“An expert must be bold if he hopes to alchemize his homespun theory into conventional wisdom …nuance often doesn’t get much attention.” Written by New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner and co-authored by John Bates Clark Medal awardee Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics addresses those conventional wisdoms conceived by the partisan tendencies of the experts behind them; it delves into the economics, or as Levitt puts it, “incentives,” behind…everything. Freakonomics does not attempt to constrain itself to discussion of exchange of goods and services. Its application of economic principles to a variety of scenarios ensures that the book appeals to a general audience rather than remaining an obscure book only read by the academia.…
Known for her tremendous work of hosting NPR’s On the Media, Brooke Gladstone analyzes in, “The Great Refusal”, the impact of reporters’ convictions in order to ascertain its direct effect on media bias. The job of a reporter is to recall relevant social and economic accounts that take place daily without siding on an issue. Majority of the time, journalists and reporters lack credibility to prove the accuracy or falsity of the information that they release to the public. While some seldom favors an issue relative to their opinion, others remain neutral and make the great refusal. Gladstone indirectly refers to the “Great Refusal” by providing brief historic scenarios that elucidate the controversy of media bias against society.…
The United States of America is one of the only country’s on earth that has the right for freedom of press enshrined in its constitution (U.S. Const. amend. I). If you take a second to stop and think about that, we are one of the only countries who have truly ‘guaranteed media freedom’, that is something very special as well as something that is paramount to maintaining a functioning democratic society. It seems as if we almost take for granted the myriad of different sources and outlets that we can pull from and learn from. In this writing I will present you with two different ideologies that weigh in on the media system in America today, one from a liberal’s point of view and one from a conservatives point of view.…
The public should understand that the media does not always inform the people with the complete truth. The information may be partially correct, but each news source tends to ignore what it disagrees with and reports only what is beneficial to it. In the video “Dealing With Media Bias,” Bernard Goldberg explains how the media sources are all filtered through different prisms. Goldberg also concludes that people simply do not have the time to sit down and read the newspaper nor to watch enough television to be able to gather their own opinions from various news sources. The prisms that Goldberg talks about show how each source develops a different opinion on a topic, which is then pushed upon the viewers.…
In Daniel Gilbert’s essay, “Immune to Reality,” he explores how each person’s psychological immune system plays a major role in allowing him or her to cope with traumatic situations that come up in daily life. The psychological immune system is the mind’s cognitive mechanisms that work subconsciously to make the existing state of affairs more bearable. It does this by allowing the brain to make excuses for negative events, which, in turn, help the troubled individual feel better. Gilbert’s conclusions challenge the way people think and are causing some people to reshape the way they approach situations…
Media bias is a very complicated thing, as it may sway a reader’s thoughts towards one side of the spectrum rather than keeping it fair. Most news sources are usually biased towards a certain side, whether it is liberal or conservative, or democratic or republican. Although most news sources are biased, some are moderate and in the middle. Examples of a news source biased towards the liberal side would be New Yorker or The Colbert Report. Examples of a news source biased towards the conservative side would be Breitbart or the Drudge Report. Examples of a news source that is in the middle of liberal and conservative, moderate, would be Yahoo News…
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2008). The thinker’s guide for conscientious citizens on how to detect media bias &…
Economist Steven D. Levitt and writer Stephen J. Dubner, in chapter 1 of the book Freakonomics, published in 2005 addresses the topic of the human reliance on incentives and argues that economic, social, and moral incentives drive everything humans do. Levitt and Dubner supports their claim by using imagery, first by employing analogies to illustrate their point about incentives in order for their readers to easily understand the concepts ; second by utilizing anecdotes to further simplify those concepts in understandable stories ; and finally by applying similes to make shorter and simpler comparisons when needed. The authors’ overall purpose is to explain the different incentives in order to help the reader understand the impact of incentives on daily actions. Levitt and Dubner assert a factual tone in order to appeal to their audience’s previous perspectives on how integral incentives are to human behavior.…
The lack of understanding and authenticity behind the reasons on why or how things exist have led to the creations of myths such as the Greek, Romans, Scandinavians, and other people around the world who began to use their stories as explanations. Authors Richard Dawkins and Edith Hamilton’s books help better understand two different points of views on the Mythological Theory.…
Despite this great success of the Washington Post, our media has not proven to be accurate or trustworthy. Regardless of this continual doubt that overwhelms our society about the media, this movie is eerily accurate. The content of this film is as directly replicated from Woodward's and Bernstein’s book,”All the…
Whether it’s the Internet, the worldwide news and celebrity news, bias is everywhere. The media gives out information to make everyone think the same thing and tell the public what they want them to hear. The media allows us to know what they believe is right about topics and situations. They have more information then what they actually give out. They give out what they want us to believe, focusing more on one topic that they favorite and giving us their opinion while other news sources might have a different one. People tend to believe what's on the news simply because it is on the news and they rely on them to tell the public what going on around them and expect it to be the truth, when in reality that might just be part of the story of that specific news source and their opinion, while other sources have a different one. Checking other sources before taking anyone's word to see if they all have the same side of the story is the best way to avoid media bias. Reasons why the media might not be telling people the real side of the story and telling the public what they believe is because they don't want to make anyone associated with them look bad. People can't make the right decisions if they don't know what's really going on. Journalism has to report what was said in an interview without adding or filtering their own opinion, but in news reporting it can be completely opposite and is rare to find a source…
Most citizens wouldn’t have much negative feelings towards the bias in the media, if said media wouldn’t have so much animosity to change based on the news topic at hand. Most well-known media members are stubborn and believe what a particular political party dose or says is right. So much so, they agree with said party even if they believe they’re far left on certain situations. However, a questionable television show mocks and makes fun of politics. They try to bring laughter about the matter instead of sugar coating and being bias about the situation. Brian Anderson said, “South Park, now in its eighth season on the cable channel Comedy Central, is something of an acquired taste; its plot twists are grotesque, and foul language spews forth from its button-cute protagonists. But laced among the obscenities is some surprisingly sophisticated political satire. And unlike typical Hollywood fare, South Park picks its targets on an equal-opportunity basis, skewering figures on the Left and Right alike.” (Anderson) The general public would be more reluctant to view the media as bias, if they would simply call it how it…
A regular viewer may not filter out any bias, therefore media sources often times over-exaggerate in order to persuade their audience. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech and press, so without any restrictions media outlet can freely express their views how ever they like. In a general sense the Constitution created this immunity that protects the rights of groups rather than primarily of individuals. "How is the media biased?" Media outlets like all cooperations has a goal, and that goal is to frame the public's mind. The motive is clear, it is designed to provoke and persuade. With the technology advancing at an exponential rate, it makes it easier for anyone to come across a biased article or news on the internet. I am not saying all news coverage are not straightforward, but the most popular ones have the most opinionated hosts. Due to theses segmented biases, many informations are distorted. These include bias by omissions, story selection, labeling, placement, selection of source, racial bias, conservative/liberal bias and so on. Many politicians utilize media for their benefit, like running their campaign. Because of the manipulative influence that media has on the public, many candidates attempt to get a hold of these media outlets to work in their favor. With Twitter and other social media become a powerful platform, ideas and informations now…
The corruption, bias, and censorship of American media and information is not a new concept but, as of the first few weeks of Trump’s presidency, it has become more noticed and criticized. Censorship in the US has existed in many forms and continues to do in to this day. Some of the least controversial and most commonly accepted versions are: privacy of identity, privacy of security information, and removal of graphic imagery. Though censorship has become more of a derogatory word thanks to observing years of aggressive censorship and propaganda in fascist societies such as Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, it still plays a role in even the most democratic nations and for an arguably good reason. That said, aggressive censorship and media control…
Is the media biased? Of course…but towards whom? The media can be biased towards both liberals…