Media Bias and how it affects our country negatively
English 112 Spring

The biases the media has are bigger than conservative or liberal. They are all about getting ratings, making money and about doing stories that are easy to cover. This may seem like a trite statement but it hold enormous amount of truth. As Americans, we trust what reporters write in the newspaper, and say on television and radio stations. We expect them to report the truth. However, current media outlets distort stories and certain new reports are getting too much attention. The most important stories are never seen on television or read in the newspaper, or heard on the radio stations, while minor and trivial stories get the most coverage. Hence celebrity engagements, divorce, entrance to rehab centers and DUI cases that are sold to the media. Americans are then left without valuable information contrary to what story is getting 24- hour news coverage. Media bias is a term used to describe prejudice in news and media reports, in which is perceived as an imbalance or unfair presentation of facts or selective reporting of which events or facts reported. The main point here is when biases in media distorts certain stories, and other stories are spoken about entirely too much it hurts the democracy in America. The media, in that case, fails to focus on real issues that underlie the American culture, it has one-sided opinions, favoring a liberal’s point of view, and it caters to the majority, favoring the wealthy. Media biases causes American people to become misinformed or too well informed, often due to the tendency of the media covering unimportant stories about celebrities, while overlooking issues like war, poverty, disease, violence, and education. The media content and new coverage rarely display the underlying issues that the American people face. Rather, it only acknowledges news that may appeal to the audience “because of its dramatic or entertainment value.” Barack Obama recognizes the failure of the American media in updating America with real issues at SNHU commencement: “We see it in media culture that sensationalizes the trivial and trivializes the profound- a 24-hour new network will keep us posted on how many days Paris Hilton will spend in jail but often fails to update us on the continuing genocide in Darfur or the recovery effort in New Orleans or the poverty that plagues the street of America (Obama, 2008). While Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and ABC were breaking the entertainment news, debating whether her punishment was too cruel or justifiable, they failed to inform the American people about the 22- year old African American female from New York who disappeared in Miami during Memorial Day. They failed to note that three American combat soldiers died. They failed to inform the American people that while Paris Holton was sentenced to 14 day jail sentence by LA County Court House those they missed the big story. This was the story about the recovery of Hurricane Katrina victims (Pitts,2003). When Hurricane Katrina unfolded in New Orleans, the media placed a lot of dramatic biases on the issue and missed the underlying point, misinforming the public. On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck down in New Orleans becoming one of the most devastating natural disasters to hi the US. The media unfolded the that those most affected in the black community, remained in New Orleans looting stores in search of food and water that weren’t able to get it by other means (Beyond Katrina: Media Coverage, 2006). On the other hand of the issue, white Americans were wading through chest deep water finding soda and bread floating in the water from grocery stores. The Washington Post reported that about $854 million offered by allied countries worldwide after Hurricane Katrina. To date, the Post reports only $40 million in foreign aid was funneled to the Gulf Coast (hurricane-katrina.org,2007). The media also has a tendency to uphold one sided opinions, favoring liberals, whereas the mainstream media holds liberal biases. Liberals in political sense relate to ideas and theories of government in which the advocate individual liberty, for example race, abortion, affirmative action, homelessness, and gay rights. They use liberal principals and ideas that influence their new coverage and or selection of stories. Liberal biases under mind the American value. In the controversial book, “Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News,” Benard Goldberg said “journalist doesn’t see their views as liberal but merely reasonable and civilized.” This is how they view the world and not just “going hard on Republicans and soft on Democrats.” They attack conservatives with extremes speeches backing up their issues of poverty, economics, welfare reform and gun control. However, then distort the news (Goldberg, 2003). For example Dan Rathers, CBS news anchorman and outrageous liberal bias, was let go for CBS evening news in 2005 after forged documents in a one sided 60 minute piece aimed at Former President Bush’s 2004 campaign election. Dan Rathers is greatly critized for the distorting of news in reporting on the polls on Bush’s tax cut plan. Moreover, liberal get away with distorting the news and making assertions those conservatives on the other side could never report (Newsmax, 2001). Issues of racial bias in the media persuade out views on the news we are bombarded with daily. For example, racial is all the time on television and in newspapers. Missing women stories are predominately reported by white women, when the white woman are the one’s missing. This speculation shoe that the media favors the majority race of attractiveness and wealth as oppose to the less fortunate, minority race. A few years ago, 24-year old Latoiya Figueroa “far from blonde blue eyed belle of the ball, a petite housewife from a California suburb. Unlike, Natalie Holloway, the missing Alabama teenager who was last seen in Aruba over Memorial Day weekend vanished without a trace, like Laci Peterson, her loved ones are concerned about her whereabouts as they are for her unborn child. Two weeks had passed and the disappearance of Latoiya Figueroa story did not gain any national spotlights like the Holloway or Peterson in the days of their respective disappearances. Her story, according to blackamericaweb.com appeared on CNN news days after she was reported missing. Richard Blair, a white male, is credited for his help getting national media coverage on the missing pregnant victim. “To me this whole story speaks of socio-economic divides.” Blair is correct because if a pregnant black woman or any woman of a low income family disappears there will be no means of getting the report out nationally. Race, income, and stature are components in the media’s racial bias (blackamericaweb.com). America has never been provided with a broad arrangement and providers of news. However, the government cannot solve the problems of media bias because part of the media bias is in part of political decadence. The government embraces liberal views. The media only identifies problems for the government to solve, such as poverty, disease, and violence. To solve the problem of media bias, educational groups are needed to educate people about wanting to understand the truth and demand balance media coverage though advocacy and petitioning.

Works Cited
Obama’ 2008. “Remarks at Southern New Hampshire Commencement,” Barack Obama.org
May 19, 2007 Http://www. Barackobama.org.

The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery. “Beyond Katrina: media Coverage,” June 29, 2007 http”//www.hurricane-katrina.org/2007/06

Blair, Richard. Racial Media Bias, http://www.blackamericaweb.com, 2011

Goldberg, Bernard. BIAS: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News. Washington DC: First Perennial, 2003

Pitts, Leonard Jr. “Too much Paris, not enough news. “TV Reporting, June 20, 2007, http://www.miamihearld .com/285/story/145242.html

Newsmax.com “Studies Show Dan Rather’s Leftist Bias,” Newsmax: America’s News Page. 2001 http://www.newsmax.com/srchives/articles/2001