Hayley Lewis
hl646911@ohio.edu
The public trusts today’s media less than ever before. And
while in some way’s we can’t argue with them – what with the vast majority of
journalists aligning themselves with liberal views and news corporations such
as Fox carrying such huge reputations for favoritism – are we really as biased
as they think? Most of the time, it depends on the viewers’ own opinions.
The Facts:
In January, Pew Research Center analyzed both the positive
and negative coverage of the 2012 presidential election, and revealed surprising
results. While we claim the media is biased, and generally immediately point
fingers first at Fox as an example, Pew revealed that when coverage is biased,
it is pretty even across the board. While Fox is smearing democrats and
liberals, news sources like MSNBC are throwing shade right back at conservative
republicans. So while this does, by some regard, prove media bias, it also
reveals that you can effectively find a media source that shares your views and
spits your ideas right back at you. And with viewers continuing to flood in to
such stations, what’s to stop the bias?
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/14/five-facts-about-fox-news/
An Increase in Sources:
So what could be enforcing this belief in bias? One factor,
pointed out by the Washington Post, could be the influx of new media outlets
produced by today’s increasingly more technological world. With high demand and
the “we need to know now” attitude, there is always room for another source,
and therefore another opinion. Readers and viewers alike can scan stations and
the Internet faster than ever before to find multiple sources that fit their
needs. However, in doing so they increase their chances of coming across
sources that may swing further to one side or the other, thus furthering the
“biased” label of the media.
A Positive Swing:
With the public’s heightened awareness of potential
widespread media bias, they have become increasingly more critical of any and
all bias that slips through the cracks of good journalism, thus giving rise to
a whole new platform of media where programs such as the Daily Show and the Colbert
Report thrive by scrutinizing and poking fun at the media itself.
In the midst of all this scrutiny of the media, the pressure
to be a good, just source has increased and should therefore give rise to even
better journalism – improving the quality of news while at the same time
regaining the trust of the public.
Is it all the media’s fault?
The Washington Post also points out that while viewers
assume the majority of news sources are biased and therefore hold a grudge
against them, they continue to believe that their own preferred news source
remains reliable and maintains the unbiased truth. Therefore the “most biased”
news source becomes highly subjective; thus it is in itself, a bias.
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