Question

Assignment:

(1) How is the media, biased, more towards progressive-liberal values, conservative values or in both directions depending on the specific media outlets you may access? Explain your response. (2) Describe in detail the different types of bias that the media uses. (This should be your main content). i.e. Bias by omission, bias by se.......etc., etc... (3) Find two or more examples of media bias (video clip, article, images) and explain in detail how these example/s represent media bias and the impact that it has on public opinion. Writing Guidelines: 4-5 FULL double-spaced pages of text. This does not include your title page or reference page. If you turn in 2 pages of content then I start grading from 50%, etc. Normal Sized font please. (12 font max) Normal indention and spacing. If you have questions about your spacing or indentations please feel free to send me some examples. However, 4-5 pages of content on this topic should be EASY, especially right now. Please introduce your topic, explain about it, then conclude your topic. Focus on the structure of your paper. Write in complete sentences and paragraphs. Bullet points or lists will not be accepted. PLEASE PLEASE double check for errors! PROOFREAD. Take it to the writing center if you need help! Be original - All papers submitted in this class are reviewed via Turnitin.com, a proprietary software database that identifies unoriginal material in papers. Please review the syllabus statement regarding the penalty for plagiarism. Refer to the Writing Guidelines content page for additional writing assignment criteria.

Answer 1

Answer 1) The Media these days are more commercialized and is diverting from the basic objective of providing right type of informtion to the public which will make them aware and alert of the current situations.

These days media is only taking those topics which can attract TRP of the channel and trust me all breaking news are sometimes cooked back at studio. Media should be responsible enough to take the right news only and present it the way it is. Media is dramatizing news into stories to make it more appealing and entertaining.

Certain issues are being talked to death by various talking heads looking at it from every possible angle with a very lillte value add news in this process.

I think most of the mainstream media are biased towards the democratic view of the world.

The “perceived” biases in the mainstream media are, in my view, a massive problem and threat to democracy. Only an impartially informed and educated populace is able to make educated decisions in their own best interest.

Answer 2)  Types of Biasness by Media

i) Bias by commision : in this media follows a pattern of unfounded assumptions and uncorrected errors that tend to support left-wing or liberal view. The national media tend to float news & facts that don't stand up to scrutiny.

Examples of bias by commission abound. During a March 1991 “Face the Nation,” host Lesley Stahl blamed an increase in the number of cases of measles on Reagan-era cuts in the federal immunization budget.

ii) Bias by omission : this refers to a pattern of ignoring the facts that are against the left-wing or the liberals or support conservative beliefs.This can be the most damaging bias, especially when the media build a crisis, and then refuse to report facts that oppose their earlier reporting.

examples are When Mandela went to Cuba to celebrate the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution with Fidel Castro in July 1991, the networks did no story.

iii) Bias by story selection: in this media highlights news stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stories that coincide with the agenda of the Right.

examples - Contrast the media’s treatment of ethical charges against Ed Meese when he was Attorney General and Jim Wright when he was Speaker of the House (and second-in-line? for the presidency). We compared the number of stories about Meese in January and February 1988 and stories about Wright between January 1987 and February 1988. The media covered charges against Meese in 17 times as many stories in just one-seventh the time. The nightly newscasts on ABC, NBC, and CBS carried 26 reports of charges against Meese in just two months, compared to zero stories against Wright in 14 months.

iv) Bias by placement : iun thi media places news stories in such a way that it downplays the informative support of the conservative views. Does a story appear across the top half of the front page, or is it buried back with the obituaries and the horoscope? News editors (or whichever staffers lay out a given newspaper) exercise great discretion in their placement of stories.

examples - When The Washington Post was investigating the travel habits of Sununu and reported 27 stories in 68 days, they put the Sununu story on the front page eleven times, guaranteeing that the story would remain on the front pages of other papers and early in radio and television newscasts.

v) Bias of selection of experts: the use of such phrases as “most experts believe” and “observers say,” or a reporter’s deliberate selection of experts who share his point of view.

Experts in news stories are like expert witnesses in trials. If you know whether the defense or the prosecution called a particular expert witness to the stand, you know which way the witness will testify. And when a news story only presents one side, it is obviously the side the reporter supports.

vi) spin : emphasizing certain aspects of a news story in the hope that other aspects will be ignored. Party spokesmen who talk with reporters after a presidential debate, seeking to convince them that their candidate won, are called “spin doctors.” One expert on the news media, Professor Michael Robinson, explains that “spin involves tone, the part of the reporting that extends beyond hard news.”

7) Bias by the labeling of activists, organizations, and ideas. The media’s power to label people is one of its most subtle, and potent. Responsible conservatives are sometimes stigmatized as “far right,” “ultra-conservative,” or “right-wing extremists,” while radicals, even Marxists, are called “progressives,” “liberals,” or “moderates.”