The media plays a strong role in getting valuable information out to the people, however, the value diminishes if the information is either inaccurate or bias. A common problem within the media is that it often supports only one side of the story which can confuse and damage our society. The public puts the most trust within the media and it fails them by not taking the time to provide only facts. Media bias encompasses a variety of faults that not only include inaccurate and biased information, but also the lack of representing minority viewpoints and groups and minimalizing some hardworking journalists and news stories. This issue can be helped from the viewers by not giving in as passive watchers of the news and become a media activists.
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Because of this power, it is important that media stays neutral when reporting to the public. McCarthy, Killian J., and Wilfred Dolfsma discuss in, "Neutral Media? Evidence Of Media Bias And Its Economic Impact " just how neutral journalists claim to be and how neutral the media actually is. They include a survey that asked journalist if they considered themselves neutral and the results were that 94% of the group tested labeled themselves as such. However, contrary to the journalists’ belief, evidence showed just the opposite. Research shows that the public is more likely to read news that have a negative headline which then influences journalists to report more negative news. If a journalist is using this statistic to their advantage when reporting, then I wouldn’t call that being neutral or even fair. I think that if the public sees consistent negative news reports it could alter their perception of the world they live in and think badly of their surroundings which could be damaging. I think it is also upsetting that just because negative news attracts the most attention that it needs to be reported more. When the media manipulates the feelings of the public it makes the public lose confidence in their news …show more content…
According to his article, the media does appear to be bias in some cases but in the instance of the media coverage on the elections, data has shown that there is a lack of favoritism of one party shown. When I read about this fact I was shocked because many people do choose a party to support so I would think that this would be the case of news providers as well. However, in Farhi’s article he says that one side isn’t consistently getting attention over the other. Nonetheless, 77% of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center believe that media “tend to favor one side.” I align myself with the 77% because whenever I watch the news it feels like some news outlets are subtly supporting one party over the other. In getting information on topics like the elections, data shows that there is no other new providers the public would rather turn to than the
Because of this power, it is important that media stays neutral when reporting to the public. McCarthy, Killian J., and Wilfred Dolfsma discuss in, "Neutral Media? Evidence Of Media Bias And Its Economic Impact " just how neutral journalists claim to be and how neutral the media actually is. They include a survey that asked journalist if they considered themselves neutral and the results were that 94% of the group tested labeled themselves as such. However, contrary to the journalists’ belief, evidence showed just the opposite. Research shows that the public is more likely to read news that have a negative headline which then influences journalists to report more negative news. If a journalist is using this statistic to their advantage when reporting, then I wouldn’t call that being neutral or even fair. I think that if the public sees consistent negative news reports it could alter their perception of the world they live in and think badly of their surroundings which could be damaging. I think it is also upsetting that just because negative news attracts the most attention that it needs to be reported more. When the media manipulates the feelings of the public it makes the public lose confidence in their news …show more content…
According to his article, the media does appear to be bias in some cases but in the instance of the media coverage on the elections, data has shown that there is a lack of favoritism of one party shown. When I read about this fact I was shocked because many people do choose a party to support so I would think that this would be the case of news providers as well. However, in Farhi’s article he says that one side isn’t consistently getting attention over the other. Nonetheless, 77% of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center believe that media “tend to favor one side.” I align myself with the 77% because whenever I watch the news it feels like some news outlets are subtly supporting one party over the other. In getting information on topics like the elections, data shows that there is no other new providers the public would rather turn to than the