The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century is a book by Robert W. McChesney (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004).
This is a seminal work by one of the leading scholars of the media and politics. With 53 pages of notes citing a broad range of sources, it is a key resource for understanding the role of the media in helping to create the current Late-2000s financial crisis.
It begins, "The purpose of this book is to shed light on how the media system works in the United States and to provide a basis for citizens to play a more active role in shaping the policies upon which that system is built. The corporate domination of both the media system and the policy-making process that establishes and sustains it causes serious problems for a functioning democracy and a healthy culture."[1]
The business model of the commercial media is to sell behavior change in their audience to advertisers. Advertising is the only source of revenue for commercial broadcasting and is the majority of the income for magazines that accept advertising. Advertising rates are set primarily using the Nielsen ratings, which estimate the size of the audiences of different media outlets and provides information about their demographics. This allows a potential advertiser to estimate the potential incremental revenue that might be obtained from placing a particular ad with a specific media company.
"The Problem of the Media" summarizes evidence raising questions about "eight myths" about the US media. A consistent theme is that the media have inherent conflict of interest in covering almost any political issue. Perhaps most obviously, the US constitution authorizes congress to encourage intellectual property protection, "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." The Copyright Act of 1790 set 28 years as the maximum duration for a copyright under the logic that almost no one invests in a such a speculative venture as writing or painting placing any substantive consideration on the likely revenues beyond 28 years. The Copyright law of the United States has been modified five times since then to extend the period, each time with heavy lobbying and minimal coverage by the media who expect to benefit. Now the US limit is the life of the author plus 75 years or 95 years. Opponents could describe copyright royalties paid after 28 years as a tax collected by a non-governmental organization as a result of laws passed arguably without adequate consideration of the public interest.
A second conflict of interest for the media is that advertisers are rarely eager to feed the mouth that bites them; this point is rarely if ever mentioned by people who claim that the media have a liberal bias.
A third conflict of interest comes in covering electoral politics, because the media, especially commercial broadcasting, are the main financial beneficiaries of the current system of private funding of political campaigns in the US. Many campaign ads are purchased at the last minute by campaigns that cannot purchase earlier, because they don't know earlier how much money they will have, and therefore must pay the highest rates during periods with the maximum demand and therefore highest rates for advertising. Any information that allowed the public to understand better the issues and candidates could increase the chances that a candidate or issue could win with less money, which could reduce the profits of the media corporations.