Summary 

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-Drawing Conclusions-

             In this section, the authors of this chapter will be presenting their opinions on the media and how they think it could be improved. After reading this chapter and the authors' opinions, briefly reflect on your own opinions of the media, and whether or not it needs to be fixed. If it does, write how you would fix it. If not, write about what is good about it and why it doesn't need to be fixed. 

Sarah's Conclusion:

 I believe that the main problem in the media today is that it's too biased and made for entertainment purposes rather than the descriptive, factual journalism of the old days. Like we have talked about throughout this chapter, I believe that the main cause of this switch to entertaining news rather than correct news is the fact that that happens to be what people watch. With so many choices out there, there is no reason to watch the news anymore. As a result, the incentive to vote or participate in government declines. This would not be an issue, if not for the fact that when fewer people come out to vote, the opinion of the greater public is not heard. And one of the greatest problems the people face today is that they feel they are not heard and that the government does not listen. This is why the referendums and initiatives have become so popular, so that those who do actively participate can feel as if their voice is heard. But the honest truth is that if more people voted, more people would be heard. And more people would vote if there was more interest in the government. But when one can choose what to know and pay attention to, why pay attention to the boring stuffy news of yesteryear?

The news reporters of today have the right idea: to get people more involved, they have to get more people interested in government. But today’s media thinks that that means more disaster stories, more scandalous acts, less facts and unsupported claims, shocking sensationalism  and more flashy special effects. The news has in effect become a Michael Bay movie. This still only grabs a few people’s attention, and does not inform them of truth, but a version of it. Those who honestly want to be informed go out and search for their news, gather many sources, and learn from them all. But that person is crazy and has a lot of time on their hands. To the average Joes and Johannas, they will watch or read from one source and one source only. Frequently, that source is not altogether reliable.

Back in the day, if a news team was unreliable, it was deemed without journalistic integrity and not trusted as much. Today it is much the same, but news programs like that have higher ratings than those purely without any bias. And while it is good that someone is watching the news and getting informed out there, they are being informed of a biased opinion. As good as television as hilarious Glenn Beck shouting at people is, or cutie Rachel Maddow sarcastically questioning the actions of one such Glenn Beck, they don’t make for good sources of information.

In short, there has to be some way to get the public informed and interested so that they might participate more in their government. But with today’s generation and the fact that the media is a business and must give the people what they want, it seems hopeless that such a thing will happen for the majority of the public like it once did.

But there is hope for the future. Perhaps the next generation of children, when provided with enough useful, factual information will develop a keen interest in the politics of their world, if we instill it in them. There is no real answer to solve this problem. Perhaps find ways to make the news both entertaining and factual, but that would be difficult. Or perhaps educate the masses more in school to be more open and knowledgeable of how the government works? Any way you look at it, it’ll be a long process rather than a quick fix, but hopefully in the future things will return to a more politically aware public.

Ariel's Conclusions:

     The problems in the media today all have to do with an issue of trust.  Everyone knows the media, no matter what side of politics you follow, alters and exaggerates the information they present depending on the particular audience.  Today, the media, in terms of the government, has switched its focus and is trying to entertain rather than educate.  The media no longer puts an emphasis on informing the public, but rather providing entertainment towards a particular side of the spectrum.  If you’re watching Fox you’re going to receive one variation of the same event that CNN gives a completely different rendition.  The advancements in technology has caused the media to create a two-sided system. When it comes to the media there is only two options: either the conservative or liberal perspective.  This system the media has adapted to has created nothing, but the foundation for a pin-pong effect for each side to use the media to bash the other, and thus the media presents little use.  People have resorted to the use of selective expose and selective perception when following politics because so much information contradicts itself and a large percentage of people don’t know how to sift through it.  There is no way to eliminate the bias system the media has resorted to. However, by putting a high emphases on education throughout the entire nation people can make more educated conclusions.  By forming a piece of legislation creating a requirement that every high school student in the nation must take a form of both United States history and Government would create a foundation of knowledge on how the government works today.  With the basic knowledge of the history of the United States and the way in which the government works a larger percent of the nation's general public would be able to recognize all information and infer the truth. 

Diego's Conclusions:

     The media has always been a means for people to get the information they want. Now with all this new technology people can get their information from a variety of sources. People can turn on the T.V. at any time and watch one of the 24 hour news channels thanks to narrowcasting, and people can get online and look up their favorite blog or online newspaper thanks to the internet. Gone are the days when people get the newspaper delivered to their house daily. Well, not exactly gone, but the numbers are declining rapidly. I think that the problem with the media today is the constant bombardment of biased information. People are getting too much information from too many sources with too many slants. If all sources were trustworthy and unbiased then I wouldn’t have a problem. However with so many unregulated media sources it is hard to know what’s true.  All of this bias leads to people getting their information from what reflects the person's own political views. I think people should take initiative and get news from unbiased sources, if that even exists, at the very least get information from two different biased news sources. It’s a bit too extreme to propose removing all bias. Instead I think that the FCC should be able to legally label a news source’s bias so it could be discredited by most of the public and people would center on more objective news. Honestly, I think that the cable news and some news sources have become too sensationalistic to actually help create an informed decision on issues. Cable news should be focusing on issues that are important for America as a whole.

Summary Of Concepts in the Media Chapter-

Political Culture

     o      Political Socialization

     o      Rational Voter

     o      Responsible electorate

Media in Elections and Campaigns

• How Politicians Use the Media.
• The Relationship Between the Media and the Politicians.
• The difference between broadcast news and narrowcast news.
• The different types of media--- Internet, Network Television, Cable Television, Radio, Newspapers, etc. and who owns them (private, public, or government.)
• How the Internet and Sound-Bite Culture affects the Media today.

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