Media Bias

Today, there is a lot of bias going on in the media. Media bias is the perception that the media is reporting the news in a partial or prejudiced manner. The media today feeds people with the correct information, but not complete information. They leave one side of a story or a crucial aspect of a story.

If an individual only receives their news from one source it is likely that they are examining a biased interpretation of events. By choosing to focus on one story over another, media outlets are operating on a bias. It may in fact be impossible to eliminate bias from the media due to the very nature of reporting, however there are some forms of media bias which are far more direct in nature. An example of this would be the CNBC Republican primary debate. It seemed as though a clear goal existed to defame the Republican candidates and make them look incompetent. This targeted strike by the media can have a profound impact on viewers. If the American public witnesses a negative portrayal of a candidate by the media they may be more inclined to question the abilities of the candidate. If however a candidate is presented in a positive light the public may be more apt to supporting that candidate. This is true in all forms of advertising. Corporations sell their products by presenting them in a positive life. Conversely, they try to eliminate competition by downplaying alternative products. This principle of advertisement applies to American politics where candidates are essentially competing products which must be advertised. The nature of that advertisement is often determined by the personal preference of the advertisers. In the case of American politics, the advertisers are the political reporters and pundits. It just so happens that most of the mainstream media outlets in the United States have a decidedly left-wing stance. This leads to conservative candidates being presented in a very negative light on news outlets such as CNN and CNBC. The same can also be said for liberal candidates on Fox News. The impact is that once the public sees one side of the argument for long enough they may begin to develop bad feelings towards the opposing

Before media, politicians and other newsmakers had to rely on word of mouth to communicate the various messages they were espousing. However, they found this was an unreliable method of communication and the first newspapers and other media mediums were created. This comes at a drawback. As media companies grow larger and larger, they become more susceptible to bias. This has lead to a proliferation of bias across the many media companies in existence today. Media bias has a very large effect on society and most often in a negative way. There are four specific effects that will be discussed. These are, it undermines the public’s trust in the media, it leads to a decline in productive discussion, it can ruin the reputation of businesses or individuals

The 2016 election was driven by the fear, nostalgia, and bias of the American people, but was it rigged? The President-elect, Donald Trump, felt the election was rigged against him. That idea is nothing more than a baseless theory of Mr. Trump. To rig an election would be no easy task and mistakes are rarely made. To impersonate a registered voter and using a dead persons vote is very unlikely, and even less likely to sway one. Lastly, the bias of the media cannot be counted as a way of rigging elections and it has always been a factor.

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, they say. We don’t control the thoughts people make on us. Who knows if what the media is saying is true, nobody, only they know. We believe everything the media says. In the article, “Media Bias Comes From Viewers Like You”, the author Tyler Cowen says the media advertises us something but we the people have a different perspective and chose what to think. In the article, “Media Bias Comes From Viewers Like You”, Tyler Cowen shows throughout his claim that he uses the ethos, pathos and logos in his arguments to support his ideas about how people make the media bias. The author uses credibility information from the TV news CNN, emotion being sad about the media not saying what we should actually know, and logic by stating what we should do and persuade us to think differently about media bias.

This is evidenced by the growth of small, often internet-based, media outlets that target a niche audience with a very specific ideology. For example, the online broadcast channel The Blaze mainly targets highly conservative millennials. By having these highly specific statements of opinion, people can only choose to affirm their beliefs and make them feel stronger about them. Thus, when statements of opinion are misused, the public becomes more divided in opinion and less open to compromising with other viewpoints. This can be seen today as increasingly opinionated news reporting has been a major factor in the growing political divide in the United States. Furthermore, it can prevent people from being open minded about issues and seeing the complexity in

The presidential campaigns of GOP candidates Mike Huckabee¬—former Governor of Arkansas—and Marco Rubio—Senator from Florida—differ starkly in many respects. The two enjoy different bases of support, differ on many of the issues and employ radically different rhetorical styles and debate tactics. However, in terms of the campaigns’ media strategy, the most interesting difference lies in the candidates’ propensity (or lack thereof) to attack their fellow GOP candidates publically. Analyzing Rubio and Huckabee’s penchant to publically denounce other GOP candidates via social media will likely reveal the differences between the two campaigns’ online communication strategies. The differing strategies could be reflective of the candidates’ position in the polls; in so far that a leading candidate may have a higher incentive to attack other candidates, while lower polling candidates may have an incentive to behave in a more restrained manner.

Although the books strength lies in the evidence Patterson spells out about the media becoming too involved in the election process. The weakness that I see the book lacks is the evidence that the constituents are getting not as much involved in politics reach results in the media selection of the nominee. As a result, the book gave a one sided story about how the media shaped the political campaigns of presidential nominees. I would like to have seen the correlation between the media, and the people of the United States. How did the media affect the low information voter? On the one hand of weakness, Patterson shows a lot of strength on the other hand. It is well known, or well covered up that the media has been deteriorated over the past couple election cycles. Thomas Patterson puts the whole media’s involvement with the whole election process as what he calls a “game”. Generally speaking the political jockeying and strategizing of the presidential candidates. Patterson displays that the “good news” articles are vanishing, and more of the “bad” news articles are growing very year. The gap amongst the media and the public has grown more apart since the 1960’s. Media now will report on interpretive reporting instead of concentrating on the real issues. As a result the media will distort the issues by focusing on the controversy. This is way the voters have become increasingly disenchanted by the campaigns that have followed since the

A frame is the set up and order of a new story, with the goal of influencing the audience to favor one side or the other. Biased media frame stories can drastically change the audiences’ views and will get their ratings up. Tim Groseclose of UCLA and Jeff Milyo of the University of Missouri at Columbia have said, “For every sin of commission we believe that there are hundreds, and maybe thousands, of sins of omission – cases where a journalist chose facts or stories that only one side of the political spectrum is likely to mention.” When thinking of the media you often think they are reporting accurate information. That is not always true. The media will pick and choose which topics to discuss according to the viewer’s ratings. The news media represent the news in a manner that will leave people coming back for more. They choose carefully what they want to report and by doing so they do not spread lies within the articles but what they choose not to tell the audience. The media shares what the people

The topic of this model is to examine the rhetoric of female political candidates and how it affects their chances of being elected into political office. The area has received growing attention within the last forty years as more women began seeking representation in the American government (Dolan, 2014). Furthermore, there has been a considerable amount of attention since the 2008 Presidential Elections. A sizeable amount of research shows women facing negative stereotypes in the news media. However, little research has been done to show if these negative stereotypes affect how a voter perceives the candidate and makes a conscious decision to vote based upon those stereotypes.

Bias is defined as being prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. Americans experience some sort of bias every day, however, media bias is likely the most prevalent. Media can be biased towards liberals, conservatives, or any other political leaning. According to University of Oklahoma Professor, Keith Gaddie, the mainstream media mostly suffers from liberal bias - which is usually hostile toward conservative candidates and causes. Media bias can misinform, exaggerate truths, and cause confusion during voting season.

Political Bias in media is one of the most rampant examples of bias in terms of its influence on mindsets of people. The statement above by Edward R. Murrow makes total sense in today’s world. Political Bias is at its peak during elections. Public has to vote for candidates and much information about the candidates comes from media. Media, during these times, takes this advantage. Political bias can occur in two ways- individualistic bias and gatekeeping. Individualistic bias occurs when an individual reporter skews the views he or she is reporting because of a personal bias. Gatekeeping occurs when a group of journalists or editors come together and skew the coverage in a way they want, hiding the actual

In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned Americans about the effects of political polarization, saying,“One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.” Polarization is the division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs. The political gap between Democrats and Republicans has been a growing problem but has seemed to get increasingly worse in recent years. Although the two-party system can help create balance within

For my quantitative analysis I have chosen two major newspapers: The New York Times and The Washington Post. These two titles are considered as so called prestigious or elite newspapers. This type mass media is often held to higher standards of journalism because they can utilize more resources. Noam Chomsky also uses term agenda-setting media. “The elite media set a framework within which others operate.” Other non-elite media take over their topics, or often whole stories and articles. Most of their reading public are “people who are wealthy or part of what is sometimes called the political class… political managers, business managers (like corporate executives or that sort of thing), doctoral managers

Social media was developed to link people to the world and is an effortlessly convenient method for communication. Due to this, people are able to get in touch with just about anyone from all over the world and it no doubt has an incredible amount of influence on our lives. However, not all of it may be positive. Almost everyone is aware of how social media impacts us on a micro scale, but what about the influence it has on a macro level? Interestingly enough, it has taken a tremendous toll on politics.