Bias in the Media

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Everyday millions of Americans plop down in front of their TVs to get their daily intake of news and current events of what happened that day. Sadly, most of the news and facts they are getting have been altered somehow by someone at the news corporation or by the reporters themselves. In the numerous news sources that cover world evens daily there are certain viewpoints that are thrust into the public’s face. This highly opinionated and biased news coverage has been present since there was news to report on. From WWII and onwards there has been a steady increase in the number of news corporations, which in turn has caused an increase in viewpoints on news coverage. Americans get this biased view of current world events because owners as well as reporters deliberately sway the facts to reflect their view on the event whether that is more liberal or conservative. The major news and media companies in the United States all have different political agendas that they must follow when reporting on current events especially the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are several reasons why news corporations report tainted facts and information and some of these are more complicated than others. The first example is “partiality, favoritism, and one-sidedness. All of these are very present when news corporations have a strong support of one side” (Sloan, Burleson-Mackay 7). The second example is “the tendency and inclination that prevents a fair and balanced approach to reporting on the news”. This is the most present reason why bias in the media arises. News corporations and owners especially present a constant viewpoint and sway on every story, which is why having a fair approach is hard to accomplish (Sloan, Burleson-Mackay 8). The ...

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"The Portrait from Iraq - How the Press Has Covered Events on the Ground | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ)." Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) | Understanding News in the Information Age. Journalism.Org, 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. .

Ryan, Tim. "Media's Coverage Has Distorted World's View of Iraqi Reality."

WorldTribune.com. World Tribune, 18 Jan. 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

"U.S. Intelligence and Iraq WMD." The George Washington University. Ed. John Prados. National Security Archive, 22 Aug. 2008. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. .

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