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Media types

Each form of media has its own complexities and is used by different demographics. Millennials (currently aged 18–33) are more likely to get news and information from social media, such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, while baby boomers (currently aged 50–68) are most likely to get their news from television, either national broadcasts or local news ( [link] ).

A graph titled “where do you get your news?”. The legend indicates three categories: “Baby Boomer”, “Generation X”, and “Millennial”. The x-axis of the graph is labeled “Percentage of demographic group getting news from source” and goes from 0% at the origin to 70%. The y-axis of the graph is labeled “News Source” and lists several sources. For “Youtube”, approximately 22% is shown for Millennials, approximately 11% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 10% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “Wall Street Journal”, approximately 9% is shown for Millennials, approximately 9% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 12% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “Twitter”, approximately 13% is shown for Millennials, approximately 9% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 5% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “Rush Limbaugh”, approximately 3% is shown for Millennials, approximately 7% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 12% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “NPR”, approximately 18% is shown for Millennials, approximately 21% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 22% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “FOX”, approximately 30% is shown for Millennials, approximately 36% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 47% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “Facebook”, approximately 61% is shown for Millennials, approximately 51% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 39% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “CNN”, approximately 44% is shown for Millennials, approximately 45% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 43% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “CBS”, approximately 19% is shown for Millennials, approximately 27% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 39% is shown for Baby Boomers. For “BBC”, approximately 16% is shown for Millennials, approximately 16% is shown for Generation X, and approximately 18% is shown for Baby Boomers. At the bottom of the graph, a source is cited: “Pew Research Center. “American Trends Panel (wave 1).” April 29, 2014.”.
Age greatly influences the choice of news sources. Baby boomers are more likely to get news and information from television, while members of generation X and millennials are more likely to use social media.

Television alone offers viewers a variety of formats. Programming may be scripted, like dramas or comedies. It may be unscripted, like game shows or reality programs, or informative, such as news programming. Although most programs are created by a television production company, national networks—like CBS or NBC—purchase the rights to programs they distribute to local stations across the United States. Most local stations are affiliated with a national network corporation, and they broadcast national network programming to their local viewers.

Before the existence of cable and fiber optics, networks needed to own local affiliates to have access to the local station’s transmission towers. Towers have a limited radius, so each network needed an affiliate in each major city to reach viewers. While cable technology has lessened networks’ dependence on aerial signals, some viewers still use antennas and receivers to view programming broadcast from local towers.

Affiliates, by agreement with the networks, give priority to network news and other programming chosen by the affiliate’s national media corporation. Local affiliate stations are told when to air programs or commercials, and they diverge only to inform the public about a local or national emergency. For example, ABC affiliates broadcast the popular television show Once Upon a Time at a specific time on a specific day. Should a fire threaten homes and businesses in a local area, the affiliate might preempt it to update citizens on the fire’s dangers and return to regularly scheduled programming after the danger has ended.

Most affiliate stations will show local news before and after network programming to inform local viewers of events and issues. Network news has a national focus on politics, international events, the economy, and more. Local news, on the other hand, is likely to focus on matters close to home, such as regional business, crime, sports, and weather.

Jeremy Lipschultz and Michael Hilt. 2003. “Race and Local Television News Crime Coverage,” Studies in Media&Information Literacy Education 3, No. 4: 1–10.
The NBC Nightly News , for example, covers presidential campaigns and the White House or skirmishes between North Korea and South Korea, while the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles (KNBC-TV) and the NBC affiliate in Dallas (KXAS-TV) report on the governor’s activities or weekend festivals in the region.

Cable programming offers national networks a second method to directly reach local viewers. As the name implies, cable stations transmit programming directly to a local cable company hub, which then sends the signals to homes through coaxial or fiber optic cables. Because cable does not broadcast programming through the airwaves, cable networks can operate across the nation directly without local affiliates. Instead they purchase broadcasting rights for the cable stations they believe their viewers want. For this reason, cable networks often specialize in different types of programming.

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Source:  OpenStax, American government. OpenStax CNX. Dec 05, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11995/1.15
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