Essay On News Media

It is interesting to think that the news is not only used to portray information to viewers, but does so in a way that will benefit one political party over another. As mentioned by Thomas E. Patterson, in We The People: A Concise Intro to American Politics, “the news media are America's window into the world of politics” (Patterson, 322). Nevertheless, whether it's newspapers, news broadcasts, or internet media, news media plays a vital role of agenda setting and issue framing of American politics on a daily basis.
News media ranges in many different ways, however one thing is for certain, unless you are a journalist or a broadcaster the information learned is going to be secondhand and essentially not a current event. For the most part, politics is a secondhand experience for many Americans that aren't actively engaged in the political aspect of life. Many people observe politics indirectly through the media rather than directly, the mental pictures that people paint of political institutions and leaders, stem largely from what they see and/or hear through a media source. Although the media is not the only source of Americans political opinions it is one of the main sources of political perception, especially since the average citizen is not apart of every aspect of the political world. “The news media operate as gatekeepers, among the countless story possibilities each day, they determine which events will be covered and which ones will not. These selections, in turn, will influence what citizens are thinking and talking about,” (Patterson, 322). Here in the United States it's easy to flip through the channels on television and come across numerous news outlets which supports one political group, institution, and or leader o...

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...pers and broadcast news have lost audiences to cable television and the internet. At the same time, the emergence of cable television and the internet have made it much easier for citizens to avoid news when using the media. Although some citizens today consume more news that was possible at an earlier time, other citizens - young adults in particular – consume less news than was previously typical. A consequence is that young adults are less informed politically relative to both older adults and to earlier generations of young adults (Patterson, 341). Nevertheless, whether you are a young adult, older adult or of a earlier generation, it is obvious that news media first agenda is to operate as a business (in order to generate a profit for owners and shareholder), and then act as a signaler and agenda setter for American political parties, institutions and leaders.