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How does the media shape public opinion
The role of American media in politics
Impact of mass media on politics
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It is interesting to think that the news is not only used to portray information to viewers, but does so in a way that will benefit one political party over another. As mentioned by Thomas E. Patterson, in We The People: A Concise Intro to American Politics, “the news media are America's window into the world of politics” (Patterson, 322). Nevertheless, whether it's newspapers, news broadcasts, or internet media, news media plays a vital role of agenda setting and issue framing of American politics on a daily basis. News media ranges in many different ways, however one thing is for certain, unless you are a journalist or a broadcaster the information learned is going to be secondhand and essentially not a current event. For the most part, politics is a secondhand experience for many Americans that aren't actively engaged in the political aspect of life. Many people observe politics indirectly through the media rather than directly, the mental pictures that people paint of political institutions and leaders, stem largely from what they see and/or hear through a media source. Although the media is not the only source of Americans political opinions it is one of the main sources of political perception, especially since the average citizen is not apart of every aspect of the political world. “The news media operate as gatekeepers, among the countless story possibilities each day, they determine which events will be covered and which ones will not. These selections, in turn, will influence what citizens are thinking and talking about,” (Patterson, 322). Here in the United States it's easy to flip through the channels on television and come across numerous news outlets which supports one political group, institution, and or leader o... ... middle of paper ... ...pers and broadcast news have lost audiences to cable television and the internet. At the same time, the emergence of cable television and the internet have made it much easier for citizens to avoid news when using the media. Although some citizens today consume more news that was possible at an earlier time, other citizens - young adults in particular – consume less news than was previously typical. A consequence is that young adults are less informed politically relative to both older adults and to earlier generations of young adults (Patterson, 341). Nevertheless, whether you are a young adult, older adult or of a earlier generation, it is obvious that news media first agenda is to operate as a business (in order to generate a profit for owners and shareholder), and then act as a signaler and agenda setter for American political parties, institutions and leaders.
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.
Cocaine made her a schizophrenic. In Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta, Kate Braverman writes about a cocaine addicted mother going through drug and alcohol counseling and rehab. She is a creative writing teacher and gains inspiration from her drug trips. The teacher is referred to as "she" throughout the story and fights her addictions that manifest into a scrappy looking man named Lenny. Through the voice of addiction, the change in Lenny's appearance and the role of colors, it is evident that a physical dependence on mind altering drugs cannot be escaped.
Lenny is the essence of her addiction. When first introduced to Lenny, she describes him with some sort of disgust, he is undesirable to her. "He was short, fat, pale. He had bad teeth. His hair was dirty" (89). She isn't attracted to drugs anymore, they like Lenny, are disgusting. Lenny is there, always, wherever she looks, like a barnacle to a whale. He is a mystery that becomes a temptation, as though she always secretly wants him to be there. He confirms her desire to be there, " Yeah. You're glad to see me. You were hoping I'd be here. And here I am'" (91). Was she just thinking that? He said she was, so maybe she was, ma...
Lenny is the symbol for her addiction. When first introduced to Lenny, she describes him with some sort of disgust. "He was short, fat, pale. He had bad teeth. His hair was dirty"(89). This shows how she isn't interested in drugs anymore. He then tries harder and harder to seek her out and talk to her. Then, the temptation is introduced. "You want to get in over your head. You want to see what's on the other side. I'll show you. I'll take you there. It'll be the ride of your life"'(91). But the more persistent he is and the more he is always around, the more she is gradually attracted to him, and in turn the drugs that she has tried to quit. "His face seemed younger and tanner than she had remembered"(93). He starts showing up to the meeting in a small car, then on a motorcycle. Then he arrives in a red Ferrari. As time passes, he...
Although, in recent years it is seen that consumers are less likely to subscribe to newspapers and/or watch the daily news. This is due to the fact that they are typically bias in their opinions, and are seen to lack the whole story when presented. Rise in polarization in the media is due to a new found competition between news networks, which was not present sixty years ago. Wilson says, “the news we get is not only more omnipresent, it is also more competitive and hence often more adversarial”. The media outlets are fighting for views, and are willing to do whatever it takes to get them. Which leads to them configuring the stories to what people want to here. Thus making their viewer ratings higher. It is known that certain news stations get more views depending on the political party. “Those who watch CNN are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans; the reverse is emphatically true of Fox”. The media has more outlets to reach their viewers to maximize the effectiveness of their biased
Media finds its central role in the democratic debate in providing information, analysis, and a diversity of perspectives to the public. In recent years, with what is known as a media revolution, the amount of telecommunication outlets has increased dramatically. Often called “a product of healthy market competition,” the media revolution has theoretically expanded the public’s access to a multitude of facts, opinions, and general information (Miroff, et al. 2015). However, with a
The news media rejects the fact that they are biased. They claim that they are the “middle of the road,” and are neutral on the stories that they cover. Publishers also claim that they are the watchdog for the political system, and they make sure that the system is free of any corruption, or wrongdoing. Th...
Hughes, Susan. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” American Literature Since the Civil War. Create edition. New York, NY: McGraw - Hill, 2011. 166-175. E-Book.
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.
In order to understand new media, one must first have a solid background of the old media. The old media traces its origins back to the “elite or partisan press [that] dominated American journalism in the early days of the republic” (Davis 29). With the advent of the penny press around 1833, the press changed its basic purpose and function from obtaining voters for its affiliated political party to making profit (Davis 29). With more available papers, individual companies competed with each other with “muckraking journalism”—investigative journalism exposing corruption—and “yellow journalism”—sensationalist journalism that completely disregarded the facts (Davis 30). The press continued to evolve its journalistic approaches and next shifted to “lapdog journalism,” r...
Agenda setting occurs when the media is selective in how they report news. There are so many different news outlets and each one is always making choices about what t...
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
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.