Political bias and corporate influence in American news media

Media Influence

The news and related media in the United States, not to mention the rest of the world, plays a pivotal role when it comes to relaying what is going on in the world and how they go about doing the same. While it might be expected by many that the news media should simply report the news and let viewers come to their own conclusions, it is instead clear that many to most media personalities and such put forward their own ideas or those of the company that they work for as they do their job. Beyond that, there are many shows on \"news\" networks that are actually unapologetic partisans that put forward their own viewpoints. While some may not like it, it is clear that the news media holds their own personal political positions and ideas and they use their coverage and verbiage to mold and shape the opinions of the public.

Analysis

Before getting into the claims and arguments of this report, the author will look at this situation using the prisms of ethos, pathos and logos and how they relate to the thesis noted above. When it comes to ethos, there is indeed an ethical question when it comes to the news media and how they do their job. There is a question as to whether they should cater to the ideological bents that most certainly exist in the United States and elsewhere or if they should remain strictly dispassionate. As for pathos, the news media absolutely invokes sympathy and feelings when it comes to some (if not a lot) of their media coverage. In other situations, the use of logos is employed whereby logic is the natural order of the arguments and \"molding\" being done. In some limited cases, logos and pathos might be used concurrently in that logic can be used to make a point while also inspiring sympathy (PEL, 2016). For example, the media might say that jailing someone for simple possession of marijuana is excessive given the non-violent nature of the crime or the person involved (Gupta, 2016).

There are two main claims that the author of this report would put forward. First, the media is unduly influenced by corporate interests and those same corporate interests extend their tentacles entirely too far. One example would be the fact that television/internet provider Comcast and NBC are all the same company (Justice.gov). The other claim that should be made is that entirely too many people that indicate they are reporting \"news\" are actually telling half-truths and/or otherwise reporting things in a way that favor one political side or the other. Indeed, Fox News is accused of having a right-wing/conservative bent (Huffington Post, 2016). Similarly, MSNBC has been accused of having a clear left-wing bias (Byers, 2016). The rebuttal to all of the above is that these networks are just playing to their desired niches and that they must do all of this to gain and retain viewership in today\'s television and advertising paradigm (Hallin, 2016). Indeed, what started with MTV eschewing music videos in favor of often mindless shows that gain viewership from the most people and, thus, the advertisers that follow that, news networks are in many ways doing the same thing. However, even that does not work all the time (Zara, 2015).

Perhaps a better rebuttal and rebuke of the media bias and dubious ethics of that same media is that the media can and should be used to mold the opinions of the public (Baum, 2008). For example, many people would argue that gay marriage is about rights and equality and not about what religious zealots might demand. There is also a lot of concern about misogyny and violence towards women (including suicides and other self-inflicted results) in the media and in broader society. As such, the media covers that a lot. They are doing so right now when it comes to Hillary Clinton (Berington & Honkatukia, 2002; Richards, Gillespie & Smith, 2014). Movies in particular are troublesome when it comes to what is portrayed for and against women (Emmers-Sommer, Pauley, Hanzat & Triplett, 2006). Another hot-button issue is science and how it runs at odds with religion in so many ways (Hmielowski, Feldman, Myers, Leiserowitz & Maiback, 2014).