Hello all!
A colleague and I recently had a discussion with a group of students on bias in the media and from where people perceive that bias to stem. I thought bringing a particular part of that discussion to this forum would be interesting. Shortly into the conversation, we began discussing the issue within the context below, which I'll provide as a sort of prompt for the sake of the forum. As a note, this discussion was largely centered around mainstream media (television, online, and print), but feel free to bring in other forms of media if you think it adds something to the discussion.
We tend to see the media as having political bias when a potentially more accurate view would be that it has a financial bias. Media networks and outlets target demographics the same way other forms of entertainment do, giving them more of what they want to see/hear and less of what they don't because they are driven by viewership, subscriptions, a generally loyal base audience, etc.. They continue to be profitable, their audience entertained, and everyone is happy, even if some of that happiness is derived from criticizing a particular outlet, show, or pundit.
Additionally, we have this perspective that the media has a shadowy agenda, distorting the truth for political gain, covering up the actions of government, and everything in between. But could it be that our problems with the media persist because we fail to see it for what it is - a form of entertainment? From that, would it be more accurate to say media bias stems from targeting their audience more so than political reasons? What would this imply about how Americans consume media?
So what are your thoughts? It could be that you don't give any credence to this idea at all, or perhaps you have an entirely different perspective.
