Laswell's Model suggests that communication serves three major purposes. First it must survey the environment and alert the community to change. Second it must interpret the data so the community can respond. Finally communication serves as our history; it transfers down through time our values and ideals. To complete it's mission, modern media must get and evaluate the information and provide the general people with a clear, full, and unbiased view of the changes in the world, upon which citizens can act. Unfortunately, all too often current-day media fall short.

Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky have defined the reasons that media fall short in their mission to inform. The model they created has four major filters: (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and "experts" funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; and (4) "Flak" as a means of disciplining the media.1 Each of these filters takes a bit of the true reali

In the mid-eighties a law passed that charged a 40% inheritance tax on newspapers that were handed down. This causes independent papers to be bought up more rapidly than before. When small papers are bought up the larger group that buys it almost always downsizes, and uses a new form of media coverage dubbed LCD. Lowest Common Denominator aims at an audience that is the lowest the paper will face. Lowering the standard of there news to the least intelligent person who will read it.

The American media is the most free in the world. The First Amendment guarantees that newspapers and television stations may print what they choose, yet they choose to print substandard information. Profit margin, big business practices, ratings, and advertising money control the information we receive and alter the decisions we make. Only through careful thought and a large pool of information can we find the truth.

In May 1995 congress voted to overhaul the laws for virtually every sector of the communications industry. Not long after the bill passed mergers that before were not legal began to happen. Disney and ABC merged to form one of the large conglomerates in the world. Together they now control over $16 billion in annual revenue. CBS was soon to follow suit when it merged with Westinghouse. And NBC is owned by General Electric. These mergers are monopolies, and they compromise the integr

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 942
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)