“Every time you silence someone you make yourself a prisoner of your own action because you deny yourself the right to hear something” (Hitchens), for several years, our nation has become divided over the thought of a biased media. While one side argues that it is being done for commercial purposes, the other claims it has become a Liberal tactic to promote hatred towards conservatives. Liberals also declare how conservatives have created a ‘fake news’ epidemic. Is there a bias in the media and how does it affect our government and society? During the Vietnam War, bias in the media became apparent in America. Many liberal sided news sources, such as the New York Times, created a distorted view of the war as an oppressive attack on a Liberal Vietnam, as opposed to it being an American strategy of communist containment (A Brief History of Media Bias). But as technology advances, credibility from news sources have decreased dramatically; possibly creating a sectional divide in our society while threatening our democracy. From a statistical viewpoint, bias in the media is nothing but a commercial strategy. According to D'Alessio ( a professor of communication sciences at the University of Connecticut Stamford), news reporting has become balanced as a result of profit gains (Farhi). And with the help of technology, media coverage can now be expanded to greater lengths--bringing in more profit. This conclusion being derived from almost one hundred studies of the media within
In “There Is No Significant Media Bias”, Paul Farhi argues that political news is actually tilted towards the center, “Because that's where the people are, and that's where the [advertising] money is.” Critics such are Farhi are wrong in the sense that media bias affect certain groups of people more disproportionately than others. “There Is No Significant Media Bias” was created in 2012, a time when political scene was much milder and social media didn't have as much influence as it has currently. In 2016 alone, the popularity of fake news on Facebook has already jumped past the viewership of mainstream news media (Lee). The media scene has done miracles for conservative news outlets, as previously stated with the popularity boom of websites such as Breitbart. Even MSNBC, the news channel that has traditionally been trusted for progressive news, has come out with an ad stating, “People might accuse us of leaning too far to the right”, shifting towards more right-leaning TV programming (Christopher). If there were no significant media, there would be no budding movement in media and consumer trends that leans particularly strong to one ideology over another. Clearly, this is not the
Media has been playing a significant role in our daily lives by developing our personalities, enriching our knowledge and providing us with different sorts of information. It has a tremendous power in framing cultural guidelines and shaping political dissertation. If the information provided to the U.S. citizens is distorted, then they cannot make informed decisions on the matters of public policy. Thus, it becomes vital to the American democracy that the news media and its institutions remain unbiased, fair and accurate. Media bias happens when a media systematically and persistently emphasize one particular point of view that is usually below the standards of professional journalism. There can be various reasons for media bias, some of
Do today’s media hold a biased opinion? Political figure heads of modern day America have argued the subject of a biased liberal media for decades. The notion of the media being predominantly liberal is not unheard of because since publicly broadcasted news media first became common, the Republican Party was not yet one to rival the Democrats. The core argument presented is the possibility of a liberal media manipulating the American public and thus influencing them to vote in congruence with the ways of the Democratic political party. Thus far it is simple to see the media clearly holds a bias that is in favor of the liberal viewpoint. I believe the media should not hold an opinion because, it comes through in their coverage and thus
The media today has become a topic of concern for many members of the general population. Am I getting a reliable source of information? Is this source withholding the truth and ameliorating a topic? If I know that the information being reported is false, how can I trust that any other information from this source can be trusted? These are several questions that a particular citizen might make on a day to day basis, and when the question of bias is thrown into the mix, an overwhelming feeling of mistrust in our media can ensue. Media sources today are siding more and more towards their viewers political views, and this creates a form of media-bias that can spread untrustworthy information out into the public. Depending on your media source,
In a general sense society derives much of their beliefs and indifferences from stories that are covered in the media. If the stories are being reported biased, how can we, as a society, see the whole picture? The author's purpose is to inform readers about the different biases that news and media sway by and to provide evidence that proves instances when these biases have weakened the validity of the reporter's story. "Journalist are like dogs-whenever anything moves, they begin to bark." (Gladstone, 2011/2013, P.25)
The “roots” of bias in the media date back to the nineteenth century, and criticism about bias partly reflects a controversial idea about what exactly is the media’s role and purpose. Newspapers and television alike are suppose to exist to relay objective, factual information gathered and communicated by journalists and reporters.
In The Washington Post, Paul Farhi states, “This means your chance of running into ‘news’ that seems biased has increased exponentially, elevating the impression that ‘bias’ is pervasive throughout all parts of the media.” The news media needs to be more aware of the information presented to the readers, while showing more concern on truth and facts than its own bias opinion. On the other hand, many believe the perception of news remains in the hands of the reader. According to some, a reader’s obligation remains to understand and determine the credibility of any news or information. The growth of a bias media creates a harder atmosphere to research the
The media is lying to our faces while pushing their own opinions onto the groups that they have influence over. This statement might sound insane but an overwhelming number of Americans believe that the media is not being completely honest with the information that they are reporting. Media bias may not seem like a hard-hitting issue but it can become extremely dangerous in the right circumstances. Media bias becomes a dangerous weapon when politicians use it as a tactic to get the upper hand in a situation. Often, this situation involves the presidential elections and other high ranking official elections. In almost every presidential election there are reports where party officials often accuse certain networks of favoritism towards one party
When discussing whether or not a news source is biased, what “unbiased” news looks like needs to be established. In order to evaluate whether or not bias exists, there needs to be an objective news source that would serve as a comparison; however, finding this objective news source proves to be a problem and that problem lies within the subjective nature of bias (Alessio). This means that there is no clear consensus as to what constitutes bias or not. For example, some studies have shown that there is a liberal media bias due to a greater proportion of liberal journalists and anchors while others have shown a conservative bias due to the fact that news corporations are businesses and that business aspect predispositions the news towards conservatism (Alession). Also, consumers of media are also more likely to perceive bias when introduced to media that ran in opposition to their own position (Eveland). This stems from the fact that people’s notions and personal biases often make-up their own reality and any deviation from it is automatically is rejected as “biased.” However, according to D’Alessio and Allen, there are certain tangible properties of bias that can be applied to help determine if a source is biased. Firstly, the bias must be intentional, influential, threatening to common
Although the media deny being bias, there are ways to prove that it does exist without the proof of studies and research. When journalist only report from one side of the story and use phrases from witnesses or experts from the one side that they are reporting on, media bias is presented. If the journalist fails to report on the conservative side of the story, or the conservative part is either barely mentioned or comes at the end of the story instead of mentioning it during the liberal view, this is another example. Another way to identify this type of reporting would be looking for the journalist to put a spin on the story. This happens when journalist make one side of the story more appealing than the other. (Baker) Since the general public is able to spot bias in the media, they no longer trust the news. Back in 2001, when four major networks starting running evening news broadcasting, the ratings had dropped significantly (Alterman 7).
To understand what state the modern media system is in, one must firmly understand what bias is. Media bias is present “when a political belief or commercial interest distorts the level of reporting” (“Media Bias” 1). If a political station provides positive or accurate information to only one side, then the station can be considered biased. Another form of bias is known as sensationalism. Sensationalism is the creation of panic or fear by over-reporting or over-inflating individual news stories, often blurring facts or reporting speculation as facts. A modern and familiar example of media
Everywhere we look and listen there is bias. News stations and news reporters claim that they are unbiased by are they really? Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine deciphers the different types of biases. News stations such as CNN report on politics and news related to politics. The New York Times reports on “breaking” news stories such as 9/11 or Boston Bombings. The Today reports on breaking news stories and stories for the family. Bias comes in all forms and shapes from the newspaper we read in the morning to the news we watch at night.
There is no getting away from the fact that the media is biased it is just which side of the aisle that they are biased to that I believe is the main question that needs to be answered. The progressive liberal side screams bias whiles the conservative army also scream bias so is there really bias in the media. I will take a look at the mass media most specifically cable news and syndicated talk shows to prove the point that bias in the media is more a myth that the leaders of each side preaches so that their followers believe that this bias exist. Not to be confused media bias does exist but also there is barely any objective source left such that once you start reading through the lines you realize the myth that I am talking about.
It is no secret that the news has always been known to be bias toward a certain opinion, but experts can trace acts like this all the way back to the nineteenth century in early America (Thornton, 2016). During this time period most of the well-known newspapers were explicitly linked to political parties and economic interest. Respected historian Chilton Williamson writes this about the early 1900’s, “The presentation of facts simply as facts, editors and writers reasoned, cannot accomplish the exalted goal of saving civilization” (Thornton, 2016). But what if a leader comes along and believes that the best thing for their country is to use extreme media bias? In 1933 Adolf Hitler changed the meaning of media bias by completely controlling what people saw and read. Hitler eliminated papers against his control, and promoted the ones in favor. By doing this, he forced people to only see what news was being presented in one way, instead of an accurate and fair representation of the entire news (The Press in the Third Reich). This statement is not insinuating that bias with Nazi Germany is the same as modern America, but it is suggesting that bias amongst media allows for a misrepresentation of the truth to the people.
As humans most of us strongly stand by our opinions specifically concerning politics. There are numerous media outlets that we are exposed to daily that are managed by individuals who hold resolute views regarding specific pressing political topics. They share their views with the general public. Media is made up various dissimilar forms. These include social media, television, radio, and podcasts. As a result of these abundant media sources, many viewers are affected by what they are subjected to daily when exhibiting media. Thus, media in the United States is undoubtedly biased; News outlets have agendas that they adhere to actively making all media slanted to one side. Media viewers and the general public may have biased understandings regarding news, nevertheless U.S. Media will always be more bias.