Corruption and Bias in Media

Everyday people around the globe watch countless hours of television. Many of these hours consist of fictional entertainment shows that have no bearing on the outside world. Although many people do watch local news networks, most of these stories do not effect people around the globe. Only a few networks such as The Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox News are around the clock news networks. These networks are able to pick and choose the information in which they make available to the public and spin the stories to form a bias of the people. Many times this is done without viewers knowledge as they do not have time to check other news sources to back the information up. News broadcasts benefit the public in that they are able to relay information and make it easily available to the public. These stories are then able to help combat corruption, as viewers are then able to use their voices to take action. However some news outlets misinform people by giving out wrong information, as well as twisting the facts to create a biased viewer.

The use of media can be an extremely powerful tool to help combat corruption when everyone is on the same page. Global Integrity is an organization based in Washington, D.C. which reports international corruption trends (Heller, 2007). Global Integrity is exactly what is needed in order to combat corruption across the globe. Unfortunately Global Integrity is not a source in which information is easily obtained by a normal citizen. In order to combat corruption it is in the hands of everyday citizens to do their part to help. Corruption is not often fought by politicians, as many misinformed people would think, as they are often the ones partaking in these practices, or condoning them. Although Global I...

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...ate a false sense of information. In order to raise the awareness of corruption a organization like Global Integrity needs to become partners with a mainstream television media. This would make the elimination of corruption a top priority and something that is not ignored by humans daily. Television is the best use of media to start a “revolution” to fight corruption, it just takes the right people producing the news outlets, and the right people acting on the correct information.

Works Cited

Derry, Simon. “The BBC and Training of Journalists" The United Nations Convention against Corruption as a way of life. Ed. Passas, Nikos and Dimitri Vlassiss.: 2007. Print.

Heller, Nathaniel. "Connecting Local with Global Media Action Against corruption." The United Nations Convention against Corruption as a way of life. Ed. Passas, Nikos and Dimitri Vlassiss.: 2007. Print.