Political Science
Answer this –
Many experts see the media as biased and more like infotainment. In fact, many people have turned to social networks as an outlet for news instead of CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN and other news stations. Do you see this as an issue? Do you see the news as biased or unbiased? Should there be more restrictions on the news stations?
In addition to answering the discussion post question, consider the following for discussion:
How significant of a role does social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc) play in shaping your political socialization? Is it more or less influential than traditional media (Cable news, broadcast television, radio, etc)? How big of a responsibility do social media companies have to ensure dialogue and debate is open and free from bias or censorship of ideas
Writing Requirements
· Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside source)
· APA format for in-text citations and list of references
· 1 page
Write a response to this including 2 sources cited in APA format :
Hello Professor and fellow classmates. Back in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s, I remember seeing my parents turn on the television and turn it to the news station first thing in the morning before they got ready for work. Before there was social media, most Americans would turn to the news stations on the television, the radio, or sometimes the newspaper to see what is going on in the world around us. These news outlets were highly trusted since these were the only ways that we could stay updated with our country’s problems and events. Fast forward to now, we hardly ever turn to the television, radio, or even to the newspaper to see the news. We now mostly rely on social media to keep us, Americans, up to date. Two of the top most used media sites that Americans regularly get their news is Facebook, which is number one, and YouTube, which comes in as the second most popular (Mitchell, A. & Shearer, E., 2021). With this in mind, social media plays a huge part in politics and it is highly influential compared to when the news was just broadcasted on television. There are many media outlets out there in the world now. There are so many to choose from that it is hard to distinguish which media is reliable. This is because there are people out there that post whatever they want, fake or real, to make a profit out of it, especially when their post goes viral on the internet.
Furthermore, it is hard to find a news post that is unbiased. In my opinion, news is interpreted in the way any one person sees it. For example, the Black Lives Matter pro-test. One person may think that it’s a good thing, and the next person may think that it’s a bad thing, and then another person may think that it doesn’t matter because all lives matter. Now, whoever reports it to the media, must remain as unbiased as possible. Yes, they will tell what is happening in the course of that event. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion and it’s kind of hard not to be biased based on what that one person saw, because we all have our beliefs. An example of this is when the news station, such as Fox News, they can give all the facts first, but then, they will have a side comment afterwards about what one person thinks of it and what someone else thinks of the situation. Most Americans would agree that news organizations fail to separate fact from opinion. However, most of the news is in the eyes of the beholder, because when we are exposed to the exact same information, and each person believes that the news is biased either for or against their beliefs (Greenberg E. S., & Page B. I., 2018).
In my opinion, this is not an issue, because as humans, and as stated before, we are entitled to our beliefs and opinions. Plus, in the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, there is the freedom of the press that helps ensure that the news media will be able to expose the misbehavior without fear of censorship to inform the public of the truth (Greenberg E. S., & Page B. I., 2018). Not to mention, the freedom of speech plays a part in this situation as well. With that being said, there should be no added on restrictions towards the news stations, because no matter how the news is presented, it will always appear biased to the audience. That is why, as U.S. Citizens, when we hear or see any type of news, we must do our research to look up the most reliable source of information. We should not just rely on the first thing we see on social media, even though it is the top trending thing on the media. However, we must do more than just read one source of information to make our conclusion and set in our beliefs, because we may not even know the whole story from that one post on social media.
-Kamille Avendano
References:
Greenberg E. S., & Page B. I. (2018). The Struggle for Democracy, 2018 Elections and Updates Edition.
Mitchell, A. & Shearer, E. (2021). News Use Across Social Media Platforms in 2020: Facebook stands out as a regular source of news for about a third of Americans. Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media. https://www.journalism.org/2021/01/12/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-in-2020/