Biases And Political Stance In Media Outlets
All of us at some point in our lives have watched the news, read the newspaper, or even seen a news article show up on our social media page. We all read the articles or listen to the news stories and think about the story from the authors' perspective. The media source gives us one perspective of the story they are covering. What if the media outlet was only giving us half the truth or only showing us only the side of the story they assume will attract the most viewers?
Unfortunately, this is exactly what the media of today’s world has come to. They only show us stories or part of stories that will attract the most viewers and keep their viewers happy. The media outlets have learned to manipulate the stories they show or write about, so the viewers they attract will watch or read the story and be happy and continue to keep reading or watching for more. Most media outlets choose to let a political stance be the determining factor as to which perspective their readers will like. Throughout this paper I will be discussing several media outlets and explaining how they have only shown the information from stories that will keep their readers happy.
If you had to name as many media outlets that you could which ones would make up your top five? CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, NBC News, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post? Of the ones listed how many do you think are not biased? If you guessed none, you are right. All eight media sources listed above are considered to lean either left or right, conservative or liberal. These are eight of the most popular news sources, and they all have a political stance of the left or right. What does it mean when a media outlet has a political stance?
The media outlet will give you the perspective from that stance with very little perspective of the other side. One news story making headlines right now is Serena Williams’s loss in the 2018 U.S. Open. According to CBS News, a left leaning media outlet, the umpire of the match is being accused of sexism. They state in their article written on September 9th that the same behavior portrayed by Williams on the court is the same or even lesser than the behavior of some male tennis players in the past with the same umpire. The Washington Examiner, a far-right leaning media outlet, states that Williams lost, period. They state in their article written on September 10th that there was no sexism exhibited by the umpire and in fact state that Williams cheated in the match. Two media outlets reporting on the same story with two far different opinions. If you were to only read the Washington Examiner’s article you may come to the assumption that Serena Williams is in fact a cheater. You may begin to think she called the umpire sexist because she got caught cheating and could not face the consequences.
Which article is the truth? Which article is based on strictly the opinion of the author writing it? After researching both articles and then following up with a political centered media outlet Reuters, both articles have truth to their stories, but the both try to paint either Williams as the enemy or the umpire as the enemy. Neither were in the wrong, the umpire was doing his job to the best of his abilities and Williams was upset about the match play and began to blame the umpire for the frustration she was having. Colin Kaepernick, have you heard the name? Sure, you have. He is the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem. According to Fox News, a right leaning political stance, Kaepernick has been signed at the face of Nike for their 2018 “Just Do It” campaign. In their article written September 4th, Nike is being criticized for signing Kaepernick, and they talk about how outraged NFL and Nike fans are. Fox News chose to write the entire article about all the criticism Nike is receiving. Another article written just a day before by Time Magazine, a left leaning political stance, provides the same story, leaving out all the negative comments. They give all the details including Kaepernick filing a grievance against the NFL, but they keep the article free of all the negativity of others.
I believe the only reason Fox News allowed all the negative comments and opinions in their article was to boost the negative opinions towards Kaepernick. In doing so they can continue the controversy, which in return will give them more to write about and sell to their followers. After reading an article from the left and the right, I searched for a news article that had a centralized political stance. BBC News takes the Kaepernick story and gives a political stance from both political sides. They talk about the controversy Kaepernick has caused and then proceed to talk about the good he has done and is continuing to do. Have you heard of the Hammond’s?
The Oregon cattle ranchers who set fire to federal land and ended up serving prison time were pardoned by President Trump. In an article NBC News, a left leaning political stance, posted on July 10th, NBC gives a stern opinion about the ranchers. The author’s opinion allows the readers to understand the struggles the ranchers have gone through being put in prison then released then put back in prison. The author never seems to give any sympathy for the ranchers; instead they give the idea that the ranchers should have served their full sentence. Meanwhile, The Washington Free Beacon, a right leaning political stance, published another article on the ranchers. They sympathize with the ranchers allowing the readers to understand the emotions the author felt when writing the article. The Hammond’s served a partial sentence and dealt with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt trying to fight their case. In the end President Trump sided with them allowing them to be pardoned from their sentences and return to their families. We see all over the media that President Trump is calling out fake news when it is brought to his attention.
What about Americans? Do you think Americans believe the fake news or do you think Americans agree with President Trump and realizing the media twists stories to make their audiences happy? In a recent study conducted by a UCLA scientist, media bias was proven true. According to the study eighteen out of twenty media outlets scored left of the center. It was stated if a viewer would watch a left leaned media outlet the same amount of time each day as a right leaned media outlet, the viewer would receive a centered political stance. If the media is in fact biased, then how can we believe everything they publish is true? I believe we cannot. I believe we must listen to each topic individually without persuasion of others and conclude our own opinions. This is not to say our opinions will not match other’s opinions. Now that we know the media is biased, how is the media decided on whether they lean left or right?
