Sheila Gribben Liaugminas How The Media Twist The News Bias

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.
The article contains

multiple different types of sources to prove that news is biased such as a new magazine writer’s perspective. “They don’t want our new, fresh sources when they’ve got the regulars who give them the quotes they want…They never wanted my sources when they didn’t fit the mold of what they wanted the story to say.” (Ruderman) In this quote, it is revealed that when Ruderman, a news magazine writer, chooses his sources for his articles, they are often rejected. They are refused, not because his sources aren’t well suited for his article, but because the sources do not provide the information that they want. This proves that instead of being objective, it is biased since it is choosing which sources to choose and which to not use. This affects the author’s claim because it provides an example in which news magazines are filled with bias in their articles since they do not provide every perspective of a situation, only the ones that they choose. Not only this, but only giving one perspective greatly affects the readers since they are being given which way they have to view the story when there are multiple ways on how to see it. If they truly wanted to report an objective story without the intention of it not being biased and influencing others, then it wouldn’t have only chosen one viewpoint that supports what they believe.
Alternate sources that the author uses are news networks such as CBS and CNN, which are used to prove that not only newsmagazines are biased, but news channels are too.

“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

through networks, magazines, papers, etc. Both of these examples of news networks affect the author’s claim because it only makes it stronger by providing even more ways that bias play a role through the news. Not only are people influenced through news magazines, but also through “objective and trustworthy” networks. This causes a huge dilemma in society because people can no longer trust news networks or news magazines due to them being biased and not containing the truth. News networks such as CBS and CNN are examples that are used to further provide how bias plays a role in “objective” news.
One of the authors that Liaugminas uses greatly to prove her argument over non-objective news is Walter Lippmann, author of Public Opinions.

“…In order that [the reader] shall enter he must find a familiar foothold in the story, and this is supplied to him by the use of stereotypes. They tell him that if an association of plumbers is called a “combine” it is appropriate to develop his hostility; if it is called a “group of leading businessmen” the cue is for a favorable reaction. ”(Public Opinion). Through this quote it is revealed one of the ways that the news is manipulated into making people think a certain way. The example that was used by Lippmann is often used by the news because it tricks the readers into believing that something may or may not be true. By calling a group of plumbers “leading businessmen”, it makes them seem important, but when calling them a “combine” it steals that superiority and makes them insignificant. It is through these simple words that the news manages to manipulate people into believing things that aren’t true, even if the author sees them that way. This section of the book is essential in Liaugminas’ argument because it provides another way in which the news is filled with bias with the intention of manipulating the public. This further proves that the news does not contain the truth since they are able to change reality into the way that they interpret it. “How could the public get the information it needed to make rational political

judgements if it could not rely on the press? Unbiased information had become essential, he argued, because ‘decisions in a modern state tend to be made by the interaction, not of Congress and the executive, but of public opinion and the executive.”(Liberty and News). This illustrates that unbiased information is needed in society to make the right decisions about the world and be updated of everything that is and isn’t affecting them. Not only is it needed for personal awareness, but also to be able to make correct judgements that will affect the country such as elections. News that is dedicated to being objective, should never state opinions on why people should do a certain thing because it needs to come from their own reasoning. For this reason, it is essential for the news to not be biased because it truly has a huge influence on readers. Both of Lippmann’s examples of how bias plays a role in the news effects Liaugminas’ article thoroughly because he presents two very good reasons as to why news should not be biased. He makes it very clear that once again news is being used to manipulate people into believing what the articles and news reporters want them to believe when it shouldn’t. Every individual must come to their own conclusion as to why they should do something or support a certain person. The news should not be the one telling someone to do so. Lippmann provides multiple examples in which news is biased and humans have been influenced because of it.
Through newsmagazine article writers like Ruderman, news networks such as CNN and CBS, and books such as Public Opinions and Liberty and News, Liaugminas is able to strongly fight her claim that news is overwhelmed with bias and that readers/viewers are influenced greatly because of it successfully. Many of the examples that she used from other sources, along with her own reasoning help provide the reasons as to why news is no longer objective and how it influences people. For news to serve the purpose of being objective, media must stop trying to use bias to influence other’s thoughts and feelings.