Summary Of Glen Greenwald's Limiting Democracy

Countless people have criticized Fox News and CNN for political bias, but recently outrage to media bias has resulted in lasting negative consequences far beyond years prior. Donald Trump has convinced a significant amount of his base to distrust the mainstream media, as evidenced by a Quinnipiac poll that reveals 5 in 10 likely voters believe the media is biased against him (Harper). This number jumps to an incredible 9 in 10 with Republicans. Trump supporters have refused to view media they perceive to be biased, even going so far to chant “CNN sucks!” at a rally in Pennsylvania (“10,000 Trump Supporters”). The resentment of a few news outlets affects not only those news outlets, but how the dissenters perceive the world as a whole. When

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:

A liberal is a person that believes that the government should provide equality for all, while a conservative is a person that believes in limited government and that the government should provide the necessary freedom for people to pursue their own goals. Over time, it has been argued, mostly by conservatives, that there is a liberal bias in the media. Liberals have combated this idea with the belief that conservative media is devoted to making efforts to invoke fear and division in the general public. Though liberals make a fine counter-argument, it is easier to observe that the media is liberal-biased. The liberal versus conservative debate can be compared to facts versus values. Another reason for bias within the media is that a significant percentage of minorities, or smaller groups within the population that are often thought to be poorer, politically identify themselves as liberals. To make these minorities feel like the government is on their side as well as everyone else’s, the media must accommodate the needs of these minorities. Because of this, the media becomes liberal-biased.

In America today, most people have their own political views. Some are legitimate, and some are the cause of one main problem: media bias. Certain media outlets are promoting biased political views on television, the internet, and social media. People that watch and read these biased media sources are constantly believing more and more of the false information that they are presenting. Media bias and fake news in the United States is a major contributing factor to many citizens’ political views, especially as a result of news outlets that promote a liberal agenda.

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.”

According to Journalism.org, 74% of Americans claim to believe that news organizations are biased. Even though the vast majority of Americans feel aware of the biases of the media, however, society continues to be conditioned by the manipulative tactics of the media. The media plays a major role in American culture but, at the same time, most Americans are unable to differentiate biased from unbiased information, which is a vital issue because it prevents people from being honest with themselves and others, and it prevents them from having control over their lives. The effect that conditioning has on society is that it inhibits one’s ability to control

In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, the media is given immense power, which it uses to deceive the public into thinking their world and their government is perfect. The government uses their power to completely control every word that the media prints. The media is set on such a high pedestal that the citizens’ hang on to every word they print. Today’s dependency on the media is not far off from Orwell’s prediction. The media is also heavily influenced by sources other than facts and truth. The modern news industry, similar to that of the Orwell’s novel, is heavily influenced by political and private sects, which results in biased news and counterfactual information.

This causes the manipulation of the media by America’s ruling elites solemnly stokes the resulting flames of angry discontent. The film argues that the mainstream media is no longer the voice of american freedom but, rather than the part of a repressive political power structure that has uncanny parallels that is shown in Orwell’s novel 1984. Totalitarian views are taking over the media according to this documentary.

In our current day and age, both news and media play an important role in society. One major role of media is to spread news and information to the public for educational and informative purposes. Commonly, individuals form beliefs and opinions on their learned information. With the major role media plays, it is easy to gain a distorted sense of reality if one is not careful with distinguishing truth from falsehood. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the government, known as the Party, controls all of society through the use of news and media by the continuous spread of false information.

Lack of media influence in present-day democracies makes accountability and openness virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the media is a powerful tool that can be used to either support or hinder political transparency. Can we, as Americans, really believe the media? If so, how can we find clarity on what’s true and what’s not? In most cases, the media tends to translate coverage of politics and law into forms of entertainment for the American people (London, 2015). However, the media also acts a powerful informant of the country’s political issues and status. Consequently, this triggers a great dilemma among the American people as to whether or not to believe the media. As a result, it is a major challenge among the citizens to differentiate

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?

democracy if American voters cannot agree on what composes truth, since a numerous of Americans perceive the news media as biased and untrustworthy, with both conservatives and liberals complaining that coverage of political races and important public policy issues is often biased by the

“The media are a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is ‘out of reach, out sight, out of mind’ and what we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us” (McCombs).

As discussed in class, one of the most influential agencies of socialization is the media. The way we see ourselves or the way other people see us come from what we are told by others and what we tell ourselves. In the Better world handbook, the chapter on media states that “the way we think and act in our daily lives is inextricably linked to the information we receive about the world” (Jones, Haenfler and Johnson). The chapter continues to discus how information delivered to us can be bias and this raises the issue on who controls the media and what we see through it. The problem with this could be that that whoever controls the media does not necessary have our best interest in mind and the content that is transmitted through the media is profit driven. . In the article “Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong” gives a perfect accept of how easy it is for information to get omitted based on what people what you to know and what they don’t want you to know. From a young age, people decide what they want you to know, so that they can decide on what they want you to think about certain topics whether its American history or something else, its like the

Noam Chomsky (1997) begins his critique of the role of media in politics with presenting his readers with the question: “What kind of society do we want to live in, and in particular in what sense of democracy do we want this to be a democratic society?” (9) He then poses two conceptions of democracy: one where the public has the means to participate in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free; or the second conception where the public must be barred from managing their affairs and the means of information is kept narrow and controlled (Chomsky, 1997, 9). Admittedly, this is a strange way to define democracy; however, Chomsky (1997) urges us to understand that the latter is the prevailing conception that his been in that way in theory for a long while (10). Throughout the rest of Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda Chomsky examines American propaganda efforts and discusses how both major political parties use the falsification of history, suppression of information, and promotion of meaningless discourse to stifle questions about U.S. policy.