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Political influence on media
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Sequoia Bey Introduction to Media Theory Victim and the Media This paper will talk about the murder of Trayvon Martin and his killer George Zimmerman. The news outlets taken into consideration are Fox News and MSNBC. In this essay, I will talk about framing, agenda setting, and who owns each of these news channels. Various websites and the class textbook will support all of this. Agenda-setting hypothesis is to show how the media influences the public agenda. For example, if a newspaper has the same story on the cover everyday for the next week, growing more in-depth each time, this story becomes more prominent over stories on the third page of the paper. McCombs and Shaw started researching this function in 1972; current event analysts had …show more content…
I quickly realized that Fox News had 1,123 search results versus MSNBC had only 725 since hearing of Martin’s death 2 years ago. When taking in the amount of video searches that are conducted on Martin’s name: Fox News came to 425 videos and MSNBC came in with 171 videos under his name. MSNBC also conducted 4 polls regarding the Martin/Trayvon shooting. A majority of the headlines on Fox News would use words such as “cleared”, “Not Guilty”, or used George Zimmerman’s name in headline regarding the verdict. MSNBC headlines would talk about Martin’s Legacy, how Zimmerman “got away with murder”, and how Stand Your Ground laws need to be changed. It seems like Martin is innocent in MSNBC’s eyes but Fox News was hard to fine. They used Associated Press for some of their articles and it felt neutral, at best. Fox News is owned by Fox Entertainment Group and created by Australian American, media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Fox Entertainment Group is owned and controlled by 21st Century Fox, which is chaired and part owned by Murdoch. The president of Fox News Channel is Roger Ailes. MSNBC was founded in 1996 partnered with General Electric and Microsoft’s NBC Unit, now NBCUniversal. Comcast currently owns NBCUniversal. Phil Griffin is currently the CEO of since July
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
Through manipulation and lies, media manages to modify objective news into biased news in order to convince the public of what the media wants them to believe. The article, “How the Media Twist the News”, by Sheila Gribben Liaugminas discusses the major influence that news has on readers based on their choice of stories and words. “How the Media Twists the News” has borrowed from multiple other texts such as the books like Public Opinion and Liberty and News, news magazine writers such as Ruderman, and news networks like CBS through Bias, A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News and CNN to make her arguments valid and prove that the news is biased and that it does influence readers significantly because of it.
Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the music group “The Doors”, once said “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” (Quotes About Media). After George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, the media decided to exercise that control. The media forced the state of Florida to bring charges against Zimmerman, misrepresent the facts in order to convince the public Zimmerman was guilty, and influence public opinion after the a verdict was reached.
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,
A good part of Outfoxed focuses on the company's blurring of news and commentary, how anchormen and reporters are encouraged to repeatedly use catch-phrases like "some people say..." as a means of editorializing within a supposedly objective news story; how graphics, speculation and false information are repeated over-and-over throughout the broadcast day until it appears to become fact, and in doing so spreads like a virus and copied on other networks. A PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll points to glaring, fundamental misconceptions about the news perpetuated upon Fox viewers, versus information received from widely respected news-gathering organizations like NPR and PBS. Asked, for instance, "Has the U.S. found links between Iraq & al-Qaeda?" only 16% of PBS and NPR viewers answered "yes," but a frightening 67% of Fox viewers believed there had.
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
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...
To begin, the media plays a heavy role for impacting how citizens perceive an issue or a topic. Furthermore, large audiences can easily
In this paper I attempt an in-depth analysis of the concept of agenda-building. By going beyond the examination of how media decides its’ agenda and influences the salience of issues, I explore how agenda-building plays its’ role in the process. What is important to emphasize on is the mutual influence that is found in agenda-building. I observe what the relationship between media salience and public salience is in regards to agenda-building. This is because it is what ultimately influences how media chooses to gather up information to show to the public. The media considers their own opinion in addition to the publics’ opinion. Another analysis made was the relationship and correlation between media agenda and public agenda.
How has media influenced public perception of political figures, issues, and institutions? Through agenda setting and framing, media has the power to set the agenda for political discussion by providing public attention to political figures, issues, and institutions. In addition, the media can frame political agendas by influencing public perception and interpretation. (Ginsberg, Lowi & Weir, 1999)
Second, framing theory is leveraged to influence the media’s portrayal of each topic(s) and bolster public perception about an organization’s relevance, credibility, and/or benefit (Hallahan, 1999). To further illustrate the inherent value of agenda setting and framing for public relations, this paper will discuss practical applications of these theories in successful media relations efforts.
West, Richard, & Turner, Lynn H. (2000). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield publishing.
McCombs and Shaw looked into how people received their media content, the context, length, and place. This is what they call the media agenda. In news magazines they would search for an article that received the editors full attention by being placed in a full column. News television segments were important if they lasted over 45 seconds or were in the top three items while broadcasting. The five major issues that were overall prominent in the media are: foreign policy, law and order, fiscal policy, public welfare and civil rights.
“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).
...r attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinions on (McCombs). Framing is an important factor by allowing the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more important in the text, which results in enhancing the meaning or interpretation of the situation (Scheufele). Last, but not least, priming also played an important role in shaping public opinion. Priming works as the media repeatedly exposed certain issues in the public viewers. The more exposure an issue gets, the more likely an individual will recall or retain the information in their minds. With these three factors played out systemically the media, our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them. As quoted by Walter Lippman, “what we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us” (McCombs).