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Medias influence on public opinion
Medias influence on public opinion
How the media influences public opinion
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As the mind matures and grows, new opinions are formed with the help of the revolutionizing consciousness of humanity. The human conscious allows humanity to develop individually and gain unique cognitive patterns and thinking processes. However, these opinions can be manipulated by environmental sources, like the media. The media’s puppet strings can be used to influence the minds of the masses and control their overall thinking process. It takes away an individual’s freedom to think for themselves and form their own opinions. Manipulation is a key ingredient in attaining support for a side of an argument. News networks have this ability to twist the minds of their listeners and unconsciously force them to believe in their words. Two of the …show more content…
Both CNN and Fox News influence these immense populations with how each utilize pathos, ethos and logos in the topics discussed during the broadcasted show. For example, Fox News 's audience seems to be primarily conservative, while CNN’s audience seem to be more liberal (Engel). So each network’s stories “focus on the issues that” conservatives or liberals “want to watch and talk about” (James). These topics are used to develop a more conservative or liberal fan base in the respective news networks. As the dominant news network on cable television, Fox News impacts the greatest quantity of citizens, bringing in an audience of over two million for primetime (James). Therefore, Fox News influences the largest percentage of Americans listening to news networks by effectively using these manipulative literary techniques. However, CNN has a younger audience than Fox News (Carter), which contributes to CNN’s audience growing from 350,000 a night, in 2013 (Agee), to 629,000 viewers a night (James). CNN and Fox News compete with each other to influence the greatest amount of people and the public’s opinion of current events. Each network appeals to pathos, logos and ethos differently and similarly to coax the greatest amount of listeners each night. CNN and Fox News can use the application of pathos to influence the audience’s …show more content…
They use facts and logic to provide evidence of climate change being a process of Earth and not of man. For example, Eric Bolling states: “There has always been extreme [weather]. There is extreme weather forever. In 1977… "Time" and "Newsweek" both had on their covers, the coming ice age because of the world cooling so fast. That was 40 years ago. All of a sudden we go from the globe cooling too fast to it warming too quickly”
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.
“The old argument that the networks and other ‘media elites’ have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it’s hardly worth discussing anymore…No we don’t sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we’re going to slant the news. We don’t have to. It comes naturally to most reporters.” (Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News) This example is tremendously important in the author’s discussion because it proves that news stories do manipulate people through bias. Popular news networks are viewed by thousands of people every single day, thus making it have a huge impact on the public since they believe what they see. When news reporters present their news segments, it is natural for them to give their insights due to human nature being instinctively biased. “The news media is [sic] only objective if they report something you agree with… Then they’re objective. Otherwise they’re biased if you don’t agree, you know.” (CNN’s American Morning) In this quote, the readers are presented to current panelists agreeing that news consumers have a very hard time separating their own view of the news from the perspective of the news reporters because they are presenting their own opinions throughout their segments. This problem exists once again because of the bias that is contained in media
One’s depiction of a powerful figure in society can ultimately persuade on into implementing their reverence into that individual because of the position the figure acquires in society. Authoritative figures in society obtain a substantial amount of influence over ordinary individuals in which they utilize their power to fabricate falsifications of real life. An exemplification of this is how our contemporary government utilizes propaganda to implement a false or fabricated seed into an individual’s mind in order to distort factual occurrences of the world. Specifically, author Orwell notes that both the Inner and Outer parties form “the brain of the state” (Orwell, 208). Truly, this conveys how these manipulative parties construct the thinking patterns of the individuals in their society. This enables one to not even process an ethical thought or emotion, rather accepting what they are told to speak and think of.
Fox News is constantly being bombarded with accusations of media bias, furthermore, a number of different instances of have occurred which question the validity of Fox News (Groeling). These instances occur throughout normal news broadcasts. Some of the more recent, and grossly biased broadcasts, were from the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. Historically the Fox News Channel is known to lean heavily to the right, or on the republican spectrum. President Barrack Obama’s political party is widely known to the public as being democratic. Statistically, to this day according to studies over 17 million households receive some form of the Fox News Channel (Auletta). The Fox News Channel is published through a number of different channels to its viewers. These channels include: Television, radio, newspaper, internet and more increasingly electro...
Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, showcases a world alternate from ours, a dystopian setting. Where human morals are drastically altered, families, love, history, and art are removed by the government. They used multiple methods to control the people, but no method in the world state is more highly used and more effective than propaganda. The world state heavily implemented the use of propaganda to control, to set morals, and to condition the minds of every citizen in their world. However such uses of propaganda have already been used in our world and even at this very moment. The way the media sways us how to think or how we should feel about a given situation. Often covering the truth and hiding the facts. One of the goals in propaganda is to set the mindset of the people to align with the goal of a current power, such as a
For instance, the online article “Television News: Are we Amusing Ourselves to Death?” by John W. Whitehead, John quoted, “Although the news items spoon-fed to you may have some value, they are primarily a commodity to gather an audience, which will in turn to be sold to advertisers. Most people, believing themselves to be in control of their media consumption, are not really bothered by this. But TV is a two-way attack: it not only delivers programming to your home, it also delivers you (the consumer) to a sponsor”. John’s report demonstrates how companies’ influence has negatively impacted television network by using commercial to gain attention from the viewers to keep consumers glued to the screen. Another form of corporate influence on news network is news network attempting to appease corporate sponsor by not resisting person with dynamism and domination. For example, the article “Democracy Now! Decolonising US News Media” by Kevin Howley, Kevin quoted, “Anxious to avoid antagonizing commercial interests or government news sources, journalists rarely challenge people in positions of power and authority for fear of losing access to “official sources.” Instead, working journalists play it safe by taking a less confrontational stance toward elites, pursuing instead the sensational, the titillating or the trivial news item. Thus, journalists create the illusion of conflict and controversy by covering relatively inconsequential “news items” like celebrity gossip, or the sexual misconduct of politicians, while studiously avoiding substantive public policy issues”. The quote written by Kevin represents how news reporters are forced to appease the sponsor by reporting on emotional news event over significant social issues in order to please the sponsor. As a result, audience only obtains information on minor news, preventing people
They say there is no evidence and no real scientific organizations accept it. People think environmental organizations are falsifying and exaggerating information about the climate. The majority of those contradicting climate change have never been apart of any actual research and only get their information from those who profit off the things destroying the environment. Some corporations who publicly deny global warming include the American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, American Legislative Exchange Council, Beacon Hills Institute, Cato Institute, and many others. Each of the organizations listed are being privately funded by either Koch foundations or Exxonmobil, if not both (Source 12).
When the Party of “1984” wanted to establish an idea, they did so, as they had the power to use propaganda to influence all people of lower rank. In the same way, media of today contains propaganda because of how it is delivered and accessed. Media has very little boundaries, which allows it to have very opinionated influential ideas without very much work. The media works to exploit people as they can use their power to establish their ideas. When the media is able to sway people to their side of an argument, the media’s hope is that those people will begin to influence others and sway or reaffirm their opinion. Any time a retweet, like, or share occurs on subjective information, the possibility that the information is believed and retained by more people increases. Researchers from Stanford University described the “power struggle” for influence between modern media by coining a term. They said “The Dune affect is a term we coined--after the movie Dune--which explains that those who control and have access to media have access to and potential control of public opinion (Manzaria)”. The Dune affect is the reason that media uses their power to influence society, because media professionals understand their affect. In order to manipulate the proles
Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structure, have always dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality. One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations relatively do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of there own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy. This simply means that media is structured in a way that it operates functioning from top to bottom. This is also identical to the hierarchical nature of the human body, in that from the commands of the brain transferred through the central nervous system, the body responds accordingly. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the existing populous. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, many of us, who do not adhere to the cushioning of political correctness, refer to it as the propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, cognitive socialization is doctored up information, which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that the probability of its rationalization is highly predictable. The manipulative properties of cognitive socialization are so diabolical and Machiavellian in nature, that I consider it to be the ultimate perversion of the democratic process. In all seriousness, numerous intellectuals, and gentleman held in good stature agree, that cognitive socialization is the product of an evil genius.
From the beginning days of the printing press to the always evolving internet of present day, the media has greatly evolved and changed over the years. No one can possibly overstate the influential power of the new media of television on the rest of the industry. Television continues to influence the media, which recently an era of comedic television shows that specialize in providing “fake news” has captivated. The groundbreaking The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and its spin-off The Colbert Report have successfully attracted the youth demographic and have become the new era’s leading political news source. By parodying news companies and satirizing the government, “fake news” has affected the media, the government, and its audience in such a way that Bill Moyers has claimed “you simply can’t understand American politics in the new millennium without The Daily Show,” that started it all (PBS).
Propaganda and mass media has come to form around every aspect of modern day society. The media uses propaganda to influence and transform a human being while creating a public opinion. “Everyone civilizations creates a social character type.”
Mass media is a growing business, normally controlled by giant corporations. In fact majority of national news in only covered by few sources known as “Big Media” consisting of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and United Press International. (Mary 6). Because the media is so big often the corporations determine what is to be given national attention such as the presidential elections. Leaving the opinions of others to change american politics. Mass media has shaped the political system by using the method “Share This” a social media tactic, televising campaign ads or other political views, and by integrating “Live Media Debates”.
The media today is a reflection of how society has evolved. Just as man is humble, he is deceitful. In other words, there is uncertainty in the air when one discusses the media's credibility. Society lives by preferences and what one chooses to believe in cannot be eliminated once it is tattooed in one's mind. Yet, what one does not want to acknowledge can be a hindrance to one's development. Undoubtedly, the media crafts society's mindset towards issues and that can either make or break us. Therefore, when such an important factor of our lives is in question, we must carefully observe the intricate web of ambiguity surrounding the media.
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.
While living in an age of “fake news,” all media consumers are at risk for influence in most media outlets. While many agree that bias is present in the media, there are debates regarding the reasoning. Nonetheless, some may argue that bias is a product of customer preference (Sutter, 2011). Others may argue that media sources are focused strictly on profits (Robinson, 2014). However, regardless of the intention, the real issue at hand is the effect biased consumption has on consumers. Having media bias can seriously affect the direction of nation based on its voters. If the voters cannot be presented information from an objective standpoint, it is impossible for a nation to maintain its democratic principles.