International news coverage is declining which is an increasing concern at a time when the world is attempting to globalize. In many countries, journalists face threats of censorship, beatings and even death for reporting issues that may be controversial or not in the interests of power holders. Click here to read more. This section introduces some aspects of propaganda and has a look at some media coverage of various conflicts. Click here to read more.
Some nations can influence and control their media greatly.
In addition, powerful corporations are becoming major influences on mainstream media. In some places major multinational corporations own media stations and outlets. Moreover, even as numbers of media outlets increase, the ownership is becoming ever more concentrated as mega mergers take hold. An effect of this though, is a reduction in diversity and depth of content that the public can get, while increasing the political and economic power of corporations and advertisers. An informed population is a crucial element to a functioning democracy yet these factors often work against this key requirement.