Blog #3 : Have You Heard The News Today?
There is a prevalent problem in today's media that involves presenting untrue stories to the public. Big news companies chase after stories that will enhance their views on their television show rather than reciting factual stories. Big news companies report biased news reports rather than covering pressing issues and important stories. Many shows are filled with reporters who simply read off a teleprompter and feed their viewers altered information.
The overall level of argumentation in today's society has dropped because of news sources that provide biased opinions to all its viewers. There is an epidemic of fake news in media today and viewers are subjected to the one-sided opinions news shows offer.
In the exceprt Finding the Good Argument OR Why Bother With Logic?, author, Rebecca Jones, explores the problem behind faulty news sources and how their biased opinions depict a poor model of argumentation. She states, "On an average news day, there are entire websites and blogs dedicated to nothing ethical, factual, and legal problems with public arguments, especially on the news and radio talk shows...the discussions they offer masquerading as arguments are often merely opinions or a spin on a particular topic and not carefully considered, quality arguments" (62). Media has become a rat race between big companies competing for popularity and profit. They focus on the most amount of viewers rather than being a public service focusing on reporting important issues. The news stories they provide are usually fluffed with biased opinions that tend to override the pressing issue being covered.
In today's society, media coverage is provided over a range of mediums, including Twitter. One tweet provided by the New York Times sparked backlash from a famous NFL team. The famous news company tweeted an altered photo of the New England Patriots team's visit to the White House. They claimed that the players and staff were protesting President Donald Trump, but in reality, the pictures were taken under different circumstances. The Patriots said, "the staff was seated on the South Lawn this year, not standing with the team as they did in 2015".
The Times' attempt to make it seem as if there was a boycott, even though it's not unlikely that this could actually happen, displays media's ways of altering the truth. This act emphasizes news sources' preference of false stories rather than actual facts. This was an attempt at a twitter hoax in an effort to make a false news story.
The news in media today falsify important stories and spin them into something untrue. The media is occupied by covering scandalous stories which leaves less time for issues that affect our lives and the whole world, such as the environment. Important issues receive little attention and there is poor coverage of them. News websites and television shows edit their articles to promote what they want to the public. This morphed delivery of information, on an industrial scale, provides alternative facts to the viewers and forces them to believe something untrue.
A solution to this would be to present news in a way that considers multiple vantage points. Many media sources succumb to bias by omission of facts, but this can be reduced if the reporter gave a balanced story. There are also many sources that provide fact checks and call out the bias on certain news sources. In addition, independent news experts provide an alternate to big news companies. These sites administer more factual stories and leave out opinions.
Overall, to limit news' censorship and moderation and to reduce the poor level of argumentation that mass media provides today, news coverage needs to be delivered in a broader sense and take in facts rather than mere opinions.
- Rachel Ullrich
I certainly agree with your discussion of the bias and subjectivity that is so prevalent in the media today. I believe that the youth of today is extremely influenced by statements made on media platforms like Twitter and even by the news itself, which is extremely unfortunate. We often forget to remember that what we see on TV or read on the internet is more often than not, untrue. Therefore, when using such unreliable sources to provide background for our arguments, we allow ourselves to suffer. Not only are we taking in false information, we are also spitting it back out, thus filling the world with even more deception. Society would become more prosperous and educated if the news would present objective, factual information. Unfortunately, people today make a living off of reporting false news, which is unfair to say the least. It is sad that the media today has to dig so low, only to "stir the pot" or "make things more interesting".
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you said about the media in that they are often biased. I have a problem with the media due to the fact that the general public will almost always believe what the media says. For example, CNN often puts out bold and brief headlines emphasizing a certain negative point about something but they will often leave out other important details to the story until later instead of in the headline. I feel like most of the people watching the show will mostly remember what they read in bold headlines instead of trying to figure out every detail about the story they are presenting. This is detrimental for the many viewers they have in that they will only remember what the brief headline told them which is usually heavily biased and does not tell the whole story. I believe that the news shows should try to keep their headlines as politically neutral as possible for the benefit of viewers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that the media is biased. It is known that each TV channel have their own orientation on certain news and therefore causing a bias. This is done because the viewers on the channel tend to lean in a particular way. In order to inform and engage the viewers, the channel leans towards differences stances, whether politically, religiously, or others. This also allows for very slight variances in each story developed on the several channels. It is hard to find actual information online that is just that, INFORMATION. Each TV/radio channel, magazine, social media account, provide an event with their own assumption that x is guilty, y is innocent, z caused it. The next news source you will encounter will alternate these variables. I also agree with Jeff Chung that people tend to remember events from what they first see or read. “Over 100,000 people displaced by flooding in Nigeria.” Many would read this on twitter, and don’t bother reading more because they believe they got the gist of the story. We’re missing details. The details to which we can then make up our own opinion with.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about a similar issue and I definitely agree with a lot of your points. The news is biased, there is no arguing that. Flashy stories = more viewers = more money = more flashy stories. The news is so much more about viewership than it is about presenting the 'news' to the people. The NFL example was a great illustration on how the media today spins stories to attack ideas or people which bumps viewership. If our news continues in this direction, people will have nothing to rely on for information, nothing to trust. News stations need to start focusing on the facts of the issues not how many people they can get to tune in.
ReplyDeletePoliticians and news media often engage in unethical arguments by introducing examples or evidence that appear to support an argument but which are actually taken out of context or fail to consider other evidence or facts.
ReplyDelete