Thursday, May 26, 2011

Media and Politics: An Epilogue

Well, it's over. Another semester gone, finals and papers to look forward to. We definitely had an interesting semester in Media & Politics. From media bias to presidential campaign ads and the polarization/politicization of the media, we've learned a lot about the media. Its been an educational and fun experience. I think that there are a few things that we can take from the experience: media bias does exist (though to different degrees depending on the topic and one reporting it), the media can be an effective tool or enemy, over the last century the media has become somewhat commercialized (with infotainment type news and cable tv), and the media has become polarized (perhaps reflecting the political environment). I think that from now on we will all be wiser when dealing with media matters and will be more objective and open minded than we were before, and might even try to use more than one source for our news in order to diversify and increase our knowledge (of both sides).

Osama and the Media

By now the whole world is aware of the death of Osama bin Laden. Ignoring for a second all the political ramifications of his death, I'd like to bring up the numerous media references to his execution. From Saturday Night Live to Facebook, there have been many mentions of it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I first heard about his death while on facebook. I was working on some assignment, and was up later than usual with facebook on in a separate window. I occassionally glanced at my facebook news feed to see what my friends were doing in order to distract myself from the assignment every 10 or 15 minutes. I don't remember the exact time, but I started to see posts saying things like "We got him!" and stuff like that. Eventually, people began posting more details, and I realized what had happened.

The next episode of Saturday Night Live, with Tina Fey as the host, featured several references to the event, including a skit called "Mermaid" which was a parody of The Little Mermaid movie in which Osama's body floated down to the characters, who didn't want that kind of sea trash around. Bin Laden was also a main component of the following weeks' cold open, where Fred Armisen played a triumphant Obama who couldn't stop talking about how he killed Osama during a speech that was supposed to be about an entirely different topic. While amusing, this does bring up the real possibility of this event being a factor in Obama's favor during the next election.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Media Bias: An Epilogue

We have recently been listening to (and giving) presentations about media bias when certain media sources discuss specific issues. A wide variety of issues have been brought up, from the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other Middle-East issues to health care reform and the global warming issue. Many of us actually used the same sources, perhaps even the same articles and videos. It is therefore surprising that a few people who worked on the same issue had different or at least slightly different conclusions.

Despite the discrepancies, it seems (to me at least) that most of us found at least a slight leaning if not bias toward one side or another. As one would expect, certain sources tended to have more of this bias or leaning than others. Surprisingly enough though, those same, customarily biased or at least non-objective, sources seemed to be more objective about certain topics, such as global warming. Perhaps this shows us something about the nature of bias: it definitely exists, though its extent depends on the topic at hand and can therefore vary from minimal to fully prevalent in media coverage.

This observation is somewhat understandable, if we think about it for a minute we would realize that all of us feel strongly (in positive or negative ways) about at least a couple of issues and would likely discuss them in a way that supports our own views. Based on this observation, I believe most of us can agree that media bias, however prevalent it is, tends to be found more often when reporters, journalists, and anchors are writing or discussing issues that that they feel emotionally attached to. Not only should we try to read or view as many sources as are reasonable in order to get the whole picture, but we should keep in mind the possibility that the author or anchor's reporting may be influenced by his or her personal opinions, particularly in regard to controversial or debated topics.