Influence Of Media On Public Opinion

Influence on Public Opinion
I. Introduction
How does media influence politics? Can media outlets change the way voters reason and make rational decisions? The answers to these questions have been highly debated throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century, as media sources have flourished due to rapid technological advancements. Initial studies and political psychology beliefs held that the media had strong, direct, subliminal-like effects, while, more recent research provides convincing evidence that individual political behaviors and beliefs are influenced specific contextual and individual-level factors. Ultimately, mass media has the potential to facilitate change of individual political behaviors and beliefs leading to impacts that change entire political systems and policy outcomes.
This research paper seeks to provide an in depth look at the how media

Since many television networks derive profits based on producing entertaining television shows, their acquisitions have transformed the emerging content of network news in three distinct ways:
• News adopts values of parent network company which in turn introduces extreme levels of partisanship and censorship, depending on the network.
• There is a push to make news more entertaining and “eye-catching” to attempt to achieve high profits seen in the parent networks television show programing.
• In an effort to increase profits and reduce cost, the number of foreign bureaus have been closed and the amount of on-staff journalist have been greatly reduced.
In summary, the emergence of media giants diminishes competition within the media which reduces the marketplace of ideas, eliminates the incentive for quality news reporting, and induces media bias.
IV. Media Bias Stimulated by Ideological