Effects of New Media on Political Reporting

Speed, immediacy, global reach- the Internet provides vast, new opportunities for the distribution and reception of news. I had spent the past two weeks, Feb. 13- Feb. 28, observing the front-pages of CNN and Fox News online. Because both are powerful news networks, I focused my attention on the top-featured stories displayed on both web pages, and if stories were featured on both, did the news networks portray the stories similarly or differently. A lot of my attention was also focused on the diversity of both CNN and Fox News. I reviewed diversity by analyzing the difference in headlines, content throughout the story and the writers and reporters.

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).

The article begins by explaining the main purpose for the research inquiry. If this recent election has proven anything, it is that there is vast wealth of election coverage. Citizens can now access political information, and news coverage from almost anywhere through a variety of mediums. This increased access has opened a new dimension. Partisan media effects have been researched in the past. However, this article points out that there is a lack of inquiry on the timing of partisan media influence during the election cycle.

The media is one of the most common ways to get information. People can log on to a news website, they can obtain information through mobile online articles, and can watch the nightly news channel on various stations to learn about what is going on in their local city and in the world as a whole. There are dozens of news stations that people can obtain their information, such as CNN, Fox News, CBS News, and the local news station. However, the place in which these individuals obtain their information might not always be the most effective, most factual and accurate, or the most

Introduction: Today, developed societies are fabricated on obtaining information about the current world through multi billion dollar news corporations which can be be accessed from televisions, papers, websites, and radios. Since the general public is accustomed to this manner, these substantial publishers can effortlessly mold the population's beliefs to suit their desired ideals by reporting on news with incorporated propaganda and subjectivity. So when it's becoming perplexingly more difficult to access factual information about current world events, you have to to analyze whether the source your obtaining news from contains any political agendas, subjectivity, or assumptions. If none, the truth can then be founded upon evidence,

I will begin by explaining five factors from our reading from the textbook and from our class discussions that interfere with Americans’ access to news. I will explain what each factor is and then I will explain its impact on the consumption of news. Firstly, I will show how the decline of printed press affects the quality of the investigative reporting of newspapers. Then, I will show how soft news impedes on Americans’ ability to gain factual information. Next, I will talk about

In today’s society, remaining connected and knowledgeable of current events and the newest trends is vital to staying ahead in business, education, and social standing. This information is supplied to everyone through the internet, newspapers, television, and radio. One can tune into stations such as CNN, NBC, Fox News, Al-Jazeera, and many others (“SQs of Media Outlets”). In order to meet the needs of viewers, readers, and listeners, the ideal media system would contain accurate, quick information, with a purely impartial view on the facts as they are known. However, this modern media system has not maintained an objective view, pushing opinionated and slanted reporting onto the population in order to create profit and gain customers. The exploitation of information media for personal gain has created a toxic and inaccurate present, constant in today’s society.

In Australia, the media both reports and interprets events that occur worldwide. Reporting in the media provides a direct factual account of the events that take place. While, interpreting events demonstrates that the media can instil meaning and value, therefore, providing beliefs and opinions towards the public. As society keeps changing so do new ways of providing and delivering news. There is an ever-growing change from traditional media to new media. With these two media platforms playing a major role in our society, especially the way they influence government and political participation. However, progressively there in todays community there becomes many challenges faced with the old aspects of media. The phenomenon of 24-hour news has

Throughout the last century, the way in which we receive information about the world around us has changed drastically. We no longer wait two or three weeks for letters in the mail or sit around the radio for the nightly news cap. In 2015, more than 68% of Americans owned a smart phone, while 73% owned a laptop or desktop computer (Anderson, 1). Due to the development of technology, we gather information quicker and more efficiently than we did even a decade ago but has the relationship between media and world events changed course? According to Richard Oliver Collin and Pamela L. Martin, the authors of An Introduction to World Politics, the new developments in technology surrounding the way in which we access the media has changed how we responded to world events, ultimately affecting how events play out.

Currently, people can access the media from almost anywhere. Years ago, the broadcast of information by television and print had dominated the American society for an extended time. Now the Internet has grown exponentially with a variety of sources of information. BUT How has the media’s objectivity been affected by the explosion of information sources? According to Everette Dennis, An American scholar stated that “Objectivity is what sets apart American mass media from the rest of the world and is one of the most important precepts of American journalism” (Beck). However, it is indubitable that this new era of mass media has a significant impact on our society to the global scale and the quality of the information. Some of those sources are

When the White House felt a retraction was not enough because so much harm had already been done, the media got extremely upset with the White House, due to the pressure they were putting on the publication (52-53). Begala agrees with Hewitt that the media has a bias, but argues that it is a liberal bias. He cites the media's obsession with the Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal and how, "Even when Clinton was leaving office, he was hounded and pounded by the press" (199). He argues the news coverage was unfair, brutal and unethical in the way both Bill and Hillary Clinton were treated during the scandal (200). Begala also says Al Gore was treated very poorly by the press during the election, by being misquoted. Gore made major contributions during the early phases of the internet and made a comment on CNN saying he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." Begala argues this was blown out of proportion and more than a thousand articles have been written quoting Gore saying he said he "invented the internet" (202). The people's perception that certain publications are bias can have a negative affect on journalists as a whole. While the public demands that the press question politicians, Robinson says there is public discontent when bad news is reported due to the publics distrust in news and a "kill the messenger syndrome." At times, the public will assume all media is the same and when one publication is guilty of inaccurate or bias

Just how influential are soft news outlets in informing the american people? I approached this topic with an interest in the answer because soft news media is one of the early ways that I was introduced to politics. It is through this medium of media that I have seen many people increase their political participation. There have been some studies in this topic but I want to see how prevalent these studies are to today’s soft news media. One of the more useful resources that I had while writing this paper is that of Matthew A. Baum. He has written many studies regarding soft news in the media throughout the years. I believe that soft news outlets are a great way for the politically uninformed to become better informed rather than watching the more hard news outlets.

There are numerous sources in which an individual can obtain information about current events happening around the world; some produce content strictly on the pretense of political affiliation, while others attempt to establish a more neutral footing, and others are simply more credible than others. Only four examinations will be necessary to prove this, however: The New York Times, the New York Post tabloid, the Richmond Times Dispatch, a local newspaper centered in Virginia, and finally the Telegraph, a conservative leaning news source based in Britain. Each of these sources provide an overwhelming amount of diversity on the issues they cover and the manner in which they do so, format, and political ideology within their editorials and

In recent years, a shift has been created by new media, it has opened new spaces and changed various aspects of the very nature of news production and consumption (Shapiro, 2010). This essay evaluates the arguments surrounding this change, such as the debate over whether situated journalists are too subjective as opposed to the expectations of objectivity in traditional news media. The benefits that ‘informal’ journalists bring to news production are analysed in comparison to formal and distanced news production. With the immediacy of new media, the way news is consumed has changed, there is room to have a dialogue and interact with it in consumer’s pursuit of the truth. With the growing prominence of situated journalists, the growth of new media and the increasing informational appetite of the consumer, progressively more news is produced and consumed in a variety of different ways and with different implications across the world. These key arguments are explored to critically evaluate the role and effects of new media on the way the news is produced and consumed.

This surge of quantitatively focused journalism has deep democratic roots with numerous forms tied to the public-service tradition of investigative journalism (Cox 2000) and open government advocacy (Parasie and Dagiral 2012). It has great potential to increase journalism’s ability to make democratic institutions more understandable and receptive to the public, but even within this subfield of journalism, views of the public and the journalistic process are different. While the computer-assisted reporting of the 1990s was usually a single, unified concept for both scholars