The phenomenon of media bias has always dominated journalism issues around the world. Media bias “occurs when media outlets systematically emphasize one particular point of view in a way that contravenes the standards of professional journalism” (Sheppard 89). Media bias is dominated by several factions including conservative, liberal, mainstream, and corporate media. Several organizations have come forward with the view of combating biases in the media by scrutinizing biased news reporting.
Media bias can occur in several forms. For instance, bias can be manifested when certain current events are not reported by the media. There are no definite patterns of media bias but trends indicate that liberal bias is the most common practice in journalism. This paper explores how media is biased using a news article that exemplifies bias in mass media.
The addressed news’ article addresses the differences between the presidential candidatures of both Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. The article is titled “Clinton-30 Days, 8 Press Questions; Fiorina- 8 Days, 322 Press Questions” and it appears on the “Breibart News” website. According to the article, Clinton announced her presidential bid 30 days ago but she has had ‘lukewarm’ engagement with the media.
On the other hand, her competitor Fiorina announced her candidature 8 days ago but she has had ‘good’ interactions with the media (Swoyer 1). The brief article has obvious bias towards Clinton while it favors the actions of her rival. The bias in this article is aimed at discrediting mainstream media’s coverage of Clinton’s campaign while praising the conservative actions of the GOP presidential candidate.
This article presents media bias in a number of ways. First, the article’s headline announces the candidates’ appearance statistics as if they have a significant impact on the quality of their campaigns. It is important to note that these statistics do not reflect the suitability of any of the two candidates. However, the author of this article reports the matter in a manner that influences the readers’ opinions about the two presidential candidates. Another bias is evident through the author’s attempt to show that Clinton’s actions are abnormal.
The author points out that Clinton has set the record for “the longest running presidential candidate” with the lowest instances of media interaction in her first thirty days of campaigning (Swoyer 1). The liberal bias is evident when the article quotes Fiorina saying that unlike Hilary Clinton, her campaign is transparent as indicated through her openness to the media. The author does not attempt to present Clinton’s side of the story and this is an obvious bias against the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
This article has a significant impact on public opinion as indicated through the various comments that are made by its readers. First, the use of numbers in the article’s title makes the public think that Fiorina’s high numbers indicate that she is ‘winning’. Consequently, the readers who support Clinton are made to think that their candidate of choice is failing at something. The article also hints at the complexity and secrecy of the Democratic Party’s candidate whilst presenting a new face of the GOP as a transparent political outfit.
Traditionally, the popular public opinion is that the conservative GOP is the secretive political outfit while the Democrats are transparent (Lee 28). However, this article attempts to sway the popular public opinion using press-interaction statistics of the two candidates. The greatest bias in this news article is aimed at insinuating that Hilary Clinton is hiding something thereby swaying public opinion towards this line of thinking.
Works Cited
Lee, Martin. Unreliable sources: A guide to detecting bias in news media, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, 2011. Print.
Sheppard, Si. The Partisan Press: A history of media bias in the United States, New York: McFarland, 2007. Print.
Swoyer, Alex. “Clinton-30 Days, 8 Press Questions; Fiorina- 8 Days, 322 Press Questions.” Breibart. Breibart News, 2015. Web.