Start by taking a survey similar to those conducted by polling companies and news organizations regarding what issues are most important to you. you can find the survey here.
Next take a look at how your responses and the responses of your classmates compare to national polls here (If you'd like, you you can test your knowledge of recent news based on news quizzes from The New York Times.
Now peruse some of the leading local and national news agencies to browse what they are or are not covering.
Local: The Chicago Tribune, ABC Chicago, WGN, NBC Chicago
National: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBCNews, ABCNews, CBS News, Politico
Finally please post a comment describing your reactions and reactions to your classmates comments. You can use any or all of the following prompts as a starting point if you wish.
- How does the American media shape the political culture of American citizens today?
- Are the issues that seem to be the most important to you (or to the rest of America) being covered by the media?
- What conclusions can we draw from the way that the issues that dominate the polls and media coverage are similar or different?
I believe the American media shapes the political culture of American citizens
ReplyDeletetoday by showing them what they want Americans to think is the most important issue. An example of this is the issue of political division from a government, but also citizen standpoint. We are in a very polarized climate and the media won’t stop talking about it. This has been reflected on in surveys and studies where we can find that many more Americans say that political polarization is the biggest threat to America’s values and culture. Media matters published a study showing how broadcast news coverage in 2016 dropped coverage of climate change from 2015 drastically. (Kalhoefer, How Broadcast Networks Covered Climate Change In 2016). Now, comparing that to the link given by polling report, only 8 percent of Americans listed climate change has one of two issues the government should list as top priority. The media directly impacts what American citizens view as being the most pertinent issues for America to tackle.
I very much agree with you Matthew. The media has a stage that they use to sculpt what the public sees and how they see it. The right leaning media and left leaning media each have their own ways of portraying news/events they feel are worthy of publishing so that their respective audiences will come back for more. Much like you said, Matthew, this results in polarization which I indeed would rate as an important issue in a survey of American political climate. Speaking of issues, it depends on what media outlets you follow, and then you feel as if the issues you think are important are being covered. Essentially, if you follow Fox News for example, they might cover issues you feel are more important than issues that WGN may cover. It all depends on preference.
DeleteAs peculiar as it may sound, it seems that American media shapes the political culture of American citizens by how it represents the ideal of justice. The reason why I believe the media has Americans pursue the ideal of justice is because of the many crime articles that are on all these news websites, and the focus that these websites place on these crime articles. These crime articles may represent that America is constantly fighting for justice, and the vast amount of crime articles may persuade Americans that they are needed in order to help America fight for justice. Also if we revisit to the course reading about the NORC poll, the report of the poll shows that a majority of Americans believe a fair judicial system and the rule of law play an important role in America’s identity. This statistic of the poll may provide further evidence of how the media’s saturation of crime articles provides the ideal of justice to American political culture.
ReplyDeleteThe American media shape the political culture of American citizens today by focusing on what they personally find important, but more importantly, what they want the public to know. Especially the large new channels because I believe they have a personal agenda behind their coverage. I have noticed lately that there has been a somewhat obvious divide of ideals and "positions" on our current political environment from news channels. Although I believe that it is not necessarily a bad thing, I think that based on how certain media, specifically news channels, shapes what they believe is the political culture of American citizens. People will just start relying on whatever news channel is reporting news the way they like it. In addition, there is a decent amount of coverage on issues that the media, specifically the news channels, cover. However, I wish that in addition to politics they cover more social issues, in which can be turned into a discussion of politics as well.
ReplyDeleteThe American media is very influential on how people view politics, since for most people it is the only outlet of news they get on matters regarding American politics. I think people have to be aware on where they are getting their sources of news from because after all, American media outlets are businesses. They have agendas, and they will publish things that they think their targeted audience wants to hear. I think for an American citizen to be well informed they shouldn't be watching strictly Fox News, or MSNBC, rather, they should watch a mixture of both to try and get both sides.
ReplyDeleteI think media has a lot to do with how Americans view politics and even each other. A place like Fox News is responsible for fear mongering or doesn't inform their viewers how pressing of an issue climate change is, and they might even be seeing a different story than people who view MSNBC or CNN, which is why I think looking at every network and trying to diagnose their biases (because they all exist) is important for proper media consumption, even places like "the New York Times," where writers may have their own biases and backgrounds that you need to research. The media also shapes the nature of campaigns, as we saw in 2016, where much of every network was about covering what outrageous thing Donald Trump said, because he brought in viewers, while some anchors like Chris Matthews or Mark Halperin treated Hillary Clinton with a dose of misogyny, and never focusing on the issues, so therefore the candidates didn't have to, especially in the debates. The heads of these companies are still trying to run a business and they saw the 2016 election as a massive moneymaking opportunity, instead of trying to focus on important issues and the different sides of them. The media also covers a lot of foreign policy issues or subjects, but foreign policy is not really something that the average American voter cares about. Also, the media shapes our perception of tragedies, such as the difference between covering the white man who committed the Vegas massacre as a "lone wolf" and a brown guy who does a similar thing as a "terrorist;" the companies often still try to exploit tragedies, whether it's Fox News trying to make a story out the death of Seth Rich, or just ignore tragedies that take place overseas because they understand average Americans don't really care about those.
ReplyDeleteWow I totally did not mean to make my comment this long. Oops, my bad.
DeleteThe media, which has become a very annoying term to me as a journalism student, sets the agenda for what people think are important and worth talking about. Media sets the tone of conversation and has the ability to highlight or ignore certain issues and people in the U.S. While all media has some type of effect on U.S. political culture, the news media in particular has become a major determining factor of U.S. political culture. Several news outlets can cover the same topic, but with completely different spins that creates a certain perspective for the repesective viewers of that news outlet. This makes it difficult to say if the issues that are important to the U.S. population in general are being covered because a story could be being reported on, but not in the way a person wants. I do agree, however that there are groups who a left out of news coverage or portrayed in a way that leaves them feeling ignored. The real question I would like to propose is: Does media coverage affect way people think is important? or Does what people think is important effect what is covered in the media? In my opinion it’s a combination of both. The media covers issues people are interested in to get views, but conversely the media can have a hand whose interest are perceived as more important.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you, Breya. The media needs to cover issues that are important to its viewers to stay afloat. But at the same time, it seems larger forces (institutions, lobbying groups, D.C., etc.) play a massive role in what gets covered and in what manner it is. I believe as of recently, it's been more so of the media spinning stories in order to get people to think a certain way, especially in the political climate we find ourselves in now.
DeleteI believe the news and media shape american political culture because they show Americans what is considered "important". Something that concerns me about this is that we rarely see front page news about environmental issues unless it's about a specific disaster going on at the moment. When looking at the New York Times, I noticed much of the front-page news was about the Oscars, Sexual Assault cases, and Immigration. All of that is important in it's own way and relates to what is currently going on in the world, however, I had to click specifically on the science page to read a headline that said "Bigger, Faster Avalanches Triggered by Climate Change" and "A Wet and Warm Spring, Then 200,000 Dead Saigas". Because stories such as those aren't considered "front-page news" it leads Americans to believe that events such as the Oscar's are more important. Environmental issues are some of the most important topics that should be covered by the news and i feel like they aren't front-page news because a lot of Americans don't want to believe they're real because they are not currently being affected by them. Those people aren't aware of what a privilege that is and that they we could be feeling those affects in the not-so-far-off future.
ReplyDeleteI media has "yuge" influence on the political culture of Americans. Each media network has their own agenda and appeal to their base. On local levels, it's easy to see what stories are covered/what issues are most important, by the political tendencies of the area. In Chicago, our citizens/voters are very left leaning, and the news coverage and how certain stories are covered absolutely reflects that. The same is to be said about Alabama, and very right leaning state where the news is spun in a manner to reflect what is important to their right wing base. In terms of news coverage, for the most part, it seems that the major networks all cover the same stories, but in much different ways. However, our current political situation acts as a smoke screen to other pressing issues, such as international news that directly affects us. Instead of talking about things like a troop influx in Afghanistan, continued and planned Russian meddling, or Assad gassing his people yet again, we're fixating on headlines about our President banging porn stars or the insane tweets he makes (not to say the scandals aren't very important, they are). This is dangerous because it allows for citizens to be left in the dark about foreign affairs that directly affect us, while it creates a very strong narrative about "fake news" that produces much more distrust in our media sources (CNN/FOX both guilty of that). And when news agencies spin stories of scandals, allows for more scandals to go unanswered for and for these scandals to be defended in many ways and even labeled false.
ReplyDeleteThe American media can be very influential over the feelings, ideas and beliefs of many Americans. What is portrayed on the media guides readers to determine what issues and events are “important” and helps ignite a reaction out of media consumers. Although, because many media platforms are biased, it typically depends on which political parties and ideologies a person aligns with when deciding what platform to consume their news and what issues are prominent according to that media outlet. Because my ideologies are more liberal, the issues I am concerned about aren’t necessarily Donald Trump’s priorities. Therefore most of my thoughts regarding the issues I support are often written in a way that demonstrates President Trump referencing them in a derogatory or opposing way. I think the way certain issues dominate the polls shows that people are more concerned about issues that effect the entire population on a day-to-day basis, rather than issues that only pertain to certain groups of people, such as civil rights, and immigration. These poll results align with some media content, where as more liberal media shows a different agenda.
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ReplyDeleteMedia nowadays, is the only source that many americans use as their sole informer on politics and current events. That is absurd because many americans are so blind and will follow numerous of sites that are biased and they will just absorb these as their own beliefs. It creates this mass of people who are passionate, in beliefs that are glorified and are pressed on them through persuasion and dramatization. Most of my issues are in general, consistently on different news channels and website. The main complaint is that select stations or sites only focus on one topic and take a biased stance on the topic, often talk to little on issue and not the other ones. This creates a sense of trust and authority for many americans, so many tend to agree on whichever station they are on. We can draw that most issues that dominate coverage are usually the issues that deal with more money or potential lost money. These issues that deal with budget problems are generally more in the light due to their results are felt more by the average citizen.
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ReplyDeleteI think the media definitely shapes how Americans view politics and the world as a whole. One of the biggest issues is the bias in media, and how often times people will gravitate towards the news that they feel more accurately covers their beliefs. In order to limit the effectiveness the media has on people, we need to be willing to observe news sites that we also do not agree with. It was a bit surprising to see that most news sites covered relatively the same material (when looking at the polls), however I would be curious to see how much input the regular visitors / subscribers of those sites had. In general, news sites should be reporting on what we want to hear, every topic is important in some way, but it should be left up to the people collectively to drive what information is reported on.
ReplyDeleteThe American media plays an important role in how much of America receives its information about various issues and as a result it plays an important role in America's perspective on those issues. What the media talks about directly relates to the issues that the American people have on the mind. As some of the other comments have mentioned, often times the media covers some topics that might appeal more to a broader audience than the issues that actually have importance. Most of the President's tweets, while amusing or outraging or just plain enthralling, are not particularly newsworthy or important. Instead of whatever the latest social media craze is, news outlets should be covering more pressing matters like SCOTUS cases and new legislation, or foreign relations, or natural disasters. While I expect news organizations to present issues in a manner that they prefer, what is far more dangerous than a political spin is a lack of presenting the issues in general.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people so far have talked about how the media is biased and informs public opinions in a negative way. While I agree that increasing polarization is oftentimes aided by both large and small news outlets, and that bias naturally cannot be erased from journalism, I would like to focus on the more positive aspects of the media.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, where would we, as a society, be without this massive and relatively recent influx of news? Would we be as aware of the events and systems shaping our daily lives? Would we be as informed about our political system? Food for thought: if news hadn't developed beyond the 1930s, how many of us would have even been aware of Bernie Sanders and his campaign platform? Would we be as aware of Ted Cruz or President Trump, and would Trump have been elected? How far would the Civil Rights movement have gone without news outlets deciding that it was fit to cover--some even going as far as to advocate for the Civil Rights movement? Although news outlets today do influence our views on many issues, this can be both a positive thing or a negative thing, depending on your political and personal ideologies.
Secondly, we largely influence what the media covers and how it covers certain subjects. Looking at all of the news outlets listed in the blog prompt, I saw a lot of news about the stories of athletes abused by Larry Nassar and how his conviction of 175 years fits within the context of the #MeToo movement. I also saw a lot of news about immigration reform, which in the polls, generally was viewed as 3rd or 4th most important for the US to address. News outlets would likely not have covered the battle for Dreamers right to stay in the US without the public caring about the subject, whether they lean right or left on the issue.
In my view, bias is not inherently bad. Bias in the news simply means that people from different ideological standpoints are reporting the facts that they find most salient. Where news goes wrong is when they report things that aren't factual for the sake of increasing viewership/readership, or when they choose to report on scandal rather than important issues like school shootings (already 11 this year, and it's only January 24), which we can all agree must be addressed although we might differ on how to address it, or anthropogenic climate change, which is scientifically proven to be taking place without any dissent among climate scientists, and which threatens all of our livelihoods more immediately than most people realize.
While I know this is a long post, I thought it important to address why the media isn't all evil, why bias isn't inherently evil either, and where I find the media slips up on informing the public about immediate and important issues. We have a symbiotic relationship with media, but it is a complicated one that is not entirely perfect.
Holy moly, didn't realize I wrote a short essay. Sorry everyone!
DeleteThis is a great take. Media may have its problems but it still keeps us informed, connected, and hold the powerful accountable when it comes down to it. And the importance of newspapers like WaPo and the NUT have played in American history cannot be overstated, whether it's the Watergate reveal, reports on the Vietnam War, or even most recently, helping spark the #metoo movement with reports on Weinstein.
DeleteMonica, I love that your passion on the matter allowed you to draft such a thought-provoking reflection. More often than not we express a tendency to direct focus upon the negative aspects of the media so this was a breath of fresh air. While reading your reflection, I like that you posed the question of where society might stand if not for news outlets. I strongly feel that every citizen comprising the American political culture should strive to attain a sense of political literacy, and this can largely be attributed to news networks, where they can virtually reach everyone in the nation. I also shared in your opinion that media bias is not inherently evil, rather it can present a more relatable narrative for many of it's readers. Ultimately, I feel that you did an excellent job of this piece. Thank you!
DeleteI think the influence of American media has been very obvious after Trump got elected, there have been too many times since his election that I’ve been told “ooohh you’re one of those CNN girls”. Yes, I do follow CNN, am I suppose to be ashamed of that? I may have my own opinions of people who only watch and follow Fox but I don’t hold that against anyone. Never the less we do see that American media shapes our political culture. I looked through the home pages of both local and national newspapers and I noticed that mostly we are getting coverage about Larry Nassar, which, in my opinion, is very important and we’re also getting a lot of coverage about the school shooting that happened in Kentucky. Both of these issues are very important but I hate to say this, I feel as though I am becoming numb to all of these school shootings. The fact that they happen so often and everything about them is being reported, yet here we are still letting the NRA dictate our policies, is horrifying. These two matters are different and new in their own respect, but the agenda that they are both addressing has been circulating through the news cycle, not only today, but for months now. So I might have to amend my previous statement. I think the news cycle definitely influences and shapes the political culture, but I think it does so to the citizens more than it does to the people governing.
ReplyDeleteAmerican media sets the agenda for political conversation. The press is not a hive-mind, but we cannot claim it is objective. Each media outlet had its nefarious plan, to get views. The life-blood of media lies in the advertisements. News organizations need to show a consumer base to squeeze more money from advertisers. The media reaches this audience by sensationalizing news. Breaking news about the president's last sneeze bumps a genocide in Africa out of our minds. The war for attention has led media outlets to focus on "soft news" and features over "hard news" and international headlines. Once elections come around media will begin to dictate the debate. The press gets to choose which stories will receive national acclaim. The candidates then address these topics, which leads to a cycle of reporting on the responses. I do not think the press covers enough hard news topics. The media needs to focus on educating the populace on global and domestic affairs, not covering how to stay cool in the summer.
ReplyDeleteThe American political culture is now widely influenced by media however, every possible source of media is bias. This affects the way politics are viewed. It seems that recently, politics are not taken as serious and that is due to how the information is delivered. Although citizens stress the importance of politics, it seems that they rather be amused by what is going on. Since Politics are not taken as a serious matter it is difficult to have serious concerns about pressing issues. The major issues that affect us all are usually covered by the media, it seems as if some of the material covered is covered only to inform citizens so we do not feel like we are not part of the change. I feel that people have a lot to say but do not show it though voting or being active politically. The outcome shows that people who are actually politically involved are not the same people who only seem involved in the media.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the media is the biggest factor in how the political culture is shaped. The problem with the media is that most media outlets do not cover what is truly important. They cover what the mass public is the most interested in. The media only covers things that will draw a spectacle and bring in viewers or web traffic numbers to their websites. They want to get the biggest reaction out of people which leads to bigger issues being neglected. Issues such as climate change, which in my opinion is by far the most important and pressing issue everyone should be worried about today. But because climate change is old news and the general public is tired of hearing about it, the media only covers things that will cause the biggest reaction and controversy. So now, if you go on any news channel or website in the last year or so, the majority of things you hear and read about is either what goofy thing Trump is up to now, sexual harassment allegations, or police brutality against minorities because these issues today will get the most attention. I don't mean to sound like these issues don't matter, because they absolutely do, but when other important issues are being ignored, it completely changes peoples perceptions about what is truly important today. Also, at this point in time, I think its undeniable that it happened, but I think a perfect example of how peoples perceptions and attitudes can easily be manipulated is how Russia was easily able to influence the American political climate during the 2016 election by generating irreputable news stories and even today, the FBI is still finding news stories from Russian sources and thousands of fake Russian social media accounts promoting certain political movements on Facebook and twitter. Just look at how much web traffic #ReleaseTheMemo got.
ReplyDeleteI think the media can definitely shape our political culture if we take everything they put out to be true. I think the responsible thing for a citizen to do in today’s age is to do more research than to simply believe everything the media says to avoid being controlled by them. CNN and Fox constantly take shots at each other and it becomes hard for people who don’t have a strong affiliation with either party to decipher what’s legitimate and what’s not. From my observations, someone who watches CNN regularly and another who watches Fox regularly most likely have very different views. Issues that concern me the most include things like the economy and the treatment of former and current military members. I think most media outlets cover these issues frequently enough but how they portray the state of them can differ. The main thing I take away from our media is that we have to acknowledge that most things are published with some kind of bias and it’s up to us if we want to believe it or not.
ReplyDeleteThe American Political Climate is dominated by the media, and while it may seem like you're stuck with whatever position the media takes, it's not nearly that simple. The reason that news outlets have become so diverse is simply because the audience has become this diverse. There isn't one opinion that is voiced by the media. Every news channel focuses on a different type of story for a different type of audience. Fox news has their core audience, and they are going to focus on stories that their core audience wants to hear, just like CNN is going to focus on stories their core audiences wants to hear. But this relationship goes two ways. The views of the audience usually reflect the views (and the agenda) the outlet has, which is why the viewers watch that channel. While each channel is distinct in what it shows, it is up for the viewer to increase their scope of sources in order to get a number of different viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteThe American media has an integral part in shaping the political culture of citizens today. With the advent of the 24 hour news cycle, Americans seem to be consuming more news whether it be online articles, print journalism, or cable news. There will always be an inherent bias in journalism, so these huge news organizations can bring topics of conversation and controversy into the national spotlight by reporting on them. American media has also played a part in the polarization that is so entrenched in our society. Viewers and readers consume the news that will confirm what they already believe, which can lead to a demonizing effect for those who do not agree with one’s own views. I would say most of what is important to me as well as the American people is being reported, although most of the time it is in a sensationalized manner. If foreign policy is being covered it may have to do with Trump’s inane tweets about Kim Jong-un, and gun control becomes the most sensationalized when a mass shooting happens. The news is covered this way to try to garner the most attention, clicks, and views so ratings can spike and revenue can flow but not so that the issues can be covered in a comprehensive and nuanced way.
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ReplyDeleteYes, the media plays a very important role in setting society's political agenda, but it also contributes to this "banalization" of relevant information that gets to the average American on a daily basis. In a time where online information is so easily accessible and in-your-face, the news overload has forced us into a state of indifference. Even the most underwhelming news stories are reported because of this need to satisfy an insatiable demand for information, which leaves us scrolling through so many headlines that our brains are saturated and don't bother really processing them. Most of the news we see or read are negative because that's what we understand and expect as media consumers, feeding into this cycle of insensitivity - we have this somewhat false sense of being educated (and therefore engaged) on an issue and so we distance ourselves from taking action.
American media shapes a large part of what the average American knows about politics-the way that certain issues are covered and reported on affect the way that viewers ultimately feel about those topics. There are certain issues like healthcare and tax reform that do seem to be covered by most media, but other issues that fly under the radar, especially network-by-network. From the way that certain issues dominate the polls, we can see the emphasis that media coverage places on certain topics over others.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the America media shapes the political culture of American citizens by gearing their stories to fit their audiences view. It doesn’t matter the content that is within the story but more ramped up to reach a larger market and bolster their target for the stories. For the most part many of the issues I hold important to myself are covered, but they are not covered to the extent and as thoroughly as I would like or have hoped. I am very big on the economy and how strong the country’s economy is and many of the times the numbers are skewed to make the country look at little better than it is. Making it harder to find things I care about to be properly covered by the media. Many of the stories we see are more often than not tailored to our views and we click and read these articles that either are issues we feel strongly about or if the topics are not covered we may look to other media outlets in order to get some news or information on the topics.
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