Making a Choice in US News Media's Top Stories - Essay Example

Making a Choice in US News Media’s Top Stories News media refers to all forms of mass communication ranging from television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the internet. It is through these forms that people gain access to information and news. This is more pronounced in the US where technology is well founded. It is evident as times change that media plays a bigger role in the lives of people all over. As media performs these roles and technology advancing so fast, there are numerous issues surrounding the efficiency, integrity, and limits of media. An understanding of the issues will help every nation to regulate news media effectively. The media faces criticism for its inefficiency in addressing issues and failure to uphold integrity, with each type of media working tirelessly to compete effectively in the market. With the uneven distribution of technological advancement, news to citizen varies with the news network. With more concern directed to what news media refer to as “hot stories”, citizens in the US are denied access to important happenings that they should be aware of. Society has been questioning the reliability of information and updates received from news media. US citizens should see the need to know the news networks and further understand the impact media has both negative and positive to avoid misconceptions. Since the media plays the role of informing and educating the public, the information passed across should be valid in terms of subject, place, and time. “War Takes Up Less Time on Fox News”, an article written by David Bauder brings to light the two news networks (MSNBC and CNN), whose much of their stories concentrate on the Iraq war that for years has drawn behind the country’s economic growth and development. The article still brings forth Fox, another news network which unlike the two previously mentioned presents to citizens less of the war but more on the success of Iraq as a country. It therefore remains an issue of choice where the viewers make a choice depending on their interests. Evident in Bauder’s article, every news media is aware of its viewers thus presents the viewer’s desires. For instance, Bauder shows how Fox presents news of interest to republicans for they are their main viewer as evident in the survey presented in the article (p 636). Each news network must present what the viewers like hearing thus, Fox presents more of Iraq success than CNN and MSNBC. This is because many of the republicans do not like stories that pertain to the Iraq war. The US media is facing blames for its lack of consistency and validity. True to mention, celebrities are what the growing generation likes to hear. There are issues that every citizen should be aware of. It is the duty of news media to present and use their time appropriately, as they present what is of essence to the citizens. The book written by Schechter Danny and Dadge David tells a story of a war that should have been presented to the citizens but instead has been abetted by what the authors refer to as the nominally “free” media. It appears that the government has power to limit what the US citizens should here. Instead of allowing for the presentation of the news, it turned to be a place of bullying of the representatives of the news media to disrupt any critical reporting. Since the administration well understood how the media operates, it put in place strategies that disrupted any counter-narrative that emerged with the aim of challenging the storyline presented by the administration. This shows how citizens are hindered from receiving stories that would be beneficial to them. As Schechter and Dadge wrote their book, the Iraq war was still in progress and believed that the coverage leaves so much that citizens can desire. The authors wish for an opportunity through a campaign to tell the truth as pertain to the war. This book shows how news media are denied the opportunity to present the truth to the citizens. The authors, in introducing their book refer to the news media representatives as “The Watchdog That Failed to Bark” (pp 1). In fact, what people need to hear is readily available to the news media and citizens should not be denied the opportunity. Another factor making news media to receive critics from viewers and I the long run fail to give the citizens their expectations is the concern they give on politics and celebrities. In the article “Late-night shows find favor with GOP presidential candidates”, the author, Scott Collins brings out how the media brings presidential candidates to the Sunday programs. For instance, Scott argues that Fox news feature more of Republican candidates. This makes “hot news” not to appear leaving citizens not updated. In fact, the author shows how the Sunday shows appear more of a news magazine since it mainly presents past week issues. It is for this reason that a historian, Richard Reeves, refers to is as “dumbing-down of America”. In stead, important news should appear in the news media. These celebrity and political issues lead to ignorance of important issues. The article by Associated Press, “We Ignored Paris”, and “US Weekly Black Coverage” confirms that many people are not concern about celebrities as many media representatives believed. After they “ignored Paris”, Associated Press states that not even one of the many people who get news fro AP requested to have the story presented (Associated Press & Rogers pp. 639). This confirms Rogers’ words that the news media will succeed even if they did not present celebrity news. This shows the importance of concentrating on issues that every citizen must be aware of especially the news happen around them. The content of media news has led to erosion of societal values and norms and creation of new stereotypes and social classes. The public is sensitive on the people appearing in news media and the information they present to viewers. It is essential for every citizen to discover the world around. It is for this reason that Thomas Ginsberg wrote the article “Rediscovering the World”. According to him, beating of Rodney Kind was a big story for it trumped Afghanistan. However, this to America Ginsberg says was a niche subject for Americans overlooked all foreign news. Americans cared less about the world after the cold war was over. The article shows the importance of foreign news since Ginsberg argues that if news media in the US presented this news, the September 11 attacks would have been avoided. News media in the US spend much of their time concentrating on politics instead of presenting news that affect the citizens and the world in general. This could be seen as Sensationalism and inadequate coverage of important news. Media houses are sensational on issues that are likely to make their papers or their channels popular. They concentrate on subjects that easily evoke emotions on the public but not what the citizens need to hear. In conclusion, these articles prove that it is crucial for citizens to make right choice of news media depending on the news they would like to hear. This is because each media has its target. News media must understand that US citizen need to stay informed of local and foreign news. Therefore, addressing top stories helps in keeping citizens updated. Implementation of these issues will see the media go a long way towards realization of its goals. Work Cited Associated Press. (2010). U.S Weekly Blacks Out Hilton Coverage. In Moton, D. &Dumler, G. (Eds). Navigating America: Information Competency and Research for the Twenty-First Century (pp. 636-637). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Bauder, David. (2010). War Takes Up Less Time on Fox News. In Moton, D. & Dumler, G. (Eds). Navigating America: Information Competency and Research for the Twenty-First Century (pp. 636-637). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Collins, Scott. Late-night shows find favor with GOP presidential candidates. Los Angeles Times. Web 5 Feb. 2012. Ginsberg, Thomas. Rediscovering the World. Web 5 Feb. 2012. Rogers, John. (2010). AP: We Ignored Paris. In Moton, D. &Dumler, G. (Eds). Navigating America: Information Competency and Research for the Twenty-First Century (pp. 639-641). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Schechter, Danny and Dadge David. The war in Iraq and why the media failed us. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. Print. Read More