The Six Political Functions of Media Essay

The media is important for us the people to inform us about our government. In this paper I will show the relationship between the media and Congress. There are many forms of traditional media newspapers and magazines and TV news programs. Until recently people got most of their information and news from traditional sources. I would agree with scholars who argue that the media plays a major role as an agenda setter by focusing the public’s attention on a few issues. Public opinion is shaped in large part by people’s exposure to the media. There are two main areas of media agenda setting the first is reporting the news the second is telling us how to view the news.

Thussu (1998) said that it is a journalists duty to explain the information they were providing and not “indulge in cheap ‘event journalism.’

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.”

News has spread around through different means and has rapidly evolved in just the past few hundred years, from newspapers, to news channels, and now also through online media. The purpose of these news outlets is to inform the population on current events locally and internationally. Many people feel as if the news does a good job in captivating audiences and influencing them, but wonder if they are actually reporting the news accurately. In their article, “Pictures in Our Heads,” Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson thought the same, and made statements stating that the media does effectively influence the population and insinuating that the media does not always portray their coverage accurately; this

How stories are written and where stories come from also a major force of media bias, this bias comes from how and where journalists get sources. Good, knowledgeable, well-connected sources are hard to come by, so when journalists get access to such sources, they often return to them again and again for comments on stories. This is problematic as, “this journalistic inclination toward certain routine sources might result in a bias in terms of the framing of the event and an imbalanced coverage” (Reich; van der Meer et al.). When journalists return consistently to the same individuals for comments on stories, the viewpoints of those sources get saturated in the media. These source’s opinions, thoughts, and perspective on the events in the news get more representation through media, causing a bias via overrepresentation of a single viewpoint. Another way sources bias media, is who journalists seek as sources. Journalists seek out influential, well connected, and powerful individuals to be sources. This is in no way a bad practice, as journalists want people who are involved in newsworthy events to be informing what the public knows, it can also lead to bias. The media controls what events are covered, in which way, and when. The people of the United States rely on the media to inform them about the happenings of the day. The voice of the media is powerful in its gatekeeping role. If information or commentary about happenings in the world

Since the United States of America were first established, the news media has had a large and important role in influencing the people. Even during the American Revolution, the press helped to shape the public opinion in favor of the patriotic agenda through newspapers and pamphlets. In the Early Republic, Broadsides became popular with the people and, in the Jacksonian Era, a more voters inclusive press, the “penny press”, and the Associated Press, using a new technology known as the telegraph, rose in popularity. But, more events along the way saw to the growth of the news media as we know it today.

For the average American there is no escape from mass media. It can be found within our news papers, movies, television and internet, which account for most of our news and entertainment source. In Michael Parenti's book, Make Believe Media, the Politics of Entertainment, Parenti attests that this mass media clouds our society's perception of reality by propagating prefabricated images that create and validate a superficial ideological world. Unfortunately, people are denied the opportunity to obtain and interpret information, which impacts our society, by media conglomerates that wish to keep their industry profitable and on the rise. Effectively, the American public's information and entertainment sources are controlled by some ten

The media has played a significant role in American culture. It has influenced our political, social, economic beliefs, and democratic values for centuries. The objective of the media is to provide audiences with fast and reliable news while informing citizens of the latest news coverage. The majority

The media influences how people experience social life. Media such as newspaper, television and film, are important sources of information, education and entertainment. It can be used to learn more about the world and the people in it. In this regard it can be said that the media represent, interpret and endorse aspects of social experience (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2005). The media are also implicated in social regulation, or in other terms, the government of society. The media are implicated in government and politics in an obvious way because modern systems of democracy are conducted through the media. But the media have a bigger role to play in government by structuring how society is controlled and maintained.

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?

Here in America, we try to pay close attention to everything that goes on in the government. Whatever decision they make we want to know when, where, why, and how. This is because whatever decision that they make will determine what will happen with this country as a whole in the long run. So what is the best way to find out what’s going on with our government? Why the media of course. The media plays a major part in every aspect of the government including what happens in elections, the reporting of major military operations and how the American people will react to certain political situations or scandals. Here are some the ways that the media affects the way we think when it comes to the government.

“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).

American journalism is a constantly evolving field, and the freedoms granted by the Constitution allow the news media to flourish in a fairly unrestricted environment. As an integral part of the democratic United States, the media is responsible for keeping citizens informed and involved in their government and society. However, the media is not infallible, nor is it omniscient. Since its conception, it has faced detractors both foreign and domestic, and from every feasible political party. Despite its legions of reporters, analysts, and executive producers, the news media is unable to follow every story and capture each moment in detail. America is a dynamic aggregation in a state of perpetual expansion, and the media today is facing

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

Thousands of our nation's men and women were fighting for their country, yet the media limited the amount of information that they chose to pass on to the public. Each day the media is faced with the choice of making decisions of what news to pass on, when that news could make a significant difference in someone's life, or in the fate of our nation.