I have friends telling me that Fox News is incredibly biased and therefore gives you valid information, especially in political news. On the other hand, I have friends that tell me that MSNBC is actually the one that is terrible biased and instead it is the one that does not give any valuable information. I, however, am somewhere in between. Media is so much a part of our lives that we need to learn how to see the value that it offers but we, as critical thinkers, also need to be able to pick it apart and find out what is wrong with what it may be telling us. Because of this valuable skill, chapter 8, was the most valuable to me, as well as the most interesting in my opinion. Among the the terms that this chapter covered were, sensationalism, …show more content…
In fact, spin was the one that it seems everyone accuses different new sources of using to their advantage. So before this class I was definitely aware that spin occurred. However, I can say that this chapter has made me a lot better at picking apart the spin that a news source is using. I go back to process over and over, but I go to more than one source and take the middle of the two or three. If one story gives one angle (conservative), and the other source gives me another spin (liberal), I find that I am more likely to make my own educated decision because I have both sides of the story. It is clear to see the dangers of being a victim of political spin if I only read or watch one news source. So, by again, diversifying my news intake I have a better chance at creating my own …show more content…
Lead is defined as, “The introduction sentence of a news story that is meant to give a reader the essence or general meaning of the story”(Diestler 336). Because I like to diversity my news intake, it makes sense that I do not read anywhere close to all of the news articles. But instead, I find myself making the mistake that many other people making the mistake of only reading the beginning of a story but not finishing. There is nothing I can do about that, I will always see a headline without actually reading the article, the key is to be able to read the headline and not jump to a conclusion. Instead, I need to remember that creating an opinion can not happen until I have read the entire article from at least two news sources. It is time consuming, yes, however, it is the best way for my to be a educated member of the voting community in the United
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
The news industry has been known to supply heart wrenching stories from around the world, right to our living rooms. What most people do not know is, how reliable IS Fox news? Considering news is a part of mass media, you would not think any information that makes it on there would be altered in any way- except for length and clarity- but some of the “stories” do get altered, almost to a point where it seems biased and too emotional. The portrayal of information in Fox news relies heavily on ratings, causing them to only display emotional stories and not what should be news worthy.
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
For this book response, I chose to read the volume titled Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. In short, this book is about a woman who decides to take on living the life as a poor woman in which she would write about those experiences after. Her primary goal was to see whether she could match expenses to income just as the poor do every day. Throughout this book, she travels to various different cities in which she finds jobs that the regular poor would take on. Additionally, she lives off just the money she earns from the jobs that she takes and not the money she has accumulated throughout her years. As a result of this book, she is trying to make everyone realize that this is America and people go through this every single day.
In the article, “A liberal’s defense of Fox News”, Susan Estrich argues that the claims against Fox News are invalid and quite lacking. Estrich herself works at Fox News as a commentator and she seems to be quite qualified for her job as she is a tenured and titled law and politics professor at University of Southern California. For most of the part, Estrich delivers what seems to be a solid defense of Fox News. Estrich particularly writes the article amidst criticism faced by two journalists of Fox News regarding not following proper journalistic procedure in two separate interview that they had. The article was published in 2005 when the US was dealing with the aftermath of Iraq War and also faced several other issues of deficit. Estrich defends the actions by Fox News and further tries to paint Fox News as a news channel that follows proper journalistic integrity. Despite the article appearing to be convincing, I would not recommend the article to WRI 101 freshmen because the
My views about Ehrenreich’s novel that it was filled with educational details of minimum wage job occurrences. The author captures concrete memories of her experiences of several job positions. Working in several jobs of hard manual labor is exhausting for the mind and body. The job experiments involving all these jobs to see what many struggling people endure on a daily basis. I thought the experiments resulted in average, and intolerable work environments. Working one or two jobs was needed to survive and pay for necessities. From my perspective, it was a useful trial to show readers the hardships people of every culture deal with constantly.
With every large successful materialistic object or figure in society comes its pros and cons. For the Fox News Channel, these pros and cons include its overall ratings and viewership. For over a number of years Fox News has remained atop of the rating scale in the number one spot, providing the public with the news. People claim it is biased and justly unfair, however, it is that very news that they produce which has made it famous and one of the most well respected news networks to this day.
A good part of Outfoxed focuses on the company's blurring of news and commentary, how anchormen and reporters are encouraged to repeatedly use catch-phrases like "some people say..." as a means of editorializing within a supposedly objective news story; how graphics, speculation and false information are repeated over-and-over throughout the broadcast day until it appears to become fact, and in doing so spreads like a virus and copied on other networks. A PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll points to glaring, fundamental misconceptions about the news perpetuated upon Fox viewers, versus information received from widely respected news-gathering organizations like NPR and PBS. Asked, for instance, "Has the U.S. found links between Iraq & al-Qaeda?" only 16% of PBS and NPR viewers answered "yes," but a frightening 67% of Fox viewers believed there had.
Would you lose your journalistic integrity over one million dollars just to increase your audience base? For me personally I would decline the money and not subject my audience to an unwanted change for personal gain. Neil Postman’s book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, argues that television is all about entertainment and nothing else. Postman makes several points in his book pertaining to televised news as examples. On the evening of January 31 2018, I decided to test Postman’s arguments by tuning into the PBS NewsHour. After putting Postman’s arguments to the test I soon found that they were correct; “if it bleeds it leads”, news anchors are just actors, stories of little value get little air time, and there is an overwhelming disconnect between stories.
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.
In the book, “The Element” by Ken Robinson he discusses how different education systems all over the world are but focuses on the education system in the United States. The reason being is that he believes that there are faults that need to be fixed because it doesn’t focus on the students individually and discovering their “element” but, on academics, business and state testing. Robinson claims that education itself is supposed to be a process in which it develops all resources.
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.
...ir and balanced” news? No. Certain members of the public need to be reminded that, in today’s media, a “No-Spin Zone” does not exist, on any channel. To be an informed citizen requires research, the ability to understand the message behind a pundit’s words and, most importantly, knowing all sides of the issue. And so, on behalf of network news: turn off your brain, listen, no need to interpret–we are here to do that for you. Then you are informed; albeit “Fox News-informed” or “MSNBC-informed.”
The purpose of journalism is to report a story accurately; simply to tell it like it is. Over the past two decades, with increased tension over political and religious ideologies, the media’s original purpose is being lost. Yes, being well-informed remains an asset in the world today. Our now, globally-focused world will always value knowledge and awareness. With the television, internet, newspaper- all mediums of entertainment- available at the snap of a finger, we have non-stop access to news. One problem with this is the blatant bias of news networks. Every news source has a bias. Viewers typically recognize the platform of the major sources, therefore deterring them from certain networks. When reporters feed viewers the same opinion through different stories, the viewer isn’t getting a balanced intake in terms of overall understanding. In today’s society, viewers are truly at the mercy of what those in authority provide. Think of George Orwell’s 1984 where the all-powerful “Big Brother,” through “The Party” oversees every little piece of information that passes through the telescreen (along with everything that passes by the telescreen on the other end.) The citizens of Oceania are essentially clueless to the truth because they have no access to it. The television: typically a source of entertainment, transformed itself into an instrument for controlling. Yes, the modern technology is