Mainstream Media Coverage Bias

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According to James Madison, “nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power and to withhold from them information, without which power is abused,” suggesting that the people have the right to learn popular information and learn both sides of an issue (Paul and Elder 2). However, in modern society, the media often do not present both sides of an issue and are inclined to often mask information for their personal benefits. Therefore, the people often learn and understand only one aspect of an issue and inevitably lean towards the bias present in that news account. Indubitably, the coverage in the mainstream news media influences the majority through its bias and propaganda, especially its partisan audience, which only appreciates one side of the news story. Thus, even though news networks may claim that their news programs and publications are completely factual and credible, their coverage of news events is politically, commercially, and racially biased.
Coverage of events by the mainstream media is politically biased, due to the numerous instances when news networks support one party (either Liberal Democratic or Conservative Republican) and slant the issue in that party’s favor. For example, NBC News reported that the Affordable Care Act was “cheerleading” and viewed the law in a positive manner (Lawrence). As NBC is a major supporter of the Democratic Party, its views are obviously slanted towards liberal and supportive opinions of Obama and his policies. Moreover, this positive perspective of the law only attracts Democrats, and it masks the other perspective involving the detriments of that law, showing presence of propaganda, instilling liberal viewpoints in its unsuspecting audience. In contrast t...

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Baron, David P. "Persistent Media Bias." Journal of Public Economics 90.1-2 (2006): 1-36. Science Direct. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
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.
Lin, Yu-Ru, James P. Bagrow, and David Lazer. More Voices Than Ever? Quantifying Media Bias in Networks. Publication. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2011. More Voices Than Ever? Quantifying Media Bias in Networks. Opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/, 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. How to Detect Media Bias and Propaganda in National and World News. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Criticalthinkingforbusiness.org. Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2006. Web.
Stay, Byron L. Mass Media: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1999. Print.

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