Media is the channel of communication and one of the most common to millions of people globally. Various outlets are under scrutiny for their perceived bias with the information they share, mode of sharing, focus on stories, and using skewed reporting as bait for their audience. For further understanding, an investigation to establish the extent and weight of media bias in shaping public opinion is staged.
The research will focus on various populations, different media, techniques applied, and influences on the public. One fundamental consideration is the sources used for the work, which should convince the readers about the subject and the details. Borrowing from various sources adds rigor to the research, authenticates the facts, and convinces the reader to trust the points passed. Below are three articles exploring the subject and its importance to the write-up.
The article explores media bias cases on two groups of people in Europe, immigrants, and refugees. Areas neighboring Europe, like Asia, face constant calamities, prompting their citizens to flee. Europe receives an abnormally high number of refugees and is under pressure to stop them due to the limited resources under scramble. From 2015 to 2018, the number of refugees to Belgium skyrocketed, accompanied by skewed media reports, thereby changing opinion regarding the entrants influenced by the media reports. Researchers aimed to examine the weight of changes in media reporting style on people’s views, which led them to develop distrust within the public eye.
In their reports, it was evident that specific media outlets like television distorted people’s beliefs. Specifically, there were links to terrorist activities and some religious groups. On regional balance, the report pointed out the differences between Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. For specificity, the researchers focused on the differences between settlers and refugees, in which older citizen pointed their skewed trust towards the immigrants. This source helps the research by establishing the link between media bias towards specific groups and public opinion.
The inception of social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter has the overbearing burden of proof by users. Almost all media houses incorporated an online site for their updates. The majority of these sites present easy and quick-to-read news releases and competition to be the first to update the public. However, an underlying method applied to demographics is that they choose to air their news, leading to the audience’s classical cataloging and bias. Other than gender and age, the media outlets conduct extensive data analysis of their audience and strategically use it to shape their information. The article will aid this research by exploring trends applied in current media broadcasts through social sites.
Political engagements are somewhat perceived to be full of bias in the media. Whether genuine or not, the mode of reporting has the potential of drawing divisions within the citizens. These arise from the preferences shown by the leaders themselves, pitching their audiences on different sides. The perceived media bias bases its opinion on political leaders who wish to gain support from citizens. An interesting observation is thought that media houses have candidates they support and would promote their agenda. Most newsrooms are the source of information regarding various political profiles, candidates, and leaders. Every time their report divides the public depending on those who support or oppose the leaders.
On the other hand, the media uses selective exposure and airing of stories about leaders, leading to more bias in their stories.
References
Coninck, D., Matthijs, K., Debrael, M., Joris, W., De Cock, R., & d’Haenens, L. (2018). The relationship between media use and public opinion on immigrants and refugees: A Belgian perspective. De Gruyter Mouton. 43(3), 403-425. Web.
Barnidge, M., Gunther, C. A., Kim, J., Hong, Y., Perryman, M., Tay, S. K., & Knisely, S. (2020). Politically motivated selective exposure and perceived media bias. Sage Journals, 47(1). Web.
Ribeiro, F., Henrique, L., Benevenuto, F., Chakraborty, A., Kulshrestha, J., Babaei, M., & Gummadi, K. (2018). Media bias monitor: Quantifying biases of social media news outlets at large-scale. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 12(1), 1-10.