Is Media Biased and What Is the Myth of a Liberal Media - Essay Example

Is Media Biased? What is the Myth of a liberal Media? The question of whether or not the media is biased does not circle around our minds as often asit should. Most of the times, the public believes every word of what a “reliable” news channel or news media says and shows. The following examples will try to demonstrate that in many cases the media has manipulated the information and has led the public to believe one thing, when the reality was another. In order to have a better understanding, let us define the general purpose of the media: From the daily news of CNN, we hear the hostess or host saying “We deliver the news with integrity, veracity and accuracy.” As we advance on the analysis we will see if those words are hollow and empty or they can be supported fully. According to the Fair.org web site, there are several steps to follow in order to detect bias in the news media. The following is a summary of those steps: First the source needs to be identified, focusing mainly on his/her political perspective. Second, identify the race and gender diversity of the sources. Third, establish the points of view of the reporters. Fourth, identify the standards, if there are double. Fifth, find out if the stereotypes limit the coverage to certain group. Sixth, identify the assumptions that are taken for granted and not evaluated any further. Seven, investigate the wording used in the reports. Eight, investigate if there is a lack of context. Nine, investigate if the headlines and the stories are related. Ten, what is the importance given to the story, find out if the coverage given to important news is appropriate. (How to detect bias in News Media. Fair.org) Also, the web site New Bias Explored, the art of reading news, provides a set of guidelines in order to investigate what forms the news bias take. These guidelines are very similar to the ones presented in the previous paragraph: Word choice, Omissions, Limiting Debate, Story Framing, Sources, The four influences of the news: Geography, Objectivity, Institutional Affiliation, The medium. (News Bias Explored, The art of reading News) With all these guidelines and the previous method, let us perform an analysis on a very well known subject and find out if the media is biased. The news would be “Spears will loose custody of children.” (Spears will lose custody of children, CNN.com) Based upon the word choice analysis, the title nor the context include the word temporary. It misleads the public upon believing this is a final decision. The article is limited and omits the consequences resulting from the judge’s temporary decision, for example how much child support would Ms. Spears have to pay if she was to lose the custody of her children. The debate is also limited since it only mentions small statement regarding the wishes of Ms. Spears and there is no mention of the purposes of Mr. Federline. The story has been framed since it evolves only around the fact that Ms. Spears will lose the custody of her children, when it might focus on the reasons to pursuit the new split conditions, thus changing the emphasis and context of the news. The only source mentioned in this article is Superior Judge Court, Scott Gordon, since it is a temporary decision, other sources might be irrelevant. Within the four influences of the news, within the geography guideline, there is not much debate since it falls under the regionalism, the news takes place within the United States. Objectivity is referred to the method of the journalist’s searching for the truth. In this case, the reporter is only informing the public and not trying to obtain the truth behind Mr. Federline’s new intentions. From the analysis method presented by Fair.org, there is a double standard while presenting Ms. Spears habits and continuous usage of controlled substances and alcohol. Where as to, Mr. Federline’s habits were not mentioned. The headlines and the story are partially related, since further down the article it mentions Ms. Spears’ due date for her new album, her overweight problem and her management company. The importance given to this news is larger than any other news, when in reality it is a common custody battle that happens on daily basis, and only one obtains full biased coverage. The previous analysis gives an excellent example of how the media is not only biased but also is moved by economics reasons. Any scandalous news relating celebrities, would generate and move enormous amount of money. It is common knowledge that the role of a journalist is to obtain as much information as possible from both sides of the story. However, as shown previously, that does not happen anymore. Thus the statements presented in news media, such as CNN, are hollowed words that do not fully represent the work they produce. Since that has become a common practice, let us describe the different biases of journalism. First we have the commercial bias, as where the news media depends upon the advertisement money drawn from customers or advertisers. Thus, in exchange, and in order to attract more audience, the journalists create conflict within his/her news. Second we have temporary bias, as where to the attention is biased towards the fresh and recent news. Sometimes, these news are too little to cover, therefore they get manipulated and/or modified. Third we have visual bias, the television news would not be effective without the images. Fourth we have the bad news bias, where the bad news draws more audience than the boring good news. This bias has helped on the belief that the world is a more dangerous place than it really is. Fifth we have narrative bias, where the news media makes an incredible effort to create a story with beginning, plot or crisis and end, from an ambiguous situation. Usually the journalists will create conflict to create a more interesting story. Sixth we have the Status Quo bias, where “the news media believes that the system works.” The press spends enormous amount of time trailing the political campaigns, and not so much on the process of the government. An indirect example of the latter would be that fact that is very difficult to obtain information regarding the domestic and foreign policies during the Clinton’s Administration. On the other hand the internet is capable of producing large amount of information regarding the campaigns and elections of several Presidents. Seventh we have the fairness bias, where the media is compelled to work in an ethical manner and provide a fair situation to the parties involved in the news. (Media/Political bias, Rhetorica) On the other hand, there is an example presented by David Niven, in his work “Partisanship and Negativity in Media Coverage of Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton”, where he attempts to demonstrate no partisan bias when analyzing both politicians activities. Instead he demonstrate a media cover on bad results, rather than good. (Nive, David. “Partisanship and Negativity in Media Coverage of Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.”) An example of the media being biased in a territory outside the United States, is presented by Michael O’Connell in his work “Is Irish Public Opinion towards Crime Distorted by Media Bias?”, where he presents an analysis of how the press presents the crime in four different bias ways. (O’Connell, Michael. “Is Irish Public Opinion towards Crime Distorted by Media Bias?”) The next question that comes into our minds is regarding the Myth of liberal media. Based upon the article by Fred Barnes the new poll by the Pew Center proves that “the media is as liberal as ever.” The results concluded that 34 percent of the journalists were liberal and only 7 percent were conservative. According to this article some of the reasons for these results are the countries policy of equal opportunity where more women and minorities are hired. And young single women have a tendency to own liberal ideas. (Liberal Media Evidence, Worldwide Standard.com) The more the research advances, the more examples are found of the media being liberal and at the same time bias. There is one example specifically that has caught the writer’s attention, and is the interview performed by Barbara Walters in the fall of 1996, to Bob and Liddy Doyle and Bill and Hillary Clinton. During this interview Ms. Walters have asked harsh and straight forward questions to the Doyle’s and not mentioned any “hot” topics to the Clinton’s, including the affairs each one sustained separately. (Media Bias. Gargaro.com) On the other hand, there is an argument that endorses the fact that conservatives promote the myth that the U.S. media is liberal. The reasons: to raise doubts on the liberal news and hide conservative bias news. The argument also supports the fact that large conservative corporations own the media, or have an indirect relationship with them; thus monopolizing the media. Also these large corporations are the financial support for advertising and the media. There are several statistics that show the process under which the media is becoming a monopoly. As time passes, larger companies are acquiring the four major networks. As it has been mentioned earlier, advertising is the source of economic stability for the media. Therefore, the media depends upon the sponsorship or air time buying from these corporations, in order to survive. As a result, most of the times, there will be cases where the media cannot present strong arguments against the corporations, since the funding might get withdrawn. There are statistical evidences of the corporate interference with the type of news to be distributed. For example, there is hardly anything relating to wages, work conditions, hazardous situations they face. Also the process to choose the experts to rely the news, is conservative oriented. When corruption is covered in Washington, usually the politicians are blamed and not the corporations. Previous surveys have shown that most journalists were liberals originally, now recent studies demonstrate that most journalists are centrists, that is, liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues. From the previous research and analysis one can conclude that the myth of a liberal media is not real. It is a strategic movement from conservative corporations in order to manipulate the media and the information that the public is receiving. However, in fact the media is biased, from several points of view and in several arenas. As a result, the writer cannot help but to wander if the public opinion is fully aware of all the issues, and all the facts concerning the country and even the world. The news media biased is not as destructive within the United States as it is outside the Unite States. The economy and government processes are stable within the country, also the procedures left by the founding fathers are strong enough as to maintain themselves. In other places upon the earth, the public opinion is much more misinformed and without access and freedom to see forms of living in other countries or places. In this case the media bias is directly controlled by the government, whereas it shows a comfortable economic situation and the reality shows a complete different story. Works Cited Barnes, F. Liberal Media Evidence. Worldwide Standard.com Mayo 28, 2004. News Corporation. April 20, 2008. CNN.com/Entertainment. Spears will lose custody of children. October 2, 2007. Time Warner Company. April 24, 2008. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. How to detect bias in News Media. Creative Commons License. April 24, 2008. Kanga, S. Myth: The U.S. has a liberal media. Fact: The media are being increasingly monopolized by parent corporations with pro-corporate or conservative agendas. Steve Kanga. April 24, 2008. Media Bias. Gargaro.com April 22, 2008. . Media/Politica Bias. Rhetorica. The Rhetoric Network. April 24, 2008. News Bias Explored, The art of reading news. April 24, 2008. Nive, David. “Partisanship and Negativity in Media Coverage of Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.” The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 6, No. 3, 31-46 (2001) O’Connell, Michael. “Is Irish Public Opinion towards Crime Distorted by Media Bias?” European Journal of Communication, Vol. 14, No. 2, 191-212 (1999) Read More