media bias essay

Lauren Wandell Dr. Lester American Government 06G September 12, 2018 American Media Bias American Media Bias Over time technology has become so advanced that things are almost instantly known by everyone including news, rumors, and our political system that spread like wild fire. The media can seem to be biased and only show on side of most stories but if you dig deeper into the internet you can find out real answers that help answer any questions that one might have. I believe that the media can be biased but if you care enough any information you want is put out for you to know. Lately the media has been focused on making our government look bad but doesn’t show the whole story to everything. Also, people determine whether media is biased or not depending on what they want to hear. If the news isn’t telling you what you want to hear then you’re most likely going to get frustrated after a while and turn to a new media outlet. According to the research done by professors at Indiana university only 7% of reporters are republican which leaves a 1 to 4 ratio between republican and democratic reporters, while the other 65% chose to not identify their political views. This leads to media bias and means that technically most reports that are published are going to be more towards the democrat side of things. This can be frustrating to people who identify as republicans and don’t agree with the views of democratic reporters. While at the same time people who identify as democrats don’t agree with what the republican reports might be publishing. Although you might not agree with all media outlets there is a mixture of both out them to choose from. One thing I feel like the media has been really biased about lately is the black lives matter movement. There is always a race issue on the news, even when the problem is between the same race. Not many people get to see both sides of the problem and it leads to an uproar because the media is showing things that might not always be completely true. In this sense I feel as if the media is just trying to get people talking and it leads to arguments because humans can’t accept that people have different opinions. It is almost impossible to find a person that has the exact same views as another person because we were all raised differently. The media is in control of everything, something can be said and the whole world will know in a matter of minutes. This can be dangerous because some people only listen to one media site and believe everything they say instead of looking into something from multiple media sites. Another main point of media bias lately is when Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the national anthem. Most people got defensive and decided to stop watching the national football league because of this movement. Honestly, I thought this was crazy and disrespect to our country. Many media outlets were posting about it and whether it was right or wrong. Yes, he was standing up for something he believed in, but many deemed it inappropriate during our national anthem that honored our troops and soldiers fighting for our freedoms. The Washington Post published an article that leads the readers to dislike Kaepernick for his decision. In the article it explains that people were so frustrated they started burning their jerseys for the team that Kaepernick was playing for. When hearing that he had done this people were so enraged, but they didn’t look for an explanation or answer. So, here’s the answer everyone has been looking for that was published by CBS news. Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem because it was suggested by a soldier. At first Colin was just sitting on the bench at first until Nate Boyer, a former united states soldier, reached out to him and suggested kneeling. Nate suggested this because it still got Kaepernick’s point across, but it did so more respectfully because soldiers kneel at funerals when giving a flag to a loved one, people kneel to pray, and soldiers kneel at fallen heroes’ tombs. This has just recently been addressed even though the problem happened two years ago. I think this is amazing and it just shows how the media can take something and twist it around. People have believed for the past two years that Colin Kaepernick should have been fired and they have been so upset about it. Kaepernick was respecting our troops and trying to make a difference in police brutality but the media and rumors got spread because the world is so technologically advanced. Until having to write this essay I never really thought of it being this way. The media can change someone’s opinion on a topic so quick and its honestly so sad. People believe everything they see and hear on the news, and in some cases yes it might be true but as I’ve noticed over the past few weeks there is always another side to every story and usually the media is going to post the side that gets them more attention. Although the media gets more attention which is good for them it is also tearing our country apart. So many people have different opinions and can’t accept when people disagree with them and the news has made this clearer. Within the past decade technology has become such a major part of people’s lives and I feel as if the news has had a great impact on everyone. The way people see events is based solely off of what they hear and see on media outlets. The whole nation has gotten out of hand with the information they receive from the news and this has caused major problems through out the past couple years. There is a civil war going on in our nation between the media and people are too blind to even notice it. The media is tearing us apart by what they are posting and choosing to write on. Another good example of what’s been posted in the media and how people have reacted to it is the way our president acts. Many media outlets portray him differently based off of their beliefs and what they think about our government. The democrats have chosen to make it look as if the president is the worst person on the planet and that our nation is going to be destroyed but, what is destroying our nation is the people who choose to post certain things and can’t accept our government for the way it is. Yes, our president doesn’t always say the right things or act correctly but when media outlets only post about the bad he is doing instead of praising him for the good he is doing then it makes things worse. If people investigate what trump has done since being in office, they would see that its not all bad and there have been many things accomplished over the past two years. There needs to be a combination of good and bad on all media sites so everyone can know the true story of what is going on and happening in our country. The media can almost do whatever they want, and people are going to believe it no matter what and that leads to arguments. Media bias has affected us in a negative way and the nation and citizens are never going to recover from it. The news they put out is meant to get people talking to stir things up but it’s not always a good thing for us. I’m not saying that people should always agree on the same topic but there should be a better way at handling things and people should learn that things aren’t always going to work out they way they want them too. Media outlets show so many opinions on one topic that people start believing one thing and are too stubborn to listen to the other side or see it from a different perspective. The media has torn us apart and we need to start looking at everything we see and what we believe and really dig deep into it to find out the truth. The media sites that lean more towards liberal views often publish real information, but they use loaded language that persuades more towards liberal views. While media sites that are more conservative do the same thing but help people look at the topic from their side. This divides our country and makes information hard to believe from other media outlets. I feel as if the media should work together to show the truth on every topic no matter which side it favors so that our country can grow as one and become stronger. This will help us in the long run and can even help our government out. The constitution gives us free speech and free press to the media so technically they can do and post whatever they want but they should be forced to only post the real side of stories and not be able to edit them to lean to one side more than the other. I believe this will help us become more united and will settle some problems people have with the media. Many people don’t even watch the news because of these problems. The media can’t please everyone, but they can try to incorporate it to where people can still see topics from both sides of conservatism and liberalism. Always look into news stories, I guarantee you’ll find multiple articles on the topic you’re researching, and you’ll also find many different opinions. Works Cited Bandler, Aaron. “Only 7% of journalist are Republican” eHow, https://www.dailywire.com/news/986/only-7-journalists-are-republican-aaron-bandler Boren, Cindy. “Colin Kaepernick protest has 49ers fans burning their jerseys” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/28/colin-kaepernick-protest-has-49ers-fans-burning-their-jerseys/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.38de48dd2cbc Brinson, Will. “Here's how Nate Boyer got Colin Kaepernick to go from sitting to kneeling” https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-nate-boyer-got-colin-kaepernick-to-go-from-sitting-to-kneeling/