Media Bias: The Left, or Right?
It has been an ongoing debate regarding media bias between the liberal and conservative values. The allegations for each of the parties being prejudiced between one another come out more so during political elections. Anything revolving around a political debate tends to turn into an all-out brawl between the two parties. Accusations are thrown back and forth; one to the other. Studies have shown in the Gallup poll, that the media outlets display favoritism more so towards the liberal point of view versus the conservatives. They stated that, “ The majority of Americans believe that the mass media slant reports in favor of the liberal position on current issues.” These views are plainly evident to see regarding the disputes over the 2008 election as well as gun laws/rights, and the media has had an enormous hand in swaying its viewers to the left.
Notably, many media outlets use things such as newspapers, radio, television, and the internet to their advantage with a liberal point of view. They use these outlets as a tool to make it a point, ensuring the people that the liberal way, is the only way. There are many popular media outlets such as Cable News Network (CNN), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and The New York Times that highly favor the liberal position. Cable News Network is a widely popular news outlet for people across the country. This news company tends to shed negative light upon the Republican party and their beliefs.
Throughout mainstream media, on numerous accounts, people often wonder how credible their sources can be throughout the political elections and current issues within their country. A primary example of liberal media bias is evident in the fact that the reporters only stream the democratic headlines and stories. They are dedicated to exhibiting stories involving the constructive things the Democratic party does, and only account to one side of that political party. Ben Shapiro stated, “ The Washington News Post called me and asked how you can determine if a media source is credible or not. I said you have to look at two things: are they open with their bias and do they run stories that counter their bias?” Most media sources tend to sway to one side or the other and do not run news stories that counter the other political party. This is a display of bias within their outlet. They solely focus on endorsing one political party, which in this case is the liberal view, and exposing stories about the Republican party that many have deemed to be ‘ fake news’. Among these media outlets, it is clear that the headlines are biased based to the opinions of the news reporters. They pick the stories that they want to report and how they want them to be covered. If this continues to happen, it will become a constant cycle and the other political viewpoint will never be displayed.
Because of all of the media outlets, you will be able to find things that support your point of view. There are many websites and news channels that lean in one direction more so than the other, but the most marketable media sources favor the democratic party. They tend to attack the other political party and have lack information on the opposing views of their stories, which is described as a counter bias. In order to not be considered biased, you would need to obtain both sides of the parties and display diversity within the content you post. The New York Times, CNN, and many others lack in this array of broadcasts. They only present one-sided stories that involve the Democratic party, endorsing their news, and catering to themselves. In this video Ben also stated, “ Not everything that comes from the New York Times is false, it may be that the angle they are giving you, is an angle that you don’t like or an angle that doesn’t reflect underlying truths.” The facts of the stories may be correct, they are just approached in an angle that leans toward the left-wing of the political spectrum. They use these angles to sway the stories in the view of a Democratic standpoint.
Considering the media’s bias and one-sided viewpoint, unbiased reporting is extremely vital, so the citizens can be informed on what is going on within the world around them. “ Reporters are given orders on how to slant the news so that there’s a liberal political benefit. Before a story is published on-air, online, or in print, it’s distorted so that the liberal political viewpoints are promoted, while conservative beliefs are suppressed.” The mainstream media solely focuses on presenting factual information, but they present it in the point of view of a liberal or a member of the Democratic party, which comes off as biased to that specific political party. When media reports the stories, opinion is favored over facts. An antithetical view is excluded and the comments within the reports are not arbitrated in a non-partisan way.
Moreover, media bias has been said to go back for decades, especially between the two political parties. An example of mainstream media bias in the liberal standpoint is the presidential election in the year 2008 where “ Media outlets were criticized for helping Barack Obama win the White House while portraying the John McCain and Sarah Palin in a poor light. The Katie Couric interview that skewered Palin is one example that conservatives point to that gives evidence to their claims.” McCain was extremely disappointed, feeling as if his campaign had been extinguished due to comments and reports made by television anchors and news journalists that sided with Barrack Obama and his campaign. This example of democratic media bias could have a negative effect on the public’s opinion. Any type of media bias reflects negatively upon the citizens public opinion. It is bad for democracy. Media bias can sway people solely because of the angle they display their reports on. They present them with the information they want to hear and see by overlooking the issues. The media reporting these stories in the light they want to show them in could cause the publics personal opinion to gradually fade away. With the persuasion they present while covering news stories, they will begin to believe everything they hear and see as opposed to developing their own opinion about an issue or political matter. The defamation of McCain and praising of Obama lead to the people leaning to the democratic party in the 2008 election.
Another example of bias in the media outlets is the issue upon gun control. This has been an ongoing debate between the democratic and republican parties for years. The Democratic party is tremendously supportive of the gun control law. They believe that citizens should not be allowed to own a firearm, even if it is for the sole protection of them. Liberals have pushed this law to be passed for many years and will not stop until they enforce it. Questionably, but not surprisingly, “ CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night only featured questioners who supported gun control.” This represents media bias because when having a debate over gun control laws, they only have supporters of this law being passed. Questioners opposed to restricted gun laws and avid supporters of the second amendment are openly excluded. The media bias on gun laws impacts the public opinion, trying and making everyone to perceive that guns are extremely macabre. There have been very many cases in where innocent people have been murdered with firearms because the wrong people got ahold of them, but also these said firearms are a source of protection for the people of this country. The media always unveils the gruesome stories of shootings and fails to include reports of guns being a source of protection for the people.
Through all of the research and obvious depictions from media, it is easy to see the weight that is put on expressing liberal views. A poll that was recently taken for media journalists found that “ Of the 462 people surveyed, 17. 63% called themselves “ very liberal,” while 40. 84% described themselves as “ liberal. When you add it up, 58. 47% admit to being left of center. Along with that, another 37. 12% claim to be moderate. In fact, a mere 0. 46% of financial journalists called themselves “ very conservative,” while just 3. 94% said they were “ somewhat conservative.” That’s an unarguable 4. 4% of the total percentage that leans right-of-center. That’s a ratio of 13 “ liberals” for every one “ conservative.” This poll plainly exhibits that the mainstream media outlets of today are exceedingly biased to the liberal political views. In result of this, there is no variety between political views, and they convey no exposure to all sides of the political spectrum.
Annotated Bibliography
- The American Revolution against British Gun Control , www. davekopel. org/Media/MediaBias. htm.
- “ Ben Shapiro Talks Media Bias and Gun Control – CNN Video.” CNN , Cable News Network, 18 Mar. 2018, www. cnn. com/videos/tv/2018/03/18/ben-shapiro-talks-media-bias-and-gun-control-rs. cnn.
- Gallup, Inc. “ Americans See More News Bias; Most Can’t Name Neutral Source.” Gallup. com , 17 Jan. 2018, news. gallup. com/poll/225755/americans-news-bias-name-neutral-source. aspx.
- Halbrooks, Glenn. “ Does the Media Have a Liberal Bias?” The Balance Careers , The Balance Careers, www. thebalancecareers. com/is-the-media-liberal-2315202.
- MacAskill, Ewen. “ US Election: McCain Accuses Media of Bias towards Obama.” The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 22 July 2008, www. theguardian. com/world/2008/jul/23/johnmccain. barackobama.
- Report, The Rubin. “ Ben Shapiro on Fake News, Crumbling Mainstream Media, and Russia’s Hacking (Part 3).” YouTube , YouTube, 15 Dec. 2016, www. youtube. com/watch? v= aGCookG90kA.
- Robb, David. “ Gallup Poll: 62% Of Americans Believe News Is Biased & 44% Say It’s Inaccurate.” Deadline , Deadline, 20 June 2018, deadline. com/2018/06/fake-news-gallup-poll-americans-believe-news-is-biased-inaccurate-1202414504/.
- “ Why Has Trust in the News Media Declined?” The New York Times , The New York Times, www. nytimes. com/roomfordebate/2015/11/11/why-has-trust-in-the-news-media-declined/liberal-news-media-bias-has-a-serious-effect.
