When people discuss politics and the media, the topic is usually bias and spin. Radio, TV, and the Internet today are thick with ideological combat, and public opinion about both news and entertainment media is increasingly split along partisan lines.

Politics and the media, however, have a deeper relationship. Since the founding of the United States, government policies have determined what kind of media would develop, under what rules they would operate, and, as a result, how political parties and candidates would compete with each other. In determining the architecture of communications networks, allocating scarce resources such as radio spectrum, and translating constitutional principles into new technological contexts, the federal government has established a crucial part of the framework of American politics.