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Media Influences on Public Opinion
Media influence on public opinion
Media influence on public perception
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News
Is it prime time or all the time?
Media influence has become a social mainstay in contemporary society. Not only do newspapers, radio, television and magazines strive to inform and entertain, but they also hold a significant power over what people believe. Since its inception, the standard of media presence was long a tool of integrity and fairness. Newspersons and entertainers may have embellished here and there in order to put more flavor into a certain piece or program, but for the most part, there was a distinct significance to an inherently honesty portrayal. In the vast dimensions of the world of journalism, it is the bread and butter of the everyday broadcast. Hardball with Chris Matthews could be one of the most obvious illustrations of a controversial news show for the media. Not only does it consist of detailed analyzing over politics and politicians, but also of interviews and debates with media connectors such as New York Times journalists and columnists, and attention cravers in general willing to lend their opinion in order to create controversy on the show. This host often takes up character like in sitcoms.
While a report’s main focus is to sum up the days events, relating in general to politics in the United States, opinions are discussed. And although this should not be what audiences focus on, it is. The influence of Journalists to the TV audience is inevitable. Although they present up-to-date news, their input and analytical perspective is what people tend to capture and convey to the public. In a sense, they create a world of news and controversy through their words. Moreover, Chris Matthews does just this in his nightly program of fiery debates and overviews of the day’s political spectrum. Through inside sources, factual debating, gaining trust from the audience and revealing specific opinion, he influences audiences nationwide, and in a way, takes over the minds of the audiences and the media, while still being a journalist and, at the end of the day, just “doing his job”.
Every night at 7pm ET on MSNBC, many around the continental United States tune in to watch Hardball with Chris Matthews, as opposed to the flipside comical shows such as Friends or Seinfeld. Most who choose to watch this news show want to ...
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... an attention-getter when you can have factual evidence to back up an opinion. Yet again there’s another way of influencing and stirring up media attention in the public eye. While politics and the President of the United States should not be a topic to be flippant with, it is the attention and exaggeration given by most journalists today what make our world such a controversial one today.
Is it a news program or a gossip market? Today most news shows do just that. While reporting up to date occurrences, it’s the media attention which they crave most. It’s not that they invent news, but it is moreover taken to a higher level. Through opinions of various journalists, as well as a bit of twisted factual evidence, journalists have the power to influence most viewers who tune in nightly, for the most part to catch up on current events. It’s the words that come out of those journalists that will likely be regurgitated tomorrow on elevators and offices around the world. If it only stopped there; however, most journalists are influential enough to end up on the cover of people magazine or the NY Times. So in the end, are they journalists, or Fiction writers?
Before I started reading the book Hardball, by Chris Matthews, I had a preconceived idea of what the content of this book would be. From the title of the book I drew the conclusion that Matthews would write more about the darker side of politics and how it is 'really' played. I don't really know much about politics, and frankly, I don't care much for politics. However, when I hear the word hardball in the context of politics, I think of blood shed. I think of dirty tricks and blackmail and money changing hands in dark places. I even think of the mafia to some degree when I hear the word hardball. Perhaps my notion of hardball was a bit more than what Chris Matthews describes in his book. After reading the book, I think I understood Chris Matthews' meaning of the word hardball. Maybe I had the wrong idea, or my idea was too exaggerated. Hardball, as I understood after reading this book is "hard-politics", or "raw politics". If every instance of the word 'ball' in the book would be changed to "politics", the meaning would remain intact. Therefore, this book describes the art of playing "ball" in Washington and being successful at it. My first impressions of the book were that it was easy to read, made very interesting by the anecdotes Mathews includes, very informative, very logical and understandable. Just as I found out after reading the first book by Susan Guber, the strategies involved with politics can be seamlessly applied to life in general. The book teaches a series of axioms that all politicians ought to learn to be successful. There's a lot to be learnt from the different tactics described and I can see how someone following these strategies would have an easier time 'getting ah...
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
“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
A Bestselling author and co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” is a remarkably confident lady and TV-journalist Mika Brzezinski whose on-air protest between entertainment news & “hard news” received a large number of supports and fans’ responses on 26 June 2007 in which she had refused to read the news about a release of Paris Hilton from Jail rather she considered more important Senator Richard Lugar with President Bush on the war of Iraq breaking news. She stands on these issues rippled over the internet quickly and similar incidents continue on-air on July 7, 2010 on a report about Levi Johnston and Lindsay Lohan over hard news stories with the title “News you can’t use.”
“Fake” news programs, such as The Daily Show, Zinser reasonably argues, have the potential to dilute mass media and deceive viewers. The Daily Show has been straightforward about its lack of legitimacy as a hard hitting news program, but “the show’s content and guest list suggest otherwise” (Zinser 367). Zinser indicates that The Daily Show should hold itself to higher standards because “people might well think they’re being fully or sufficiently informed while watching” (367). In other words, Zinser believes that if viewers tune in with the expectation of becoming informed and The Daily Show’s content consists of significant topics, the creators ...
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
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
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
Many people believe that liberal media bias is very relevant in this day in age, but really it is just a myth. Conservatives, also known as republicans, tend to forget that most of the American media is influenced heavily by corporate business owners(Schaller 49). Topics such as issues of war and peace, taxes and spending, and government regulation are heavily favorable to the conservatives. A study done by Media Matter for America shows that over sixty percent of U.S. daily newspapers publish conservative journalists rather than liberal(Schaller 49). On the other hand, it is obvious that some hot topics in the news are liberally skewed.
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.
...0). Traditional newscasts are not only dumbing down and sensationalizing the news to bring more interest into their programming, but this can be detrimental to the political process. The Daily Show is uses comedy to show the ridiculousness of the political world and news media for his viewers to take politics seriously (Hariman, 2007). The Daily Show has been awarded with prestigious awards, such as two Peabody Awards, 18 Primetime Emmys, a Television Critics Association Award, and also a Grammy Award. (Feldman, 2007). It can be said, entertainment based shows can have the potential to not only educate, but entertaining as well. Today’s generation have grown up in a world where the distinction between of entertainment and news shows have been obscured, The Daily Show has proven the televisions shows can provide the public with entertaining political information.
Television network Comedy Central, obviously known for their comedy programs, has a show called the Daily Show which doubles as a news broadcasting program of sorts. The broadcast is hosted by a South African comedian and actor named Trevor Noah. During the episode of the Daily Show following the democratic debate in Las Vegas, Noah and his news team did a post debate analysis where they presented a few of the main topics of the debate as well as their own remarks on each of the five individual candidates. While the Daily Show focused primarily on the satirical commentary of the top news headlines, the content and presentation can be analyzed through Nosich’s Standards of Reasoning to determine if the comedy show could be considered a reliable news source.
During these difficult economic times sensationalism has become more prevalent in the media. Stories involving sex scandals and child murders have taken over our T.V and internet screens as well as the front pages of our newspapers. The media bias of sensationalism has been used as a sort of escapism for readers. Although it may seem that sensationalism has just started making waves, it has been around for decades. Sensationalism has been influencing viewers and contributing to media bias since the days of the penny press. Sensationalisms long history has been turbulent, self-serving, and influential to today’s reporting practices. With the influence over readers’ sensationalism’s media bias have and will continue to affect media reporting for years to come.
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).
In trying to attract new audiences, news media have begun to transition from reporting to becoming a form of entertainment. With the meteoric rise of social media’s role as a news source, the fight for an increase of diversity in the media, and the ever-growing desire of immediate content, the future of responsible journalism is more important than ever. Ask yourself, why do I think the way I do? Where do my political views originate? How do I prove them? Most likely, it is due to the biased portrayal of issues in the media and the politicization that accompanies what we consume. Now, compare your views to your preferred news reporting entity. More than likely, they are the same.