Article Review : ' Toward A Theory Of Press State Relations On The United States '

Not only is it the politicians on the news networks projecting their political viewpoints into the minds millions, but so are the newspapers and magazines that are pushing this liberal favoritism into our hands. It was Robert Bresler who noticed that “If you look at the major magazines such as Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's, they all reflect a distinctive liberal perspective” (13). Again, it is seen that liberal news coverage allows only one side to receive a fair hearing, and thus it is the American public that is left to suffer. Furthermore, Bresler has noticed:

Consequently, the political sphere is now being colonised by the media, and politics has begun re-orientating itself to satisfy the logic of media organisations (Meyer, 2002, p. 71). Therefore, the media are active participants in the policymaking process and the ability to stimulate change or maintain the status quo depends on their choice of subject or policy issue and how they frame it. Active investigative reporting attempts to shape policy outcomes, but this does not necessarily mean that it always represents the most successful approach for gaining policy changes (Spitzer, 1993, p. 7). In fact, sometimes passive, straight reporting can have a greater influence on policy choices. When this occurs, media independence is largely bypassed, as the news generated depends solely on the information released (as public relations material) from legitimate news sources. For example, in the United States, White House staff routinely make ‘leaks’ - expressively to influence policy decisions (Davis, 1992, p. 143; Robinson, 2001, p. 948). Robinson noted that journalists regard “leaks… as indispensable to their work” and that they are aware of their use by officials in return for scoops (2001, p. 949).

Ever since the 17th century, the newspaper has been produced and blown out of proportion, known as mass media. George A. Krimsky shines his own opinion in his essay, “The Role of the Media in a Democracy.” Krimsky provides many examples, reasoning, and rhetoric devices to expand his argument even more, his argument being that; the press should send out straight facts, let people interpret them, and allow the free press to hold the government accountable.

Augie Fleras and John Lock Kunz further the argument, pointing out that what appears as mainstream and unbiased is, in actuality, socially constructed. Fleras and Kunz point out that news items (i.e. the events or issues that are covered) are chosen by personnel (such as editors) on the basis of personal, institutional, corporate, and commercial priorities. 7 In other words, the news media is market driven. The mainstream news media, therefore, are not merely

In the propaganda model media’s function is to inform the public with values and beliefs that will integrate them but if the power is in the hands of state, which means if the state controls the media. It is clear that the media serves the state and their dominant elite. The propaganda and Duncan’s analysis both agree that the journalists that covered the Marikana massacre had critiques and inequality in their reporting. Both Chomsky and Duncan focused on this inequality of power and civil servants. Clearly money and power are able to filter out news that is fit to go to print. This means that government and dominant private interests are able to get their messages across to the

The national media is instrumental in allowing the electorate to develop opinions about contemporary issues. The media is incredibly influential and its power can be wielded for the benefit of all, or it can become a detriment to society. Some media outlets seek to sensationalize the news, sacrificing informing voters in favor of the bottom line. It is through people and organizations who seek to provide the most accurate and impartial view of an event that popular sovereignty gains much of its power. A commitment to informing the public, even when the information conflicts with a writer’s social and political philosophy, can be a difficult one to maintain. Yet, reporters uphold it everyday. This can be seen in the news site CNN (Cable News Network), which is known for having a liberal bias. Despite said bias, it does not shy away from portraying Hillary Clinton, a democrat, as a flawed candidate in an effort to be unbiased. Such a commitment is essential to creating a political and social dialogue in our nation, and as the saying goes, “when dialogue fails, democracy fails.”

”The world is not responding to events in this country, but rather to the description of these events by news organizations. The key to understanding the strange nature of the response is thus to be found in the practice of journalism….” (Friedman, 2014)

Robert J. Samuelson’s factual article, “Picking Sides for the News,” is an essay that describes the different views and opinions on American news by American citizens. Samuelson claims that most Americans see people in the news business as “sloppy, biased, and self-serving.” He states that the news industry is divided by political views; Republican and conservative, and Democratic and liberal. Based on your political standpoint, you may find different news stations more supportive than others. Samuelson shows support to his viewpoint that many news companies “make news rather than just report it.”

In the mid-twentieth century, the news media were one of America’s most trusted institutions. The 1956 American National Election Study (ANES) found that 66% of Americans thought newspapers were fair, while only 27% said they were unfair. These views were bipartisan, with 78% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats viewing newspapers as fair. When the Roper Organization asked a similar question about network news in two 1964 polls, 71% and 61% of the public thought it was fair, while just 12% and 17% thought it was unfair. In 1973, when the General Social Survey (GSS) began regularly measuring con dence in various national institu- tions, only 15% of respondents had “hardly any” con dence in the press.

Human beings are influenced by what they see, hear, or read on the news. Today we have several sources to receive news: newspapers, internet, and radio. However, with this information people come to question what is truly the truth. The Cable News Network (CNN) displays footage of current events happening all around the world. This well-known 24-hour news broadcasting system began to change its traditional pattern of news began to encapsulate the way media directs the foreign policy formulation. For the individuals behind the scenes, including policy makers and academics, the 1990’s was a time of media empowerment and growth. Piers Robinson thesis in the “CNN effect revisited” is the ways in which the media influences foreign policy formulation, socially and politically. In his argumentative essay, Robinson discusses the development of foreign policy since the “war on terror” and the “humanitarian war.” Additionally, Robinson discusses the ways media intervened with political decisions and how the media’s voice created military action. The media that has the privilege to voice opinions, can result in less freedom for the press

Graber argues, “media coverage is the very lifeblood of politics because it shapes the perceptions that form the reality on which political action is based” (p. 229). The media does more than just depict the political environment, since they are practically the political environments. It is said that the relationship between the media and the chief executive goes through three phases. First, is the honeymoon period, which is a time of cooperation when the media send the president’s messages about organization of the new administration and their agenda. Once the honeymoon is over, the White House may retaliate by withholding news, restricting presidential contacts with the press, and increasing public relations activities. There may be a third phase in which both sides retreat from their mutually hostile behavior to take a more moderate stance. After reading the Elite Framing article, Nisbet (2011) stated, “frames explain why an issue matters, who or what might be responsible for a problem, and what should be done.” Frames are used to inform efforts to hold those in power accountable. Nisbet argues “but this understanding can also inform effort at countering elite frames that might reinforce gridlock or political

In “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours”, Glen Greenwald argues that the American media is limiting the political worldviews of the general public by only propagandizing political views that glorify the United States government. Greenwald starts by discussing the fact that we, as Americans, deny the fact that we are not getting the sufficient amount of information that we need to form educated political views. Americans believe that it is meaningless to distort any kind of information because, on the Internet, every source conveys its own political view. We assume that we receive a sufficient amount of information from the vast amount of political views that are radically different from conventional political thought,

Until the 1980s, the control of the media was in the hands of the national government. From then, the control shifted to private outlets and by the 1990’s, there were more than fifty multinational companies who controlled it (“Mass Media”). Today, only about six major companies control the larger fraction of media in America (Williams, Par. 1). Norman Solomon wrote in the New Political Science Journal that most reporters and editors work for just a few huge companies. These journalists and editors are on the payroll for “mega-media institutions”, of which, only about six exist (Solomon 297). How much will the public learn if these companies generally control the output of information?

Media has more of an influence on public opinion that one would think. Society gets a majority of their information to develop their opinions from news sources and broadcasters. But what people don’t see is that there may be a hidden bias in these seemingly unbiased networks. What a network can or can’t produce is maybe even decided by a higher power. This project, through my observations on the Black Lives Matter movement, presented this issue and through it I’ve been able to develop my own conclusions about news agencies and how they choose to present the news that they do. Through my research, I have concluded that the information produced by news networks and sources depends on the popularity of the particular source, the political alignment

Hermida, Lewis and Zamith (2014) describe journalistic sourcing as involving “making decisions on who is included or excluded as an actor in the media” (p. 480). Studies have repeatedly found that journalists rely on official and elite sources (Brown, Bybee, Wearden, & Straughan, 1987; Dardis, 2006; Jha, 2007; Lecheler & Kruikemeier, 2016). Official and elite sources include police, government officials, business leaders, public relations professionals and bureaucrats (Ryan, Carragee, & Meinhofer, 2001). For example, Reese and Buckalew (1995) found that local television reporters did not attempt to quote Gulf War protesters about their reasons for supporting the peace movements. The reporters did, however, quote police sources.