INTRO/PROBLEMS The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper,” this quote by Polish writer Stanislaw Lec sums up the problem with the news media. It is the job of the news media to provide the public with news events happening around the world. Without these news reports, people would be oblivious to what is going on around them. Our lives rest in the media's hands, and they are fully aware of this. The news is a very competitive business, and because of this what gets reported is not necessarily what the story is. Since there are different journalists reporting on the same events, each newspaper and newscast has its own way and style of reporting. They also have different gate keeping processes that make them unique. They may do anything to get the story, no matter whose lives they destroy. Criticizing the news has become increasingly popular recently due to the fact that the media has shifted from a positive to a negative view in the public's eyes. Since every newscast and newspaper is different, the stories that they broadcast to the public may be altered in one way or another. As the quote above illustrates, the news media do not always illustrate the world in the right perspective and can hinder the way people look at it. It seems as though it is the job of the news to report only on negative aspects of the world. Hardly ever does one see anything positive being reported. This throws everybody’s perception off about the world around them. The media influence society’s opinions rather than having people form opinions themselves. Newspapers and newscasts use a process called agenda setting to keep the public thinking about certain issues while avoiding other issues that might be more important. Agenda setting i... ... middle of paper ... ..., D. (2003). So was saving private jessica a sham? Daily Mail (London), 18, 19. 8) N.A. (2004). Pentagon papers. Encarta Encyclopedia. Retrieved on April 14, 2004, from http://encyclopedia.com/html/p/pentp1ap.asp. 9) N.A. (2004). Watergate scandal. Encarta Encyclopedia. Retrieved on April 14, 2004, from http://encyclopedia.com/html/section/Watergat_TheWatergateBreak-in.asp. 10) N.A. (2001). The Pentagon papers. National Press Club. Retrieved on April 14, 2004, from http://www.vva.org/pentagon/history/history.html. 11) Perse, E. (2001). Media effects and society. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 12) Priest, D. (2003). Is jessica a war hero? The Vancouver Province, C1. 13) Todorovich, L (1997). Deep throat suspects. The Washington Post. Retrieved on April 14, 2004, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/deept.htm.
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It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Through the process in which the media chooses which stories they decide to cover sets the agenda for what is considered newsworthy and important (Boundless, "The Mass Media"). The ultimate shaping of public opinion is through the decision of what stories are covered the media, because the media can legitimize or marginalize either the entire story or parts of it (Smith, "Agenda-Setting, Priming & Framing"). The public believes in the media, so when the media decides to cover one story over another they are deciding what the public should be thinking about. As Briggs and Burke explain through Innis’s theory that “each medium of communication tends to create a monopoly on knowledge” which in turn for those ruling the monopoly produces a profit and set the public agenda (Briggs and Burke, 6). Similarly to the intellectual monopoly of medieval monks based on parchment, there is a monopoly on traditional media today; six people own 90% of the media that is viewed (McCarty). Ultimately, these six people have been deciding what is considered newsworthy which in effect determines what the public thinks about (Boundless, "The Mass Media"). Through the decisions of what is considered newsworthy, viewers also decide their opinion based off of social desirability or what they perceive the popular opinion to be which is all derived from the media and what they consider important (Boundless,
Keck, Zachary. "Yes, Edward Snowden Is a Traitor." The Diplomat. N.p., 21 Dec. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014
According to Mackay (2009, p. 466), Agenda setting theory suggests that the media has the ability to influence the public’s way of thinking through the topics that are covered. If a news item is more prominently covered, it is thought that
In this climate of deteriorating government transparency, whistleblowers expose corruption to the public which may otherwise never come to light. In recent history, whistleblowers have been vital in revealing government corruption. In one of the first large scale leaks, “the whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg leaked US government files known as the Pentagon Papers, whi...
Bernard Goldberg’s book, Bias, reveals the truth of journalism, rather than its art. He pinpoints the inevitability and reasoning behind the majority of the media, the nation’s informant, slanting the news in a liberal direction. Clear examples and statistics highlight the condition; denied by the media moguls, already identified by the country.
The two key terms “agenda setting” and “gotcha” journalism are going to be used within this paper to show you how politicians and news organizations try to persuade the public. The “agenda setting” is a term that “involves using the news to influence what the public regards as important for them to think about in society and politics.” (Bennett, Lance pg. 23) This is a major tool for news organizations or politicians to seek a public relation toward a certain aspect that they’re addressing their agenda and framing it to formulate their partisan viewpoints. Now for “gotcha” jour...
Media reports everything violent or destructive in the world, they rarely talk about the better things that are happening. When we watch news or find things on the internet we have to decipher what to believe and what not to believe. “What the media reports, how, and who influences all this is no doubt important in how we understand the issues and what opinions are the perspectives we therefore form.” Everyone watches the news and forms an opinion about it but what people don’t realize is that news stations don’t tell the entire story they only tell what they want you to know or what they think is important. Without all the facts and knowing exactly what happened no one can form a correct and knowledgeable
News is often described as the ‘window of the world’, but sometimes what we see on the news isn’t necessarily the true facts of what is happening around the world. News is often very subjective, especially in television, and sometimes the best pictures are picked over the best story. As journalists, we are responsible for society and frequently news leads viewers to a narrow-minded view of the world, often showing them what we want them to see rather than what they need to see. As Harcup explains (2009, P3) ‘Journalism informs society about itself and makes public that which would otherwise be private.’
“Through the ongoing interaction of theorizing and empirical research consistent with the scientific method, agenda-setting theory has evolved from a tightly focused perspective to a broad theory. Initially, the focus was on the way media affect the public’s view of which issues are important. Later the theory broadened to encompass five distinct aspects of public life: basic and attribute agenda-setting effects, the psychology of these processes, and the consequences of these effects for opinions and behavior. The participation of scholars worldwide has been central to the continuing productivity of the theory” (Maxwell McCombs).
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient. Similarly, priming works by repeatedly exposing certain issues to public. As the issues get more exposure, the individual will be more likely to recall or retain the information in their minds. This paper will discuss these three factors played out systemically by media and how our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them.