Today, more than ever the media plays a pivotal role in the ways in which Americans think and what they believe. Media can influence the masses in a number of different ways. Without the media it would be virtually impossible for the typical American citizens to be informed of today’s events. But information is not always the media’s goal. In fact, it rarely is. Many Americans feel that they can form opinions on there own. But, unknowingly opinion’s are formed simply by what paper gets delivered to your door or what channel you watch. The views of the president are greatly affected by the media due to the overwhelming amount of coverage by every form of media.
Upon watching various newscasts and reviewing articles printed in various newspapers, it is obvious that news is not filled facts but is more likely to be filled with opinions. The ideas and actions of the president can either be applauded or booed depending on which station you turn to. For instance, Bill Clinton’s view on the Republican’s tax cut proposal has faced much scrutiny from the media. The debate over this issue has been hotly contested. The Chicago Tribune has widely discussed the reasons for Bill Clin...
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
...ation and framing issues in a certain manner; the media may certainly effect the opinion of the American people; thus effecting the lens of which is given to the people and not allowing them to see the true issues that arises within the government. The news media constantly want to create controversy, and create a frenzy; this interludes how the people may elect public officials which in turn help create public policy; and public policy contributes to the United States Democracy.
Beyond many people’s knowledge, the news is not always exclusively disclosing objective facts on events. Rather, the news platform utilize rhetoric to influence its audience’s interpretation on an event. More astonishingly, many people don’t recognize misinformation and thus allow the news platform to subtly force an opinion on their audience. An impressionable audience is the product of our media dependent culture; ultimately, media has the power to distribute biased information and strongly influence the public. However, the audience should bear the responsibility of rejecting the misinformation they are exposed to and to always question the credibility. In an attempt to improve our economy, President Trump attempts to repeal the
Media has been around beginning with newspapers since the Constitutional Convention and has grown and changed throughout the years along with the presidency. Presidents have used media outlets to gain popularity among people and have consequently gained power in that way. The people see the President as their biggest government figure and want him to solve the problems of the nation. Thus, part of the President’s expansion of power comes from people through the media.
In America we value the freedom of the press. The press is the one place where most Americans go to get educated on issues facing their community, state, and most of all nation. Everyone knows that the media plays a major role in Americans' lives; however their role of gatekeeper is not completely understood. The press decides which issues to report and how to report them. In order to improve the nation and world, the media should present their unbiased findings to allow people to make up their own minds. However, this is not the case. The media often shows its bias. Their widespread exposure enables them to communicate their ideas to the public, regardless of the public's responsiveness. The elections of officials for the federal government during the late 20th century serve as prime examples of their bias. An analysis of surveys, media delivery, and reporter's testimonies, I have found that the media is actually more out of touch with mainstream America than the politicians they cover.
Everyday people around the globe watch countless hours of television. Many of these hours consist of fictional entertainment shows that have no bearing on the outside world. Although many people do watch local news networks, most of these stories do not effect people around the globe. Only a few networks such as The Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox News are around the clock news networks. These networks are able to pick and choose the information in which they make available to the public and spin the stories to form a bias of the people. Many times this is done without viewers knowledge as they do not have time to check other news sources to back the information up. News broadcasts benefit the public in that they are able to relay information and make it easily available to the public. These stories are then able to help combat corruption, as viewers are then able to use their voices to take action. However some news outlets misinform people by giving out wrong information, as well as twisting the facts to create a biased viewer.
From 1890s to 1945, media played an important role to spread news and change Americans’ opinions about different events. I believe that media changed Americans ideas by exaggerating the truth, propaganda and providing information. There are some examples about how media controlled Americans’ thoughts.
So called “opinion journalism” has become a growing issue in today’s media. The concern is that the news channels are not always reporting facts to their viewers, but often times fact less opinions. In his article “The Truth about TV News”, Westin makes a highly effective argument as to how news channels are reporting opinions rather than cold, hard facts. His persuading argument lists supporting and personal experience. The experience comes from Westin’s time as ABC president has given him a valuable insight into both the industry of reporting and how opinion journalism has become a growing issue. Westin uses his knowledge to support his claim: opinion journalism is bad and needs to be put to rest as fast as possible.
The media in the U.S. presidential election is supposed to accurately portray what is going on without distorting or editing it. However, with the media the way it is today, this is usually not the case. While there are people who believe the media is good at showing the 2016 election, there are others who do not. The advantages of media are it is easily accessible, it is cheaper to get information everywhere, and it shows more of the candidate’s lives than before. The disadvantages of media are it can be distorted, it is not trustworthy all the time, and it focuses on the two major parties without talking to a great extent about the lesser parties.
From politics to weather, anyone who works for news media knows that they have to be unbiased on the information they report to millions of Americans. As citizens with little free time,we have no choice but to trust what information is given in newspapers, radios and televisions. However, only 4 out of every 10 Americans say they truly believe what their news channel televise, a historical low in America. News channels, especially in the big corporations, are being corrupted with prejudice information, imbalance of news coverage, and distorted stories.
The article “Why Americans Hate the Media” takes a look at how the media has taken their journalistic duties to another level that does not promote the ideas and questions that the American citizens whom the journalist report to are concerned about. The media has found a way to keep their ratings and the hype of politics alive by sensationalizing hot-bed issues. In the article “Why Americans Hate the Media” written by James Fallows it states that “Perhaps the public has good reason to think that the media’s self-aggrandizement gets in the way of solving the countries real problems” (Fallows) which leads to the fact that, although the media knows that they are skipping over the American citizens view and sending their own message, but somehow
Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structure, have always dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality. One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations relatively do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of there own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy. This simply means that media is structured in a way that it operates functioning from top to bottom. This is also identical to the hierarchical nature of the human body, in that from the commands of the brain transferred through the central nervous system, the body responds accordingly. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the existing populous. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, many of us, who do not adhere to the cushioning of political correctness, refer to it as the propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, cognitive socialization is doctored up information, which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that the probability of its rationalization is highly predictable. The manipulative properties of cognitive socialization are so diabolical and Machiavellian in nature, that I consider it to be the ultimate perversion of the democratic process. In all seriousness, numerous intellectuals, and gentleman held in good stature agree, that cognitive socialization is the product of an evil genius.
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." This quote by A.J. Liebling illustrates the reality of where the media stands in today's society. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in power throughout the media with regard to politics. The media's original purpose was to inform the public of the relevant events that occurred around the world. The job of the media is to search out the truth and relay that news to the people. The media has the power to inform the people but often times the stories given to the public are distorted for one reason or another. Using slant and sensationalism, the media has begun to shape our views in society and the process by which we choose our leaders. There was once a time when the government used the media as a medium to influence voters, committees, communities etc. Recently, it has been the presidents of major media outlets that have not only exercised power over the public but also made their presences felt in government and in the halls of congress. When the word democracy is thrown about it usually has to do with the rights or original intentions for a group or organization. The first group intended to be influenced by the media was the informed voter. Political parties along with the government used a variety of media resources to persuade the voter or in effect receive a vote for their cause. Returning to the thought of ?democracy? the question is, what was the original intention of the media with relation to the theme of democracy and the informed voter? To analyze this thought thoroughly one must first grasp an understanding of the basic definition of democracy.
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. But how much influence does the mass media poses on our opinion? Guaranteed by the First Amendment in American Constitution, the media will always be there to inform us about the different events or issues they feel are important for the public. The media constantly bombards us with news, advertisements, etc, wher...