For the blog this week we are going to take a look at the major issues that have dominated recent political headlines and inquire about what they mean for . The President and Congress have many issues that they are dealing with along with the never-ending look toward the next elections. The media also has their own agenda regarding what to cover and what not to cover. I am interested to find out what you think is important to address and, by extension, how you think the media is doing in terms of their coverage of these issues.
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 Pew Research Center or The Chicago Tribune.
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, 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?
The media is essentially the general public's life line as to what is happening in America. With this saidthe media is essentially filtering what information they want the public to know and also have the ability to skew stats and information. Us, the general public, have no idea if the information we are gaining is correct or not (or for that fact if it contains as little bias as possible). Depending on what newspaper/magazines one reads and what news one watches shapes the ideas one has about a subject (ex: FOX news is infamously known for being conservative, thus pushes conservative views).
ReplyDeletePersonally the issue I am most concerned with is national debt and how that will affect my future as far as taxes, social security, retirement, etc, which is not at all being addressed. By addressed I mean that no real, substantial, accurate information is given to the general public. We are bombarded with percentages and large figures that one cannot decipher with what limited knowledge is shared via media.
I believe that ever since the house market crash in 2008 (which coincides with unemployment) the general concern has been placed on jobs and the economy (whatever that stands for...). I fully believe that this issue is important but is recieving more attention from the public because the media is constantly covering the topic. It is as if by only talking about one topic in such detail that the media and who fascilitates the media hopes other issues will gradually fade from the general public's mind.
The media shapes the American political culture because they control what issues get the most airtime and how to portray those issues. This gives them the ability to shape how Americans perceive an event and how that event affects Americans. I picked the economy as the most important issue facing America. I think the media has done a good job covering it but in the last few months they have focused more on immigration and now national security after the attack in Boston. I think the media should get the American people to focus on the economy so they pressure their representatives to things done.
ReplyDeleteAmerican media is manipulated to benefit a handful of powerful individuals and companies. Media shapes the political culture of all Americans because of its accessibility and multiple forms (newspapers, television, Internet, social media). Reliability is never present in any form of media, but the general public is not aware of the malicious nature of media. When citizens are eager to make their “own opinion” on a public concern, they turn to bias media sources with underlying goals. Throughout high school, I would watch the news with my dad. He always told me to seek different perspectives when evaluating an issue. We would watch CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera together to compare information on one particular topic. To accurately understand an issue, citizens should collect information from as many sources as possible in order to truly be informed. The most reliable (if there is such a thing) source of information is local newspapers, whose issues tend to directly affect readers’ lives.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I like to be informed on issues our nation faces domestically, I tend to be interested in foreign affairs and international problems. Unfortunately, American media does not always accurately portray international problems. Uncertainty in information does not aid in establishing informed knowledge.
While I completely agree with the idea that it is important to seek multiple perspectives when analyzing an issue or event so that you may find some nugget of truth in the news. However my concern is that unless we perceive and event to be totally life-changing almost, this may not be practical. I may be speaking for myself, but I feel with the amount of school work, regular work, and extra-curricular activities that I either dont have time or energy to seek out multiple sources and perspectives. I'm not saying that it is a totally legitimate excuse, but for me its reality. Is there some solution that would solve this problem? Because I do think that in order for America to be a healthy democracy we need reliable information and we need some truth.
DeleteThe American media, for better or (usually) worse, maintains a very specialized role in this country when it comes to public outreach, opinion, or grandization of important issues. In our current culture I would say the media does little right, with the exception of sensationalizing everything relating to hot button issues facing America (i.e. anything to do with terrorism, congressional schisms, etc.). More than anything I strongly believe that American media is another device that aids in the polarization of political parties, even ideologies. Political media is essentially democrats and republicans battling each other in any way possible while also "reporting". There are definitely cases of constructive poitical journalism but I think the majority of political media in this political climate is mostly sensationalism.
ReplyDeleteMy own focuses would be on revitalizing the American education system, getting us out of any "terror" related conflicts in the Middle East, and steps to rollback trickle down economic policies. There is coverage of these topics but not in a way that I see as being progressive enough to hold any weight or impact. Mostly media jargen and debating. Obviously anything related to terror is embraced by the media, but I feel as though that only extends public fears and strengthens irrational resolves to stay in/enter foolish conflicts in the Middle East.
Conclusions I'd draw are very basic. The media is savvy, and knows the hot button issues at the times they occur. The real hard hitting, investigative journalism that is almost always helpful is now a minority as far as political media is concerned. The media outlets provided seemed to focus on the economy more than anything, and obviously terror related articles now booming everywhere possible in the wake of the Boston bombings. Reflective of the people's political concerns? Hardly.
Media is more than the news which is what I am going to talk about. Media is a cultural lenses to information. Even the most objective of news sources have some sort of cultural bias. Every story will have bias. Fox news is notorious for this. Facts will be presented in moral/immoral. They will see things in a framework where something is a violation of states rights, where as MSNBC would view the same issue as a civil rights issue. There are priorities of morals being presented and news reporting best described as how the presenters view the issue not necessarily how the information is actually seen.
ReplyDeleteMore than how that information is seen, its what is seen. A news paper like the Wall Street Journal cares more about economic issues than say the New York Times. These two newspapers have different values to determine what people need to know. The values and inherent bias in the media cannot be escaped.
The consequences are this. All sources are suspect. If one wants to know the full truth then one needs to see the difference by seeing different view points. If one only has time for one source than pick a source whose value bias is as close to your own, provided you take all information as suspect.
I agree with Michael in saying that there is a difference between Media and News. I think that it is common practice for Americans to confuse the two, however. I think this is a perfect example of how media shapes American political culture. Americans rely so heavily on the media (namely cable news) to provide them with their daily dose of current events. Because of this, American knowledge of current events is completely in the hands of the media.
ReplyDeleteI think that the majority of Americans find that what media presents us is most important. Again I think this is because of our culture of using only media to receive our news. As discussed in class on Monday, the media is not only meant to give us important issues and events we should know about, but also, to frame these issues.Because framing is a part of media's responsibilities, the way in which we receive news is already biased.
I agree with what my classmates have said in that the American media shapes the political culture by deciding what they show to the public and how the show it. People usually tend to pick a media source that presents their bias, and they stick to that. I feel like when I only look at one news source, I don’t get nearly enough information on all of the issues. A lot of local news sources focus on “feel good” stories that don’t really matter in the big picture. I don’t really see a lot of coverage about the environment or our foreign conflicts, which are the most important to me. We can draw a lot of conclusions about what issues are covered because that lets you know what that paper thinks is important. In order to get a good picture of things, you have to go to a lot of media sources.
ReplyDeleteThe American media can lead to cynicism and distrust towards politicians through negative advertisements. This was most prominent in the recent Illinois Congressional elections where opponents bashed each other with harsh criticism. A good example is the bitter and hotly contested congressional race between Tammy Duckworth and incumbent Joe Walsh. Both Walsh and Duckworth attempted to belittle the moral character of their adversary through emphasizing each other’s character flaws and poor decisions. Instead of providing the public with information about their political platforms, or agendas, the advertisements instead provided information solely about their character faults. After hearing grueling attacks from both sides, I was unsure which candidate to believe. This confusion led me to dig deeper using credible sources in order to be properly informed. However, the majority of society who has no desire to delve deeper in order to uncover the truth accept these criticisms as objective fact. To that end, a large portion of society will grow to distrust politicians due to their perceived poor character. This will lead to a reduction in voter turnout and civic activism.
ReplyDeleteThe media is critical for the common American. It is our most efficient tool for learning what happens locally and nationally in our country. We put a certain trust into many of our news sources. They bring attention to issues that they believe most Americans want to hear. For example there is some article related to the recent bombings in Boston on every front page of the links provided in the blogs. It is still fresh in our minds and Americans are still fascinated with the story. Two weeks ago, all we could focus on was North Korea and its bombastic rhetoric. Today, we could care less what they are doing. One of the more unfortunate news stories to be pushed under the rug is the civil war in Syria. There have been recent rumors that nerve gas has been used to suppress the rebellion. If this is true, the United States has vowed to take action in this region, but Americans find this war to be old news and unfortunately the media follows the public. The media focuses its attention to events that interest the mass public. Foreign affairs are currently not the public's focus, it is domestic affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe media both shapes and is a reflection of American political culture. What the public has to remember is individual who work for major news networks, websites, newspapers, etc. are American citizens too, not much different from ourselves. The only difference is that they are in control of what is presented to us in the form of news/media, and it’s their job to present this media in a strategic fashion to garner viewers which are their ultimate motivation (more viewers, more money). The fact the such polar news networks have arisen since the dawn of television really speaks to their influence on political culture and American politics in general. This provides politicians affiliated with their parties a platform to present their viewpoints on various issues, whether they be international, domestic or their feelings on a given tragic event. Unfortunately, news networks tend to focus on either tragedies or major conflicts, which are relevant to a certain extent. And, the news won’t consistently report on issues we find take precedents, sometimes it takes some digging. Fortunately, there’s enough news sources in today’s modern age that we are able to access what we want, when we want and how we want to do it. Yes, it’s easy to be influenced by the biases of certain networks, however we have the power to determine what kind of media works best for us and our individual American political culture.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the media has made American culture relatively simple. The media spends its time finding one source of our animosity, and constantly reinforcing that animosity by trying to report on every negative aspect of that source. One great example of this would be the War on Terror. American troops were at war against terrorists, terrorists who were relatively few in number. Although we neutralized our "enemies" who caused 9/11, we never really ended anything. Terrorists still exist. The media simply downplayed our terrorist enemies and slowly weeded them out of the media. Slowly, the media has cut back on reporting the casualties caused by these terrorists used to reinforce our hate and have instead focused on newer enemies. It's a constant, repetitious cycle. Although I appreciate the fact that we may be unifying the nation in solidarity, it often leaves many other pertinent issues in the dust.
ReplyDeleteOne such example is CISPA. CISPA has become a very serious threat, as the We the People petition has essentially been ignored. Despite reaching the number of signatures needed for a response, Congress has still remained adamant in passing this bill. This bill, for those who may not know, is a serious issue. It essentially turns all websites into government spies by making third-party information protected by websites the property of the government. The government can access any information from you no matter where it is contained on the internet, removing all sorts of privacy we have right now. However, this threat isn't deemed serious enough for the media. I have not seen any major stories recently regarding the bill, yet social media groups and many others are up in arms.
I apologize, this is the second time I've been cutting it close on the deadline and inadvertently doing something where I lose everything Ive wrote. Each of the polls dating back to 2010 have the economy and jobs as the most important issue to those poled. Ive read or heard different years for the recession starting - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. Supposedly we're out of it, but we're nowhere near pre-recession levels and standards. The threat of a double-dip is always looming on the horizon. Illinois suffers from the worst pension deficit (and credit rating) out of any other state in the Union at about $100 billion and $17 million added each DAY. Apparently, the suggested funding level is 80%. Illinois meets less than 50% of its pension obligations. As a direct result, taxes and other forms of revenue (meter rates and garage parking rates come to mind) are or are threatened to be increased. Other state government funded programs are squeezed of funding as well. The local news websites for NBC, CBS, and WGN have, somewhere, on their home page a link to an article related to the state's money problems but no articles exclusively written about the pension deficit. The articles those sites have are focused on the Chicago Public Schools' school closings and the reactions of families and the Chicago Teachers' Union. The websites for ABC and FOX Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune have no remotely related articles on the state's fiscal issues.
ReplyDeleteThe Media consists of hegemonic groups, who analyzes the facts and squeeze every interest they can get out of it. Local news outlets are mainly focused on the best place to get a hamburger/pizza or what’s the weather going to be tomorrow or local politics, it provides a service and isn't to analytical. National news is something different, it tackles international subjects and give’s itself credibility by exerting power thru influencing an outcome usually elections or bills being past.
ReplyDeleteThe way I look at news is holistic, I view Fox news as credible, by means of understanding the opinion of its viewers. Thiers a reason Fox news has a fallowing, it’s similar to the reason why 37% of American’s can not locate America on the map. I chalk it up as sheltered ignorance. Rush Limbaugh on the other hand is pure animosity towards anyone different. These settings are similar to the reason for the rise of the KKK in 1920s when members exceeded 4 million do to opposed immigration, particularly by Jews and Catholics. This is evident from articles and political cartoons circulating on newspapers in those days. Media can make it became acceptable to hate, the people who write the news are human beings, who are also influenced by new events and old prejudice’s. So there is no way in filtering wrong information when the society is not mature enough to understand new rising events and their circumstances. This is when it’s at its most dangerous, it results in vilifying a group and distinguishing themselves separately from that group. Some results we can learn from are urban ghettos, the Japanese concentration camps, Native American reservations, racial profiling, withholding rights from certain group’s and wars.
Most people don’t actively seek out the news because let’s face it, the news nearly always is negative or something that seems less important to the issues in your personal life. News will most likely reach an American citizen if it’s something really bad or something that could potentially change their daily life. This shapes our political culture because when something is very urgent or very sad, it brings out the worst in people and tends to be very polarizing.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people just worry about what is happening on US soil, further, I think that people only care about the news that is going to effect their wallets or the convenience of their lives. This is why when the Boston Marathon bombing happened, people were glued to the television and there was a lot of coverage, but everyday when Palestinians or Syrians are being bombed, it doesn’t even make a headline.
After reading everyone's replies, I felt I can agree with some sense to most of the posts on here. When it comes to media and the news, there will always be an argument of whether or not what they are broadcasting is beneficial or not. One conclusion we all have to come to is that the media will never cease to exist. In fact it seems almost inevitable that the media will one day die out. What we need to focus on is regulating the media to a certain extent that allows for no infringement on people's rights but still accurately and unbiasedly portrays the news. American media has the power to shape and frame the view and understanding of those watching. If we are constantly shown one side of the story, what would give us an idea to support the other side?
ReplyDeleteThis past Sunday 521 people died in Syria in one day alone. This was one of the deadliest days since the start of the revolution. There was little to no coverage on these happenings. When events this big are not even portrayed in the news then what is?
I think that it's very interesting how we-- as an American public-- seem to be so concerned with the economy and jobs, but we seem very disinterested in it at the same time. As far as the media goes, I rarely ever heard anything about the sequester, and everything I heard about the so-called fiscal cliff was merely a tagline. I bring this up constantly, but it doesn't make it less true; the media is a business that is responsible for making money for themselves and their shareholders. It seems like a lot of single issue voters tend to vote on the idea a women's right to choose and I rarely ever hear any abortion news in the media today. People aren't genuinely interested in the thing that they say they are interested in-- it's similar to how people lie about their interests to their friends. You look smarter if you say you're interested in finance policy than if you watch Honey Boo Boo religiously.
ReplyDeleteThe media industry has always been just that- an industry. The news sources of our nation are owned by an a elite group whose main concern is making money. We can't blame them or anyone who works for them- that's just the way things work! But, as citizens, we've got to be conscious of the fact that the media shows us things we want to see and attracts advertisers.
ReplyDeleteIssues that I care about are rarely covered by the media, especially the news media. As a young, liberal female, I'm not a prime demographic for advertisers! I don't have the money to spend, so news that attracts me (and causes me to see ads) isn't popular in the mainstream.
Issues that are most important to the average American cater heavily to self-interest. Why cover international news when there are so many economic problems here? Americans are shown the things they should care about! Like Kiersten said, people want news that concerns their wallets and comfort. It's a self-perpetuating cycle; people care about the economy, so the media shows us what we care about, and because we see it all the time through the media, we care about it. The issues we care about are always at the forefront, and it's not a coincidence.
As a student in communications and advertising, I tend to look at news coverage in a similar fashion to product advertising. Although the network or company tries to come out the other side with some integrity, at the end of the day ratings and sales are what matters. Networks and news programs try to sell their program to viewers. Showing them that this is the network news that they need to be watching.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of whether viewer interest shapes the coverage, or coverage shapes viewer interest, I see it as an interesting mixture. The news and media go after topics that they think will interest people. This is based off of knowledge of the public that they already have. When viewers see this news coverage, they are more inclined to believe that these are the things they should be interested. Their interest in these topics is now exaggerated and news networks will continue heavy coverage on similar topics in the future. It is a feedback loop. It works the same with advertising and other media.
After looking at the poll results, ALL of them were about jobs, unemployment, and the economy just worded differently. No matter how media polls are worded, people still think it is the most important topic by a lot! I opened my CNN app and the homepage is meant to be the most recent reports but also a multitude of topics. This was not the case; the first 10 stories were related to the Boston bombings. Some of the stories are not significant enough to be classified as headline news at all. “How boat owner discovered Boston bomb suspect,” should be an article that is under the Boston section and maybe the link be tweeted because it does seem interesting but as the 7th story on the page, it is not significant to the American people. The first story to even talk about jobs was 20th titled “Worst job in America” and it is a video ranking the top 5 worst and then best jobs. The top five worst are: newspaper reporter, lumberjack, enlisted military, actor, and oil rig worker. The top five best jobs are: actuary, biomedical engineer, software engineer, audiologist, and financial planner. At the end they stressed how math and sciences are the best to learn now because of these jobs. The study included happiness, stress level, and the like but when they discussed the best jobs they only mentioned how much they make. This directly connects to our discussion of education how the social sciences are overlooked, and the media is not helping the cause at all. Everyone is worried about the economy and will continue to be pro increasing math in schools because these are “the best” jobs that will make you the most prosperous. People want a better future, which is why economy is such an important topic, but America will not improve with everyone fighting for these jobs, and kids being pressured to learn more math and science when it is not their best subject.
ReplyDeleteMedia today is very intricate and complicated industry. Because of the rise of social media and the vast amount of news organizations on TV, radio, the Internet, etc. information is being shoved into the American people's faces and sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what the real message is. News outlets like Fox and MSNBC have agendas that they try and follow in order to persuade their large amount of viewers and followers to see things in a way consistent with their own. You could be watching a recap of a debate on one channel and come out with a completely different set of ideas than if you had watched the recap on another channel. This is a huge influence on political culture because it essentially means that your political views on something could be decided simply by what channel you have the news told to you.
ReplyDeleteI do not feel that the media covers the stories and issues that are most important to me. I feel that a lot of the issues that are important to me are controversial and were the media to consistently report on them and discuss them, their real political agenda would be even more prevalent and obvious. This is not ideal for the news outlets because then they will appear extremely partisan when they try not to (Fox News' slogan is "Fair and Balanced".)
Again the media is very important because it gets us the big news that occurs, however the stories that they select to broadcast are usually along the same themes and usually negative. People are killed everyday but we don't hear about them. However, when a little girl is killed in a car accident or something equally horrifying, they will cover it, interview the relatives, etc. It is a double standard and a bias that needs to change at some point.
The American mainstream media basically tells people what to care about and what to focus on. Example: During all the bomber coverage, Congress passed CISPA, a dangerous internet regulation bill. The media is used a great deal for distraction, or passing agendas by a small few at the top of the economic and political ladder. I'm not saying all news is corrupt, but most mainstream media is. When the same people who control our resources and politicians control our information, there is a problem. Its about entertainment and money making. There are so many important things world wide that are ignored and purposely left out of the news, because those things would compromise the various agendas these conglomerates are trying to pass.
ReplyDeleteThe Media, simply by it's status as being run in a for profit structure has made a dangerous fusion of information and entertainment, attempting in many ways to simply generate profits by over playing what ever interest story it can. For this reason the Media in many ways limits the discourse in American politics to the discourse between the two major parties, further weakening America's already depleted 3rd party capability. The limitations placed on the average media consumer's ability to fully grasp political theory is also affected, due in part to a simplification of politics into a Democrat/Republican dichotomy, which isn't nearly representative of world politics.
ReplyDeleteThe American media shapes our political culture by displaying stories or issues that are current and trending. As the article we read before hand, the media can be affected by numerous sources such as corporations, unions and activists. At times it looks like that the media is caught in the middle, between displaying what is important and what a special intrest is demanding from them. Throughout the media outlets provided on this page I only found two sources that discuss the issue of education. The conclusion we can draw on issues displayed on these sights are what are tending and who is backing them. That constant struggle, the middle ground I believe is where the media stands at times.
ReplyDeleteThe American media shapes our political culture by providing news that they believe to be the most important, or the stories that they believe will sell. The light in which they present these stories indirectly affects how readers interpret this news and generally steers them in the direction that the author wants them to. This can be used for the benefits of the interest groups that are supporting these news stations.
ReplyDeleteI believe that some issues that are important to me are covered by the media, while it seems just as often the stories covered aren't applicable to the public but to specific special interest groups.
The conclusions we can draw from polls and media coverage is that the media has the difficult challenge of catering to both the public and the private sector. They generally find a good balance but their coverage is not immune to outside influence.