Biased Media If a news anchor tells viewers the news in a certain way and gives a personal opinion on it, are they going to believe the same as them? People believe that media officials have news anchors tell news in an agreeable way. But some people will think what they want. But can’t both be right? When news anchors talk about gun control laws it’s always negative. They’re being biased. The stories about school shootings and killings have made people believe it should be harder to get weapons to prevent this from happening anymore. New York Daily News has taken matters into their own hands and called out Republican leaders for them sending prayers to San Bernardino, but making no progress on gun laws (Battaglio and Villareal). But even
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
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,
It is important that news broadcasting networks do not let personal bias effect the story that’s being told to its audience. People who watch the news, opinions are heavily influenced by the information given to them. Viewers think their opinion is original but are unaware that the information they receive is biased and is meant to influence and form their opinions about a certain topic or argument. Many believe that the news is unbiased and factual because journalist or experts are providing them with evidence.When, in fact, these news outlets are filled with producers, reporters, and writers, who share the same viewpoints. This is groupthink and groupthink is very prominent in news broadcasting networks. Groupthink is when a group of people who share the same ideologies make decisions as a group. In an interview with Fox Business’s John Stossel, Bernie Goldberg explains that groupthink effects the viewer because like-minded people at news networks only show the audience one-side of an argument or story because of their personal opinions on a the topic. This means that news
In the 2016 election, Trump claimed the media was biased towards his opponent, Hillary Clinton. When the media coverage of both candidates were observed, it is clear that they wanted Clinton wanted to win. Many people in the US follow the news and get all of their information there. However, most people do not trust mainstream media because they think the media is biased and trying to influence their views on many important topics in today’s society. In fact, 66% of the people in a survey believed that the media was twisting information related to global warming (Evans). If the news was more objective, more people would listen to the news because they would feel as if they got the correct information. Things such as elections would be more
“Public opinion is formed and expressed by machinery. The newspapers do an immense amount of thinking for the average man and woman. In fact, they supply them with such a continuous stream of standardized opinion, bourne along upon an equally inexhaustible flood of news and sensation, collected from every part of the world every hour of the day, that there is neither the need nor the leisure for personal reflection. All this is but part of a tremendous educating process. It is an education at once universal and superficial. It produces enormous numbers of standardized citizens, all equipped with regulation opinions, prejudices and sentiments according to their class or party.” – Winston S. Churchill
This paragraph will go through if the media are bias and use the example of newspaper endorsements and its effects on voting. According to recent survey data over a half of voters believe that the American media is biased. But another forty percent say that they filter out the media because of how biased it is. Newspapers are driven by an economic motive more than a political motive, which is why it wouldn’t make sense for newspapers to just be biased without any real economic motive. The only real explanation for this is that newspapers are biased only towards what their consumers want to hear, and if consumers hear what they want to hear then they will keep buying the newspaper. Newspaper endorsements are a very popular method by newspapers
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
An important yet under-discussed issue for our time is the media bias. Everyday free speech is broadcasted across the world but with underlying agendas of communication companies. Many broadcasts engage in the assaulting of political candidates or display of tragedies to prompt viewers to believe the media states the exact truth. However, a majority of people do not decipher the tone and mood of the channels and papers which secretly distribute the opinions of the news company rather than solely the news.
and the ANC (Terblanche, 2016). Bias in the media is the perception that the press is reporting the news in a prejudiced and non objective manner. This falls under one of the three principles of the role of media, honest reporting. According to Windschuttle, the role of the media can be characterised by 3 principles: Honest reporting; Adhering to the ethical obligations that bound them to the listener, viewer and reader; Lastly, commitment to good writing (Windshuttle, 1997). The role of the media is extended to informing the public of what they need to know in order to make decisions. The guard dog theory is a common way to describe the way mass media and journalists support various political views and groups but can also criticise the same groups when they violate the values they promised to adhere to. The theory claims that the idea of the guard dog is found in the middle ground between the ‘lap dog’ and the ‘watch dog’. They are neither entirely subservient to the powerful entities that control them nor completely serve the publics best interests (Akumey-Affizie, 2017) Most of the headlines from The Daily Maverick, The Citizen, The Huffington Post, and Time Live reflected the President and his decision in a negative light, with rare glimpses of positivity from newspapers like The New Age. Media coverage and the way they frame their stories directly affect the opinion and response of the public.
Bias is allowed to enter the media coverage of politics. Graber (2010) states “U.S. courts usually have held that the print media have a nearly absolute freedom to determine what they will or will not print and whose views they will present” (p.51). Generally, most Americans do not favor press freedom. However, as long as unregulated media avoids libel and slander, as well as publishing top-secret information, legal restraints cannot hamper their publishing decisions. The United States Supreme Court defines print press rights in the case of Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo (1974). The Court ruled unanimously that newspapers could print or refuse to print anything they like. The media performs four major functions for government
This is a topic that affects millions of people around the world and not only in America. Media bias is how journalists and news companies select and use information within mass media to promote a certain belief or to acquire monetary gains. This is a very important topic because media affects what we believe, and some of our actions such as voting. Our human nature that help us to solve problems and guarantees our survival makes us take a decision on whether something is beneficial for us or not. That is why we have believes. Humans are naturally biased toward certain believes, but when it comes to news that a are communicated to people they should presented in a factual way. Today's American society is divided almost to the
The news is a major source of information used by many people in order to gain knowledge on current events. However, it can become unreliable due to various media biases. These biases are used to make the news more plot driven in order to increase viewers and profits rather than providing in-depth analysis of pertinent issues. Media biases can be dangerous to society, and can give citizens a false view of what is going on in the world. They can strike fear into viewers, and make them believe that the world around them is much less safe then it actually is. In the CNN news clip Politicians Behaving Badly? and the Daily Show clip The Amazing Racism – Geographical Bigotry the media biases of authority-disorder and dramatization
While all sources that provide news are biased, they have a responsibility to be totally accurate with the, hard news and to save their opinion for the editorial page. Should the role of media be to present just the facts, or should these organizations infuse opinions with the news? CNN and all media sometimes cross the line when it comes to “presenting news.” News stations around the world have a way of making people think what they believe is correct with global events presented by CNN, FOX News, MSNBC among others.
Whether it is news channels on the television or whether it is Twitter and Facebook news, the public will always have a way to find out current reports. Since society has become so dependent on technology, a greater amount of individuals get their actual news online and especially through social media. As many of the public know, you cannot trust what people online are saying. Since individuals are so accustomed to getting the news online, many of them tend to believe what they just happen to scroll across on Twitter and Facebook or any other sort of social media. Finding actual facts and truths on the news have become so difficult now, due to all of the millions of different sites and places where we can get our news from. The news online tend to be biased and untrue due to how openly and freely individuals can create their own site and “reports” on current events such as a real news channels would. Social media has just made it more complicated to find the actual accuracy of current events but with enough research, dedication, and using the SMELL test, finding the right information would not be as
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.