MEDIA BIAS

Media bias is not a new topic to the general public, us Americans especially. One of the biggest media houses, believe it or not, is our government since it issues essential information concerning the general public. But even the government hasn’t been left out of the media bias fiasco, and it has never been more pronounced than it is today with our current President Mr. Donald Trump, a man how seems to have brought all the worst behaviors of Washington to the fore-front. Noticed my opinion on Washington, I have already formed and passed my own option to my audience in nuances and subverted manner.

But how many will notice? Even though some might share my sentiment, many will gross over it because it’s something that has been said for so long that it has now been taken for a fact, even though our country and its wellbeing depends on the smooth running of the place and they have been doing the job for a few centuries now. We still just feel nothing works because the media told us so. This opinion is based on some facts, and some shady deals do go on in Washington. At the end of the day, it is run by humans, and we do have a tendency not always to follow the law. But the opinion persists and that I believe is what is called Media bias in the snapshot—the use of partial facts to amp-up one’s opinion depending on the agenda and target audience. I am going to look into today’s media bias specifically in news coverage from CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC on the latest reporting on the Muller report on Russia’s tampering with the American election in 2016.

From a progressive perspective, things haven’t been going well. CNN (the most liberal lining of the three outlets) starts there latest Mueller article with gloom and doom; “A feeling of uneasy anticipation hangs over Washington ahead of the release of a redacted version of Robert Mueller’s report Thursday.” (Collinson, 2019) It goes further to lament the breakdown of Washington common bipartisan on the high morale of the presidency and why Muller utterances handed the Republicans a win.

Not once though do they give Mr. Muller any credit for the work he has been undertaking, let alone the constant barrage of president Trump abuse of power; “it is likely that Trump could come across in a feeble light, even appearing to have abused his power and the spirit” (Collinson, 2019). Conservatives who are the loudest advocate of respecting the presidency have been on the receiving end of the Muller report, which has given there liberal peers ammunition to criticize the president even more loudly than ever before.

The conservatives on the other end were busy reporting the shifting of blame game by democrats from the election meddling to investigation meddling of the Muller investigation. More so the writer uses the opportunity to taunt all the thing Mueller said the president didn’t do; “__did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort’s sharing polling data and Russia’s interference in the election–The evidence available to us does not establish that the President directed or aided Cohen’s false testimony…” (Re, 2019)while grossing over the entire report of what the president DID wrong within the period of investigation. Progressive has always been loud on cubing the president power through balance and check of both congress and Judiciary, and the conservative was happy they got none

MSNBC seemed to have settled on the middle on the Muller report by first asking three main questions; “did Russia attack American elections, did our adversaries have partners in Donald Trump’s political operation, and did Trump obstruct the investigation into what transpired.” And the answer to all of them, according to the article, is ‘yes.’

But most notably, they don’t dwell on the first two; instead, it’s the last question of tampering with the investigation that seems to bother them the most. But even on that issue, they do note that the president failed due to getting sabotaged by his own staff. Compared with the two MSNBC structured there article more or less like a report and minimized over-analyzing the parts that didn’t serve their opinions. And finally, all three outlets do seem to agree that Russia is still a treat to American democracy

1. In what way do different outlet cover the issue, including differences in :
2. Framing

A simple look over the photos used in the articles from the three outlets can give you’re a rough idea of what they are going to talk about. Fox had Attorney General William Barr, who decided to withhold some information from the public release, helping the conservative course to save the president, CNN photo pits Mr. Trump vs. Mr. Muller, even though they lost liberal, still had the report for legal action, and MSNBC had just Mr. Muller; Muller report briefing.

1. Priming and Agenda-setting

Priming and agenda setting are prepackaged with priming the audience with what to come and introducing the agenda. This is best exemplified by the title we are provided.

CNN; “Washington waits, but Mueller may solve nothing.” (Collinson, 2019)  While Washington waits for a redacted copy of the Muller report, they are nothing much to look forward to in it.

Fox News; “Mueller report sparks new DC war over Russia probe: Subpoenas, payback and more.” (Re, 2019) The old war on Trump investigation is over, but be ready for a judicial onslaught from sole losers.

MSNBC; “Mueller report details Trump’s efforts to undermine Russia scandal probe.” (Benen, 2019) Though nothing remarkable in the Muller report itself, the president middling in the investigation is exciting.

2. In what way do each of the articles represent media bias?

The first detail of media bias that one needs to grasp is the target audience of the news organization. No matter how much we are similar, they are differences that always sets all of us apart with varying interest and economical vestige. These differences crop up in the news we are interested in. And in each and every article, every newsroom was singing to their usual choir.

CNN was lamenting on the failed investigation and, in large part, the failure of the presidency, which for the most part, they have written off as a failed government. But they fail to recognize that some of the laws passed, especially the tax cut has benefitted there base (wealth liberals in the coastal) more than the president’s own support, which brings me to the next article from Fox News, which is cheering for the president even though he broke their very own creed of never allowing the government to interfere with the private work of independent government institution.

3. What impact does media bias have on public opinion?

It eliminates the core value of journalism that news should be objective and always cover both sides of the argument regardless of one’s political linings. What the media bias in the news has done is than facts to opinion, thus removing any objectivity the news might have had.

References

Benen, S. (2019, April 18). Mueller’s report details Trump’s efforts to undermine the Russia scandal probe. Retrieved from msnbc: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mueller-report-details-trumps-efforts-undermine-russia-scandal-probe

Collinson, S. (2019, April 17). Washington waits, but Mueller may solve nothing. Retrieved from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/17/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-washington-anticipation/index.html

Re, G. (2019, April 19). Mueller report sparks a new DC war over Russia probe: Subpoenas, payback, and more. Retrieved from Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-report-sparks-new-dc-war-over-russia-probe-subpoenas-payback-and-more