Democratic Theory and Public Opinion - Term Paper Example

? Democratic Theory/Public Opinion: TV News Coverage Role of Media Industries The greatest power to communicate nowadays lies with the mass media industries. In order to function in a society, the journalists need to tell citizens what they need to know for self governance. News organizations can provide this information to a greater extent, and this is what separates journalism and media industries (Wells & Hakanen, 2000). From the stone-age, man has worked his way up to reach the age of pride. Digital technology has indulged itself in different processes of everyday life. Before the evolution of technology, news took months to reach a concerned area and much of it got distorted on its way. For e.g., World War II ended in 1944, however, the news that it had finally ended reached the public in 1945. In every age, the role of media and TV has been very important. Many national and international events have been covered by media. Now every person enjoys the luxury of a TV in their homes. Majority of people have acquired a habit of tuning into the news upon coming back from work. However, more the people got dependant on the media and the news show hosts, more the media have been changing in an odd way. They realize the fact that they are invincible (Dagnes, 2010). Media is playing a major role in shaping the mass perceptions. Television has the most persuasive power than any other source of communication. People spend hours every day watching television programs either to get information or just for the sole purpose of entertainment. Media connections cannot be ignored in the realms of life. It is being used as a power to influence people and their perceptive reality (Wells & Hakanen, 2000). Perceptions formed through Media According to a recent research by Center of Media and Public Affairs, people do not get a different opinion by what is being written or shown to them, rather they become fond of stories that suit their mindset or perception and dislike stories that they find hostile. The dramatic change in communication has created a global mass society. The first and foremost point is that what kind of information is the public receiving and is the media providing them enough to make them draw their own conclusions and opinions (Dagnes, 2010). Nowadays the news style is mostly exaggerating or sometimes a statement causes so much confusion or chaos that the public do not have a clue as to what to make of it. In some of the shows, the anchor states the facts as they are. The public listen and form their opinions. The type of news matter here as well. Straight News News can be of the type that is typically referred to as straight news, which is news without embellishments. The main purpose of such type of news reporting is to inform the prospective public of what is going on. This type of news is only relevant for a short time. Straight news typically leads to feature stories which is a detailed version and is given with facts and opinions. Because of so much of explicit information involved in it, feature stories develop more of a personal opinion. They are generally regarded as the third person point of view. Partisan News Partisan style of reporting is more of a political form of reporting. Partisan reporting has biased opinions and at times tends to deviate ethically. Partisan fragmentation is growing in the mass media culture. The evolution of political news has over the time been expected to be extremely Partisan in nature. News channels have started titling their viewers as forms of political parties, for e.g., Fox news titles its viewers as Republicans and Democrats. Media coverage is characterized by opinions of political parties in partisan form. When the parties are conflicting, the media shows their divergent positions and when they agree the coverage is based on consensus. Soft News vs. Hard News News stories being covered are divided into two categories: soft news and the hard news. Soft news is regarded as the background information or human-interest stories. Hard news, on the other hand, is the immediate news that is up to the minute. News relating to politics, war, crime and economics are put under the category of hard news while that of entertainment and lifestyle are regarded as soft news. With the evolution of mass media culture, the difference is, however, becoming blurry. Where politics and politicians were regarded as part of hard news, a story about a politician and his life can now be regarded as entertainment as well (Dagnes, 2010). It can be difficult to differentiate between the two by solely considering the subject matter. A difference can also occur in the tone of presenting the news. It can take a factual approach to make it more of a hard news or a fake approach to put it as soft news. Information Bias: Bennett’s View W. Lance Bennett has focused on the journalist’s lack of propriety. According to him, journalists should report news as they are. They should report the significant matters at hand rather than mundane matters such as some celebrity’s exploitation or some rancher’s loss of cattle or some filthy rich individual’s sexual escapades. He calls them as “soft news” and considers them as insignificant and uninformative for the viewer. In his emphasis on soft news, he discusses four information biases, due to which the anchors and journalists deviate from their original path (Dagnes, 2010). These are: personalization, dramatization; fragmentation and authority disorder biases. Following these paths, the viewers do not get the required information from the media. All these four biases are linked together one way or another. Personalization is the bias in which the journalist keeps giving his own reasons and opinions, instead of making the matter more clearly by telling the story as it is and by telling the facts not his own reasoning. They are engaged in political combat instead of policy making. Personalization demands stories that have a personal connection with the audience. In dramatization the anchor, exaggerates and dramatizes the situation a mere matter is turned into something to rally for. They are easily simplified into dramatic terms like civic crisis over continuity or present over the past or future. Fragmentation involves making fragments of the main news. It happens when a solid story become chunks of information without being part of the bigger picture. The journalists know part of the puzzle and try to make up the other pieces according to their wit. Authority disorder bias occurs when the media anchors think themselves as invincible and they do not care for anything else except themselves and their greed for front-page stories. In this mess, they disregard the proper authority, for e.g., the President of the State. Authority figures are either overemphasized or demonized to either add legitimacy or make the story dramatic. The Spheres of Communication The spheres of communication of media given by Daniel C. Hallin has given us an idea what the anchors of news shows should talk about and how can they mold the truth out of something that is hidden from the public’s eyes (Rosen, 2009). The outer sphere is the Sphere of Deviance. In this sphere, the journalists try to sustain order either by identifying the deviant, in the framework of news, as radical, unacceptable, not possible or totally discarding it from the news. The views of the subject are considered as unworthy of being heard by the journalists. The political conflicts are defended by limits (Rosen, 2009). The middle sphere is the Sphere of Legitimate Controversy. Many journalists think that it is their real, normal everyday terrain and they are within the boundaries of the second sphere. This is the section of debates and electoral contests defined by the political press. This sphere has limits which are defined by the parameters of debate and the decision making process of the bureaucracies. Objectivity and balance are the prime factors in this sphere (Rosen, 2009). The third and innermost sphere is the Sphere of Consensus, the area of information on which everyone is in agreement with another. The general information, e.g. the next general election in USA is in 2012. These are the subjects which are not described by the society as controversial. The journalists here do not feel compelled to produce opposing views and do not remain disinterested observers as well. They act as advocates of consensus values (Rosen, 2009). The Neil Armstrong Syndrome Anita Dunn, White House Interim Communication Director, had a remark that led to the Neil Armstrong journalism type. In a press conference, she addressed the candidates and press secretaries, “candidate A says the moon is a cold, hard rock, and candidate B says it’s a hunk of green cheese, and, the coverage of this event is candidates trade charges on the makeup of the moon, but no one ever picks up the phone to call Neil Armstrong to say, hey, weren’t you there? Which one was right?”(Morawski, 2009). This concern was about the fact checking without actually looking into the arguments. This means that the journalists do not listen to both sides of the story or a squabble and make their own views and paint ugly pictures for the public to see. It generally coincides with the theory of Bennett, which is fragmentation bias of media. However, many media concerned individuals, manage to give off the aura of superiority and control their voices so that the monotonous tone of theirs’ make the public follow them. Analysis of Straight News CBS2- News at 5 by Kristine Johnson The show details out the news reporting headlines and details. The news start off with the main headlines, slight details and then drifts more towards the soft news. The anchors have started off with a serious note to a dramatized effect. A note of personalization was also noticed at some points but mainly the target was to convey the hard news in the form of a soft news. The audience was shown teasers of news bits which were delivered in the dramatized manner. PBS- News Hour at 6 This news hour focuses on stories from around the world. Their main focus is on the headlines of the world. Neil Armstrong journalism has been observed in some points but most of the factors remained within the spheres of deviance. Where politics from around the world had been discussed, a limit was kept on the deepest information. CNN- The Situation Room by Wolf Blitzer The public show watched was, Wolf Blitzer’s “The Situation Room” on CNN. Wolf Blitzer keeps a humorous upfront on his show. Even if a biting remark is issued by his political guests he turns it around in humor. His method of asking questions is very easygoing. He interviewed Paul Sr. and had a very easy talk with him. The topic and its relevant talk were pretty much highlighted against the easy humor. The style of such a show is more towards the authority disorder bias. Issues are being talked about openly and affected by personal views. Analysis of Partisan News The news shows are further of two types, the Partisan shows and the public shows. The Partisan shows watched were, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”, “Fox News with Glenn Beck” and “Bill O’ Reilly’s Show”. Countdown with Ketih Olbermann Keith Olbermann has done a fantastic job of his work. He keeps the politician under hawk eyes until he replies properly. He gives a brief description of the matter at hand, along with facts and then lets the two people on the opposite teams talk it over until the public seems satisfied. For e.g. Paul Rand of the Republican Party wants to reduce the taxes of the wealthy people of US such that the middle-class gives more taxes than they earn. On his show, after giving the brief description of Paul Rand and his demands, he called on a member of the Republican Party as well as a member of the Democratic Party. Keith is a liberal man and makes the atmosphere around the politicians easy and safe. His shows are very informative. However, he keeps on interrupting and makes a very tangled web of the conservation. Such kinds of shows are more under the sphere of Legitimate Controversy. The information provided to the viewers is more opinionated as well as of a personal nature but is based on the facts observed. Fox News with Glenn Beck Glenn Beck is an oversized overly dramatic anchor who keeps on raising the stakes of the topic until the viewer is forced to shut him off because he keeps on jumping from one topic to the other and does not bother to explain his actions to the citizens watching his show. Fox news put him on air to talk on a murder of a child of Honors. He rambled on and on about “Godlessness” and did not put any light on the murder. Many citizens regard him as a “fool of all fools”. He is the living example of the dramatization bias, Bennett. He keeps on dramatizing the situation when there should be a somber expression with sober words. Some people get confused as to whether who is the greater fool, Beck or O’ Reilly. O’ Reilly has been on the same path as Beck, however, he is biased on fragmentation and authority disorder. Moreover, Neil Armstrong sort of journalism was seen to a greater extent in this show. The host did not let the guest put up the view on the topic making more of a personal bias in this regard (Rosen, 2009). Bill O’ Reilly’s Show This show discusses the controversial and social issues. The interviews of the guest are usually pre-recorded to have them commented upon by the host. This show where has received much appreciation because of its critical nature. The opinions of the host are observed as personal bias and most information is fragmented. The pre recorded interviews gives a chance to the host to have critical opinions putting it under the sphere of legitimate controversy but not to a greater extent. Neil Armstrong type of journalism is followed when the host does not deviate from the opinion he has originally generated about a topic. The Partisan show anchors have different core beliefs. The anchors should realize that their reasoning and opinions will not matter to the citizens if they do not get the topic, the facts and the information pertaining to the topic. Among all the Partisan hosts, Beck is the only person perceived to be emphasizing on core beliefs. Conclusion The media culture has taken its evolution from just being news to being something having political and social impact on viewers. From the analysis above it is noted that most journalists want to grab the public attention by creating a story out of a small issue of no value. More emphasis is on what Dunn calls the Neil Armstrong syndrome where facts are usually subsided by personal opinions (Rosen, 2009). The biases created by the corporate media specialists have enabled them to grab the attention of the public and create perceptions about issues having impacts on personalities. Journalism and public opinion become directly proportional somehow when it comes to the information biases being created. Moreover, if more spheres of communication are kept at a level of strategic positivity, the level of reporting and scenarios will have a substantial impact on the media culture as well as the public. References Dagnes, A. (2010). Politics on Demand: the effect of 24-hour news on America. California: ABC-CLIO, LLC. Morawski, V. (2009). Anita Dunn on Neil Armstrong Journalism [Online]. Retrieved from [Accessed 8 March 2011] Rosen, J. (2009). Audience Atomization overcome: why the internet weakens authority of the press. Press Think. [Online] Retrieved from [Accessed 8 March 2011] Wells, A., & Hakanen, Ernest A. (2000). Mass media & society. Greenwich: Alex Publishing Corporation Read More