M05 Discussion: Media and Public Opinion
“A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society.”
-Walter Lipmann,
... [Show More] Address at the International Press Institute Assembly, London, May 27, 1965
Freedom of the press is protected in the First Amendment and one of the most important aspects of a democratic society. Today, the press takes many forms: a multi-billion dollar industry, talk radio, public broadcasting, the local newspaper, a blog, or a tweet. In this discussion, you will examine the impact media has in politics, policy and public opinion. You will also practice identifying possible bias in the media you consume.
ASSIGNMENT
First, read the materials and watch the videos for this module regarding media, public opinion, and public opinion polls. Specific resources are listed here, at the end. In this module, you have the opportunity to review a variety of information related what we collectively refer to as the media. The contemporary political media landscape includes a variety of access points-- newspapers, radio, television, Internet websites and social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) to name a few. According to Pew's research, in 2016, (Links to an external site.)"Americans express a clear preference for getting their news on a screen – though which screen that is varies. TV remains the dominant screen, followed by digital. Still, TV news use is dramatically lower among younger adults, suggesting further shake-ups to come." See Pew study here: http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways-to-news/ (Links to an external site.)
There is also a long tradition of satire, from political cartoons to late night comedy programs ("The Daily Show (Links to an external site.)," for example) to satirical news that serves as pointed commentary that also amuses. Comedic sources have often been cited as better providers of hard news that regular cable news outlets, while satirical sources such as "The Onion (Links to an external site.)," a website that averages 11 million unique visitors per month are also very popular. While some content is based on fact and others are entirely fictional, over the top headlines can almost seem to be possibly true. Yet, the term "fake news" has evolved at light-speed, in particular during 2016-2017. It has come to mean many different things to different audiences. Whereas articles by the Onion are known to be satire, a genre of truly "fake news" is considered to be maliciously false and generated only to enrage/outrage in order to drive web traffic that makes the content creator money. In fairness, most news content that drives web traffic makes someone money and both legitimate/factual news and fake can be considered "clickbait" to drive traffic, and thus revenues. Many of these headlines target a certain audience. Clickbait or not, and no matter where one's political opinion and ideology fall there are news outlets that will provide a reinforcement for that belief. In particular as we see changes over time in how, when, and where we consume news. Since television is still where the majority of Americans get their news, please choose at least two different news channels below and watch one or two reports from each channel. Then complete your writing assignment for this week, responding to the prompts far below.
Please use articles and media websites to review at least two of the media (print/television station/ internet) listed and reflect on these questions:
• What should be the role of the media?
• Is it designed to inform us or convince us of one way of thinking? Or is its role to present the truth as best it can report it and allow us as consumers to make up our own minds?
• Was there a specific tilt to the news sites/stations you visited?
• If so, what did you discern to be the biases exhibited by the reporters and/or new anchors?
• Did they try to present a balanced view of the topic they were covering? Is equal balance always the correct way to present opposing sides or information?
• Is there an inherent bias in the media, whether an outlet is leaning to the Left or to the Right or a different type of bias or a bias for other reasons than only partisan?
• If you were in charge of programming would you try and avoid or limit bias to the news stories that were presented? If so, how? If not, why?
• How did the articles about media literacy/ consumption help you critically view the news (or not)? Explain.
• Are most media outlets fulfilling their role to inform and report on the news? Why or why not?
Next, review at least two polling organization's websites (four are provided to you, but you may research others or the polling done by news outlets), find a recent poll you find interesting, evaluate the poll as best you can using the critical thinking points above and discuss-
(1) the results of the poll
(2) the methodology (how many respondents were contacted/polled? Is it a representative sample?)
(3) any information about ideology (did the poll break down responses based on party affiliation) or any other demographic differences presented in the polling
(4) what the poll tells us about ideology and/or relevant social, economic, or political issues
(5) do you think there is a difference between the way polling is presented by public opinion research organizations and news media, who also conduct polling, or compared to other polling, such as polling conducted by political parties, for example? [Show Less]