see a list of ethnic magazines in the US, click here.

Internet
The advances of communication technology have made it possible for newspapers and other media organizations to deliver news almost instantly-sometimes even while it's actually happening. Many print newspapers and magazines in the US also have online versions. Sometimes users need to subscribe to the site in order to "unlock" all of the content.