There is a huge growth of Infotainment and narrowcasting in the news media. The way media outlets are presenting information to the public is influencing and affecting the public's view of politics in the U.S. Infotainment and Narrowcasting has been a trend that the news outlets are using more frequently. Our news resources that relay information is supposed to be a trustworthy watchdog for citizens. It's a platform to help the people become inform and educate on what is going on in our nation. Some would say America’s Media has transformed into a powerful influential source that has negative effects on our political culture. What is the purpose of Infotainment and Narrowcasting? Has this method of sharing information become a ripple effect …show more content…
Narrowcasting involves aiming media messages to specific interest groups, or geographical location. The purpose of narrowcasting is to benefit companies like the NRA, presidential candidates, strengthen the democratic side, the Republican side, and build up social liberal and social conservatives. Narrowcasting is a great way for a business to keep the audience gravitating to your product or message, which in return will improve your market and the number of people that will return and share your information. The end of the day the business and the people running it are the ones benefiting from …show more content…
Mass media has used this idea of narrowcasting to target specific groups in politics. Instead of reaching to a whole range of diverse viewers, it’s become a way to influence specific groups in the nation by keeping those people in those specific groups in "tunnel vision mood" about economic problems, welfare, policies, trade etc, which is only benefiting the left or right side. It's not allowing viewers to hear multiple sides which can help them keep become more open-minded about issues. Instead, it’s closing that door and keep them narrow-minded. A great example is our news outlets. Fox News is one of the top networks that are notorious for covering new stories in conservative view, and then you have a network like MSNBC who is considered to be more of a liberal media source. They both ran the story of the Florida school shooting that just happens recently. A gunman armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle and countless magazines that killed 17 people at a high school. The liberal media began running stories advocating more gun control and banning assault weapons, while channels like Fox News began ridiculing news networks that are liberals like MSNBC for trying to take away or put more pressure on the 2nd Amendment rights by banning guns. Both Networks that are targeted specific groups are influencing their viewers to stay narrow-minded on the gun policies. This is what narrowcasting is! This is
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.
When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.
Media finds its central role in the democratic debate in providing information, analysis, and a diversity of perspectives to the public. In recent years, with what is known as a media revolution, the amount of telecommunication outlets has increased dramatically. Often called “a product of healthy market competition,” the media revolution has theoretically expanded the public’s access to a multitude of facts, opinions, and general information (Miroff, et al. 2015). However, with a
Another controlling method that is diffused through television, radio and written publications; is any reported information about world politics and news. Powerful political groups narrow people’s views of what is going on around them by tainting and twisting information to their own device. They decide what to say and when to say it, revealing as much or little information as desired, in ‘befitting’ instances; thus enabling them to hide information they consider deleterious to themselves, from the public. It also permits them to depict opponents in overly negative terms.
Lawrence, Andrew. "Fox Hypes Own Week-Long Obamacare Special, But Describes NBC's As "Propaganda"" Mediamatters.org/. Media Matters for America, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
To begin, the media plays a heavy role for impacting how citizens perceive an issue or a topic. Furthermore, large audiences can easily
Through the efforts of globalization, television has grown to be more than just a source for the facts. Presently, television cable channel stations seem to be more interested in capturing viewers interest and ratings than reporting the most significant events of the day. More than likely, without thinking about it, viewers fail to recall that cable network stations are in the business of making money first, then attempting to keep the public “infotained”. In other words, keeping you well informed with quality news broadcasting while simultaneously entertaining you at the same time.
The American news media is an extremely important “engine of American democracy” (Kaiser). Its role of informing the public is the foundation for our form of self-governance, and with that the influence that it has over the American people is paramount. In his essay “The Bad News About the News,” Robert G. Kaiser argues the importance of bi-partisan news outlets and the dismal impacts of the “[recent] rise of the fragmented news media,” however, this phenomenon may not be as recent as Kaiser believes. In what he refers to as the “golden era in journalism,” he writes of news anchors like Cronkite, Chancellor, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Peter Jennings as “gatekeepers” of the media; however, much of the issues that Kaiser claims “unified American
Media professionals have a responsibility to report accurate and comprehensive information, not just what amuses audiences and garner ratings. In his legendary speech “Wires and Lights in a Box,” Edward R. Murrow discussed the power of media and the responsibility of journalist to accurately depict information. To continued reporting poorly constructed media presentations or messages that only serve as rating boosters will be the down fall of society, and history will be there to witness it. Media conglomerates have to power to revolutionize the kinds of information the audience receives. If two or three media outlets would make it a point to relese information that serves the greater good instead of cooperate sponsors bottom-line, the world
Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structure, have always dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality. One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations relatively do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of there own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy. This simply means that media is structured in a way that it operates functioning from top to bottom. This is also identical to the hierarchical nature of the human body, in that from the commands of the brain transferred through the central nervous system, the body responds accordingly. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the existing populous. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, many of us, who do not adhere to the cushioning of political correctness, refer to it as the propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, cognitive socialization is doctored up information, which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that the probability of its rationalization is highly predictable. The manipulative properties of cognitive socialization are so diabolical and Machiavellian in nature, that I consider it to be the ultimate perversion of the democratic process. In all seriousness, numerous intellectuals, and gentleman held in good stature agree, that cognitive socialization is the product of an evil genius.
Stromback, J. and Esser, F. (2009) Shaping Politics: Mediatization and Media Interventionism, in Lundby, K (eds) Mediatization: Concept, changes, consequences. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, pp. 205-223.
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).
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.
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,
Many studies, dating back to the early 1980s, have concluded that members of the national press are more liberal than the average citizen. Not only is the media more liberal, but they also tend to be more secular. Conservative media outlets have become more visible in recent years. More radio talk shows, such as those hosted by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, are politically conservative. As well as some of the television reporting broadcast on Fox News, such as on the O’Reilly Factor. Limbaugh and Hannity have large audiences, and Fox News has grown in popularity (WDB