In the US, election years have always been heavily charged with supporters of either party throwing blatant insults and opinionated information about the candidates at bewildered voters, especially those in battleground states. During this time, it is crucial for voters to be able to obtain unbiased information to make a vote they support. Recently, as the internet and social media are used more to spread news, that may have become more difficult. Media bias is any form of media used to get information that is misleading to the reader, which has been present in practically every presidential election in US history. There are many different types of bias, such as slant and other unintentional bias, as well as fake news and mudslinging, which are intentional. The way news is spread has evolved throughout …show more content…
During the Trump administration, online news became even less reputable, as “Trump’s primary use of Twitter has been to spread propaganda and manipulate public opinion” (Jurkowitz et al; Rattner). This aligns with data from Republican media impressions during the 2020 elections, where most Republicans felt especially exposed to media bias and believed the news coverage was unreliable and irresponsible (In Election 2020, How Did the Media, Electoral Process Fare, Jones). Clearly, the invention of the internet and social media has hindered voter trust and made it more difficult for citizens in battleground states to decide what presidential candidate they would rather vote for. In brief, since the creation of media bias and political parties, media has been used during elections to try to persuade voters towards a candidate. Presidential elections have been nearly synonymous with biased media since the first real election in the year
In this article Mary Kate Cary opens up with the supreme court decision to not restrict the use of corporate funds in political advertising so that she can make her point that big money ads are not the most effective way for candidates to reach American constituents. She argues that social media is a new way for politicians to connect with citizens. Her five claim are that Americans can now, choose the media they wish to consume, share the media they choose the share, like posts they agree with and dislike posts they do not agree with, connect with others on social media, and donate to candidate campaigns online. With these claims she comes to the conclusion that politicians want to go around mainstream media so that they can connect directly with the voters.
Media concentration allows news reporters to fall victim to source bias, commercial impulse, and pack journalism. Together, all three of the aforementioned factors become known as horse race journalism, a cause for great concern in campaign media. In complying with horse race journalism, media outlets exclude third party candidates, reinforce the idea that politics is merely a game, and dismiss issues that directly affect voters and their day to day lives. Through horse race journalism, the media is mobilized in impeding an active form of the democratic debate in American politics. Even across the wide range of human values and beliefs, it is easy to see that campaign media coverage must be changed, if not for us, then for our children. It is imperative that we discern the flaws of the media and follow our civic duty to demand better media
Drugs have influenced daily life and society since the day of their discovery centuries ago. Their impact ranges from medical to industrial, to recreational to political, and to criminal. Drugs can not only influence the individual, but even cities or countries as whole. A prime example of the power of drugs is the establishment and occupation of the drug cartels in Mexico. Not only have the effects of these cartels infamously changed Mexico, but they have traveled to the United States (US), and change continues to be exchanged between the two. The following report attempts to answer the question, what are the Mexican drug cartels, and how are the United States and Mexico effected by them? A brief history and introduction of Mexican drug cartels
Over seventy percent of Americans believe news is purposely biased(SPJ Code of Ethics). This shows that the people in America know their news is biased and are okay with it. Media bias is hurting the way people view races, religious groups, and certain jobs. Before investigating the situation wholly, people tend to believe what the media is saying which could be a stretch of the truth or even a lie. This essay is about Media Bias and all of the important information surrounding this controversial topic: journalism ethics, the “myth” of liberal media bias, and police department controversy.
Today it seems almost impossible to get a straightforward answer on any major topic from the media. All sources of media have a specific audience that they are intending to hear or view the information that they have prepared, therefore they will cut bits and pieces out so that only the message they are trying to get across will be received. So indeed there is a media bias, and yes it more often than not slants towards the liberal view point, as many reporters and journalists have liberal views themselves.
One of the major problems in the American media today is non-objective reporting which is also known as bias. This has been a trend since the early 1980?s and is very alarming for American citizens who watch the news for truth and honest reporting. Not only has bias been a problem in the broadcast media of ABC, NBC, and CBS, but it has also been a problem in mainstream newspapers such as The New York Times, The Sun, and The Boston Globe. For years, these media outlets have built their reputations on truth and now the trend is to lean left and not tell the whole story. Evidence of this has become very prominent in war coverage and election bias. Bias in the media is a big issue and causes lots of problems throughout the public such as losing trust in a once great source for news, people going elsewhere for information, being ill-informed, and leading to a low voter turnout.
According to James Madison, “nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power and to withhold from them information, without which power is abused,” suggesting that the people have the right to learn popular information and learn both sides of an issue (Paul and Elder 2). However, in modern society, the media often do not present both sides of an issue and are inclined to often mask information for their personal benefits. Therefore, the people often learn and understand only one aspect of an issue and inevitably lean towards the bias present in that news account. Indubitably, the coverage in the mainstream news media influences the majority through its bias and propaganda, especially its partisan audience, which only appreciates one side of the news story. Thus, even though news networks may claim that their news programs and publications are completely factual and credible, their coverage of news events is politically, commercially, and racially biased.
The record distrust in the media, based on a survey conducted Sept. 6-9, 2012, also means that negativity toward the media is at an all-time high when election happens. This reflects the continuation of a pattern in which negativity increases every election year compared with the year prior. The current gap between negative
Since the 1960’s, television has had a major influence on United States presidential elections; however, this influence has been mostly negative. While the introduction of the television allowed an abundance of people to get more information on elections and provided, “. . . a new, direct, and sensitive link between Washington and the people” (Source A), it had also started a shift of the focus of a president’s effort during his or her campaign. Television also has an influence on public opinion-meaning that the public will often believe what they hear from a well-known reporter or celebrity, regardless of its validity. People who are interested in politics have increasingly been turning away from it due to its often disillusioned view of the world. The introduction of television has had a negative influence on presidential elections because of the shift of focus of a candidate’s efforts, the discouragement of becoming invested in the political scene, and the propagation of bias and misinformation.
In United States politics, it is evident that media helps persuade or dissuade peoples’ perceptions of those who run for public offices. Traditionally, news media cohere to a baseline ideology or platform and cover news, politics, and stories by the beliefs of the chosen ideology. For instance, a very liberal news outlet could characterize a story about Bernie Sanders in a very appealing fashion while a very conservative news outlet could cover the same information negatively. Framing is how media and other groups organize and perceive events in daily society. Framing is an important tool that is used to bring people to a common similarity and ideology. Liberal and conservative news stations use framing to daily, either promoting the candidate
of a political campaign, to hit hardest at those who are in power or running
It has become common for the modern day society to rely on different sources for their news. Because of the internet and technological advances over the years, our access to the news has greatly increased. However, along with this comes the familiar issue of media distortion. In the beginning of the year, I decided to study the power of media in depth—specifically media bias and its influence on public opinion on current events. I chose the media as my subject not only because it affects all aspects of our lives, but also because many people can identify themselves with it, like me. Throughout my research, I analyzed diverse but relevant articles in order to improve my understanding of the effects of media.
Media and politics, seems like a pretty scary combination. When it comes to elections (especially presidential elections) media news outlets will usually be all over it trying to get the scoop on the views of the people running and what their beliefs are. The media outlets can be pretty reliable in spreading the news and making sure people are aware of what’s going on I mean look what happened when the Watergate scandal came into public eyes. As soon as something going wrong with politics you know that the media will have your back in keeping you in the light instead of those politicians who always keep you in the dark. Politicians have had this thing that they show us one side of them, the “good” side of them.
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." This quote by A.J. Liebling illustrates the reality of where the media stands in today's society. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in power throughout the media with regard to politics. The media's original purpose was to inform the public of the relevant events that occurred around the world. The job of the media is to search out the truth and relay that news to the people. The media has the power to inform the people but often times the stories given to the public are distorted for one reason or another. Using slant and sensationalism, the media has begun to shape our views in society and the process by which we choose our leaders. There was once a time when the government used the media as a medium to influence voters, committees, communities etc. Recently, it has been the presidents of major media outlets that have not only exercised power over the public but also made their presences felt in government and in the halls of congress. When the word democracy is thrown about it usually has to do with the rights or original intentions for a group or organization. The first group intended to be influenced by the media was the informed voter. Political parties along with the government used a variety of media resources to persuade the voter or in effect receive a vote for their cause. Returning to the thought of ?democracy? the question is, what was the original intention of the media with relation to the theme of democracy and the informed voter? To analyze this thought thoroughly one must first grasp an understanding of the basic definition of democracy.
As Americans we take pride in our liberating government. But, it is essential to ask how much we, the general public, know about our democracy. Because of the representative structure of our government, it is in our best interest to remain as knowledgeable as possible about political affairs so that we can play an active role in our democracy by voting for candidates and issues. The media, which includes print, television, and the internet, is our primary link to political events and issues. (For the purposes of this essay only print and television will be considered.) Therefore, in order to assess the success of our democracy it is necessary to assess the soundness of our media. We are lucky enough to have a media, in theory, free from government influences because of our rights to freedom of press and freedom of speech, but we are still subject to the media’s interpretation and presentation of politics, as is the danger when depending on any source for information. So, we must address how the media informs us; how successful it is at doing so; and how we should respond to it.