Sean Preston
April 11, 2016

Media Criticism: Biased Agenda

News outlets and organizations are created in an attempt to gather and collect relevant, factual, and abundant information about the world and spread these stories amongst the masses.  Today their work is distributed through several different mediums.  Some of the largest news organizations in the United States are CNN and Fox News.  Many Americans do not watch the news every day and some don’t even keep up with politics at all. When they turn on the news, the only dose of politics in their lives is right at their fingertips behind a remote.  Even if this isn’t the case many Americans trust news organizations as facts and this is harmful in many ways.  

One might not notice that either news organization has an underlying agenda that they are trying to push.  The point of this article I am writing is not to attack either of them individually rather analyze the reasons why we as Americans continue to allow it to happen. The lack of an independent popular newspaper allows these news organizations to suffocate the public in whatever they want.  The amount of money behind both the democratic and republican parties is tremendous so it will be near impossible to break the cycle.

In reference to political affiliation CNN leans left and Fox News leans right.  Leaning left means that one tends to be more on the democratic side of things and leaning right means that one tends to be more on the republican side.  These differing views on both sides warp story headlines in an attempt to tarnish each other as well as promote their own side.

There is nothing wrong with having political beliefs, in fact I encourage them. But when these beliefs are then pushed on millions of Americans through clever language and rhetoric, it has a lasting effect on both casual and everyday consumers of this media this will determine how their opinions are forged.  The big problem again is that major media organizations in America are very partisan bias and we do not have a popular independent news company.

If you read the headlines on CNN and compare and contrast them to Fox News, again at first glance it may seem as if they are just two different companies merely doing their job, delivering the news as usual.  However, in relation to the 2016 Presidential race, CNN addresses the democrats in a much more positive tone and of course bashes the republican candidates, and also vice versa with Fox as expected.  

Here is one example from CNN, “Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was prepared to drop out of the Republican presidential race had he lost his home state on Super Tuesday, he confirmed Wednesday, and is asking Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to do the same should he lose his. The comments come after Cruz fell well short of expectations he set for himself on Super Tuesday. But Rubio's chief rival in the anti-Donald Trump contest, is not faring much better.”  Clearly, this piece CNN did on Ted Cruz does everything it can to bash as many republicans in one paragraph.  They try to conceal their set agenda by presenting these ideas with numbers, but the real question at hand is why they decided to focus on both candidates in a negative light instead of focusing on what they may need to do to win, but that answer is obvious it is because of partisan bias.

Here is another example from CNN, “Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump would be an extremely close election, but the economy still favors a Clinton win.”  Again, CNN is attempting to look neutral yet present the facts but it is clear that they want the public to believe in their leftist opinion, in this specific instance one that votes for Hillary Clinton.  

On the opposite end of the spectrum,  Fox news has no problem bashing Hillary, ex.  “What voters know about Hillary Clinton: She's a crook,” this headline speaks for itself. It is an attack on Hillary Clinton, not because of who she is as a person; although it may be portrayed as so, like they were doing the public a favor, but because she represents the democratic national party and is their front runner in the presidential race.  

While there is nothing inherently wrong with political affiliation, it is entirely personal. The problem lies within the bank accounts of the wealthy and rich including massive corporations who donate hundreds of millions of dollars each year to two set parties.  This eliminates a competition of beliefs and values, something that is entirely toxic society.  The reason I believe that we do not have a major independent news outlet is because powerful people and organizations do not want an independent in the white house, or in any position of political power.  

There is too much history, too much money invested, and too many people who maintain partisan loyalty to make an immediate change to preserve the independent vote.  We have a very divided nationwide split between those who hold conservative versus liberal values.  People who lie in the middle of this are severely underrepresented.  The gap is increasing everyday because of the power these two companies have over the media although the internet is doing a fantastic job at countering this.

What CNN and Fox News are both doing is not morally wrong from their perspective,  but their lasting effect on the masses has been one that is overly manipulative.  Their eskewed views and values are very opinionated without appearing so.  Both companies have highly skilled staff writers who are paid to inform you about the news, and insert an opinion into your head without you even realizing.  

A lot of American’s are not very informed on every detail of politics and take the news as facts and then create opinions and beliefs from this.  For example I think that the liberal left media has done a fantastic job at portraying republican candidate Donald Trump in a negative light (even more so than he has done himself), similar as conservative media has portrayed democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in a negative light regarding her involvement in the email scandals.  It’s really like a back and forth bicker competition, and I believe it is unhealthy for the media to do this to the public.  They have ratings to maintain and money to make, we as Americans need to understand this and not take their news as facts but as just another opinion.