Abstract: The financial crisis occurred in 2008 had a tremendous impact on the U.S. economy, politics and society. Recently, the U.S. debt negotiations between the two parties and sovereign credit rating downgrade have become the focus of world public opinion. In this context, new trends are emerging in American media criticism: when focusing on the value orientation of U.S. media reports in the context of the financial crisis, the media criticism is full of political and partisan arguments, pays close attention to the future directions of U.S. economy and society, carries out criticism against the real issues, and reflects the current American social thought. The reason why the U.S. media criticism has the above-mentioned features and advantages is that it is determined by its democratic political system. The media criticism has a strong constraint force on the U.S. media industry in the context of the financial crisis.

Key words: United States; financial crisis; media criticism