Some say "ignorance is bliss," but in the case of democracy, this can be problematic. Public opinion is vital in sustaining democracy. Unfortunately, from recent polls, it is clear that Americans do not know very much about politics in general, so voters cannot make good decisions without having interests in or knowledge of politics; however, the media can help voters make better decisions, provided that voters look at media sources objectively, because it allows for a wide variety of ways for people to get their information. The conventional wisdom about public opinion was that Americans were interested and paid attention to politics and knew the basic facts about American politics, but early polls have made it evident that Americans are …show more content…
Anthony Downs proposes that unknowledgeable citizens may rely on "rational ignorance" to base their decisions. Rational ignorance is an individual's reliance on friends, "cue givers," who are knowledgeable and trustworthy to provide information to compose informed political decisions (Kollman, 2012: 330). While rational ignorance seems like a fitting method for an individual to base her decision, there is the problem of differing interests. A cue giver may not "have the same interests as those who are less knowledgeable and receive the cues" (Kollman, 2012: 331). An individual may not feel the same way about a certain issue as her friend does. If voters forge their decisions solely on what a cue giver says, then they are not effectively making good decisions because the cue giver could have "manipulated situations [in order to] get people to make decisions that are not in their best interests" (Kollman, 2012: 331). Cue givers can take advantage of a person's naivety to convince them to vote is a way that is beneficial to themselves and not the other person. For example, a socially liberal and fiscally conservative voter who is uninformed on Ted Cruz, a 2016 Presidential Candidate and current Texas U.S. Senator, may ask a friend on his opinion. The friend is a fiscally and socially conservative who considers the same ideology as Cruz, so he may mention Cruz's position on government …show more content…
Uninformed voters may turn to the media to learn more and to compose their political decisions. People can acquire different information from different news sources. For instance, research suggests that "people who get their political news from mostly cable television and the internet receive different information than those who get their political news mostly from network television" (Kollman, 2012: 495). This disparity of information from the news sources provides the voter multiple political viewpoints on issues. From this, voters are better able to understand how they feel about the problems that the government is facing and construct accurate, good political decisions. However, people need to be aware of media bias as a result of priming and framing. Priming occurs when the media affect the standards people use to evaluate political figures and severity of problems, and framing occurs when the media induce people to think about an issue from a certain standpoint (McDaniel, 2015: Lecture 19). When media sources take on a biased point of view, it is harder for voters to come to a decision on what they want to do because they can become confused on how they should feel on certain issues because of priming and framing. While studying media sources, voters should be cautious of
For instance, Menand writes, “The fraction of the electorates that responds to substantive political argument is hugely outweighed by the fraction that responds to slogans, misinformation...random personal association.” Mass voters mostly pursue the wrong or irrelevant information that are irrelevant to the election; thus lead them to vote for the candidates which they do not really want. Their choices mostly lack rationalities. Many voters who are slightly informative think that they are participating in a certain issue and considering the value of the candidates; yet most of them do not have adequate information and knowledge in understanding the meaning of political terms. Voters lack judgment on their government and candidates, their minds are easily being brainwashed by a small amount of people who has informative approaches in participating governmental issue, and affect their
On the national civics assessment, “two-thirds of 12th graders scored below ‘proficient’…and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation” (O’Connor and Romer 4). The information provided clarifies just how little students know about democracy. Without education on the subject, they are unaware as to how their government contribution is beneficial and why it is needed in the first place. The students, because of their lack of understanding, therefore choose to not take part in their government and fail to carry out their duties as a citizen. The authors provide more research that shows “the better people understand our history and system of government, the more likely they are to vote and participate in the civic life” (O’Connor and Romer 8).
John Chambers of the University of Florida measures the difference between "actual" and "perceived" polarizat...
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
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
This presidential election has opened my eyes to things that I normally wouldn’t even think about. Let’s be honest politics is not a common discussion amongst college kids whose main goal is to figure out how to keep their C average and not fail a class. This presidential election has taken many minds away from their school work and made them focus on the candidates and their issues. There are four agents of political socialization that have shaped my views on what I would look for in a candidate to be president of the u.s., and as I break them down you get an understanding of which political party I lean towards and why.
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.
In the US, mass media plays a significant role in politics. One of the key roles mass media plays in politics includes the airing of the platforms of various politicians. The media influences the view of people on politics and politicians. As the opinion of individuals is affected, the results of the votes are consequently changed (Holden, 2016).
"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.
Public Opinion is a collection of different individual’s attitudes about a specific issue. The public opinion is important to see what and how these individuals formed their attitude and concerns as towards certain issues. As in every specific issue, there is a specific of the attitudes of the public Political Knowledge refers to what we know about the government and politics as an individual. Political Preposition defines it a person who lacks in political information and will have a difficult time in understanding the aspects of and relating to the issue. In the reading Influencing Public Opinion, “The Nature of Origins of Mass Opinion (1992), Political Scientist John Zaller observed that only a few of us easily forms attitudes when questioned by an interviewer. Most individuals find that task extremely difficult because they lack political knowledge or information.” (Hernandez 2015c, 1) I found this experiment to be true because with the lack of knowledge or information you will find it extremely difficult in answering just a simple question about our government and politics. If we are informed about government and politics, we would see this question easy to relate
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,
“Through the ongoing interaction of theorizing and empirical research consistent with the scientific method, agenda-setting theory has evolved from a tightly focused perspective to a broad theory. Initially, the focus was on the way media affect the public’s view of which issues are important. Later the theory broadened to encompass five distinct aspects of public life: basic and attribute agenda-setting effects, the psychology of these processes, and the consequences of these effects for opinions and behavior. The participation of scholars worldwide has been central to the continuing productivity of the theory” (Maxwell McCombs).
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.
Prior, Markus. "News vs. Entertainment: How Increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political Knowledge and Turnout." American Journal of Political Science. 49.3 (2005): 577-592. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.