Derrick Bryant
HUM/186
July 17, 2012
Andrea Singor
Effects of News Media
Information and news media have affected American culture even before the twentieth century. Before the Internet the only forms of mass media was the television, the radio, and the newspaper. Media is a tool used to get out a lot of information to as many people as possible. In today’s society we have the internet to provide us with the latest breaking news. The internet also provides use with breaking news around world. The job of a journalist is to make sure they get accurate accounts of what ever story they are reporting about.
According to a Case Study, “All news is biased, News, after all, is primarily selective storytelling, not objective science. Editors choose certain events to cover and ignore; reporters choose particular words or images to use and reject others” (Media and Culture p 424). News can be considered biased with selective storytelling. News reporting should be based on facts and science. Reports should get both sides of a story before it is presented to the public. The information media is not for entertainment purposes but to provide the public with correct and accurate information.
Even in today’s society most Americans believed that most news sources are biased. Depending on how fast Journalist wants to get their story out to the public they may not have all the facts. What has changed is the ways the news is covered concerning political coverage. Today reporters use a political balance work ethic. This is a very simple approach. If interview one political party, you have to also interview the other political party. This creates political balance for both parties. This way people can hear both sides and decide who will be the best in that political position. A good example is the upcoming presidential election in November.
Print and Television news can be updated trough breaking news online. What this means to the public is whoever has access to the internet do not have to wait for comments about a story. This allows readers to see full interviews of a story rather than selected quotes. Online news reporting does have its disadvantages. For example if a journalist decides to do an interview by an email not in person. Readers may not get the entire truth. Another problem with the Internet is that Journalist can copy someone else’s work and resubmit it. Because of the rise digital age and the demands that convergence have made on reporting and writing stories. As stated in Today’s print Journalist at newspaper (and magazines) “is expected to carry digital cameras so they can post video along with their stories.” As we shift from a print society to the electronic era. Journalists have to take a different approach towards news reporting. For example breaking news on the television, and the Internet often captures more powerful stories than any words written on paper.
Reporters should report the facts with an objective opinion. This will help the public to make an inform decision on what is reported. Most Journalist view themselves as being neutral when gathering the facts before writing stories. In the case of the first presidential race between Barrack Obama and the former president George Bush conservatives said that Barrack Obama got favorable press. According to, Evan Thomas of Newsweek Magazine, “The suspicions of press bias come from two assumptions or beliefs that public holds about news media: The first is that reporters are out to get their subjects. The second is that press is too close to their subjects” (Media and Culture, Ch. 7). Journalists do have a Code of Ethics that they should go by. Before any story is printed they should have all the facts. They should avoid any conflict when investigating a story. Journalist should not comprise their integrity and always remain free of accusations.
References
University Of Phoenix. (2012). Media AND CULTURE. Retrieved from University Of Phoenix, HUM/186 website.
References: University Of Phoenix. (2012). Media AND CULTURE. Retrieved from University Of Phoenix, HUM/186 website.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
A regular viewer may not filter out any bias, therefore media sources often times over-exaggerate in order to persuade their audience. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech and press, so without any restrictions media outlet can freely express their views how ever they like. In a general sense the Constitution created this immunity that protects the rights of groups rather than primarily of individuals. "How is the media biased?" Media outlets like all cooperations has a goal, and that goal is to frame the public's mind. The motive is clear, it is designed to provoke and persuade. With the technology advancing at an exponential rate, it makes it easier for anyone to come across a biased article or news on the internet. I am not saying all news coverage are not straightforward, but the most popular ones have the most opinionated hosts. Due to theses segmented biases, many informations are distorted. These include bias by omissions, story selection, labeling, placement, selection of source, racial bias, conservative/liberal bias and so on. Many politicians utilize media for their benefit, like running their campaign. Because of the manipulative influence that media has on the public, many candidates attempt to get a hold of these media outlets to work in their favor. With Twitter and other social media become a powerful platform, ideas and informations now…
- 930 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
For instance, many media outlets are seeking economic gain instead of seeking the truth. Daniel Sutter illustrates this point in his research, showing how the media is focused on generating revenue (402). Consequently, the media is encouraging bias in order to attract and maintain a loyal following and source of revenue. In fact, through the use of the internet, alternative news sources are able to produce news that is usually “not fact-checked or is simply false” (The President and the Press 21). In order to stay competitive many mainstream sources are then forced to publish more biased articles. This increase in the publication of biased articles among mainstream sources is now allowing the media to clarify the facts and then formulate the facts into opinions. All in all, this is greatly affecting politics by forcing citizens to rely on the media to form their opinions (Perse 82). For example, Gregory Martin and Ali Yurukoglu reveal how the increase of bias in the media creates a polarization in the political parties (37). As noted by Martin and Yurukoglu, “the increase in polarization depends critically on the existence of both a persuasive effect and a taste for like-minded news” (4). They also observed that by watching certain news sources like “FNC increases the probability of voting Republican in presidential elections” (Martin and Yurukoglu 37). Beyond that there are several examples of the media affecting political decisions. In particular the birther issue of Obama’s 2008 election showed how a blatant lie spread by the press caused many voters to reconsider their decision (Lewandowsky 118). In brief, the media is seeking greater success and therefore misinforming many…
- 790 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Readers can be biased and can be swayed by the source of where they get their information. Fagin explained the skepticism people have toward journalists can be derived from fake news reporting and political influences on society. The source of where people get their information has changed, to newspapers to social media, which promotes more accessible fast-fake news. Consequently this results in fewer reporters…
- 556 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Media bias can be a bad thing, by giving false or heavily swayed information to the readers. This should be a lesson to all politically active citizens to know the news source before the…
- 720 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Fist let me iterate my position that I think each source of news media will have some level of bias in it, whether it be…
- 1437 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
|[pic] |Course Syllabus | | |HUM/176 | | |Media and American Culture | | |Holly Walter | Copyright © 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description The course provides an introduction…
- 2176 Words
- 9 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The media has always been an important aspect in people’s lives. Everyone always wants to know the latest news and what’s going on in the world. A few decades ago, the main forms of communication were newspapers and radio. Now days, people have plenty of options to receive news whether from radio, cable networks, or online. This has opened doors to many media outlets, which has created news to be more biased. In a society where information used to be interpreted by few to many, this has now changed shifts to where information has become much more inclusive and more people have the chance to get their voices heard making the media much more biased than ever before.…
- 1011 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Campbell, R., Martin, C.R., & Fabos, B (2012) Media & culture: An introduction to mass communication (8th.) New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s.…
- 4897 Words
- 20 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Whether it’s the Internet, the worldwide news and celebrity news, bias is everywhere. The media gives out information to make everyone think the same thing and tell the public what they want them to hear. The media allows us to know what they believe is right about topics and situations. They have more information then what they actually give out. They give out what they want us to believe, focusing more on one topic that they favorite and giving us their opinion while other news sources might have a different one. People tend to believe what's on the news simply because it is on the news and they rely on them to tell the public what going on around them and expect it to be the truth, when in reality that might just be part of the story of that specific news source and their opinion, while other sources have a different one. Checking other sources before taking anyone's word to see if they all have the same side of the story is the best way to avoid media bias. Reasons why the media might not be telling people the real side of the story and telling the public what they believe is because they don't want to make anyone associated with them look bad. People can't make the right decisions if they don't know what's really going on. Journalism has to report what was said in an interview without adding or filtering their own opinion, but in news reporting it can be completely opposite and is rare to find a source…
- 716 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
On many occasions, once society notices something they do not like, bias will be an automatic idea that will come to them realizing that the bias within the mainstream media exists. Since this has been discovered there are now “watchdog groups” who run through various information from other news stations to identify what is and is not reliable as well as helpful blog posts for viewers to see the other side of the news. Paul Farhi a reporter from, The Washington Post says, “A clear majority (66 percent)say news organizations in general are “often inaccurate”. This sixty six percent comes from people who were asked about news sources being objective and fair. There is much more proof out there for many to take into consideration. Newscast and companies will never admit bias…
- 814 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In America, there is media bias because ratings tend to increase when the attention span is more focused on the issues at hand. For instance, people would much rather documentaries or visuals involving chaos and violence rather than a humanly interview. Therefore, media becomes biased because the chosen headliners and stories are consumed with drama which draws larger audiences. On the other hand, political views as portrayed in the news are more likely to be liberal than conservative. Although there is little evidence to support this claim, the political views in different forms of media are usually liberal dependent on social issues such as feminism, gay rights, and welfare. Depending on the carrier of media, a company such as Fox News or CBS might edit the actual news in order to fit their persona or political views behind the company.…
- 283 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
This type of bias happens a lot of times but people tend to overlook what's right in front of them, for example there was a study done by liberals that shows that drinking can make a person more conservative. This study was published on the Rolling stones and got tons of publicity whereas a very similar study done by a conservative group got no publicity. To identify this type of bias story selection the reader must first be aware of both the conservative and liberal sides of the issue, understand the amount of coverage conservative problems get compared to liberal problems. One example of bias by story selection is from a boycott blog that stated that “0bama' and Hillary's lies about the video were exposed by Fox News a solid two weeks before the 2012 re-election of 0bama. Fox is the ONLY one that covered the story. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, completely blacked out the story until well after 0bama was re-elected. AND when they finally did cover the story, well after 0bama was sworn in for his second term, they used bias by Omission and all other biases to minimize the public's knowledge and understand as to the depth of 0bama and Hillary's lies” was a great example of bias by story selection because the media covered a portion of the story and made the others more appealing and seem…
- 1320 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
The opinion of the reader is most important to a Media outlet; however, it is increasingly popular for the Media outlet and even reporter’s opinion to matter more. Within America a great debate rages over whether the news is bias, or the readers. It is the bias of the media that begins all, the original bias comes from the word themselves. Media bias is a serious problem within America today, and many examples help to prove this.…
- 547 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
(1) Bias by commission which is, “a pattern of passing along assumptions or error that tend to support a left-wing or liberal view.” (2) Bias by omission which is “ignoring facts that tend to disprove liberal or left-wing claims, or that support conservative beliefs.” (3) Bias by story selection which is “a pattern of highlighting new stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stores that coincide with the agenda of the Right.” (4) Bias by placement which is “a patter of placing news stories so as to downplay information supportive of conservative news.” (5) Bias by the selection of sources which is “Including more sources in a story who support one view over another. This bias can also be seen when a reporter uses such phrases as "experts believe," "observers say," or "most people think.”” (6) Bias by spin which is “emphasizing aspects of a policy favorable to liberals without noting aspects favorable to conservatives; putting out the liberal interpretation of what an event means while giving little or no time or space to explaining the conservative interpretation.” (7) Bias by labeling which is “attaching a label to conservatives but not to liberals.” (8) Bias by policy recommendation or condemnation which is “when a reporter goes beyond reporting and endorses the liberal view of which policies should be enacted, or affirms the liberal criticism of current or past policies.” I…
- 465 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
This is neither good nor bad, it simply is. Bias might be a small word but it identifies the collective influence that an entire message carries. Journalists speak from a political position but mostly not overtly so. Whether it is by omission, selection of sources and story, labeling and placement or spin, it is time that journalists stop applying a narrative structure to a rather ambiguous event(s) with the purpose of creating coherence and establish causal sense of…
- 1242 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays