Social Media and Political Bias

For my last blog post of the semester, I will be focusing on one of the biggest phenomenons in Mass Media and Politics. Social media has taken the political world by storm and can be a world full of bias. People are now allowed to give their political opinion, even if they do not have any political background or knowledge. Social media has allowed news to spread faster than ever before and can allow for unnecessary bias to spread. For example, an article about the coronavirus can be twisted and changed so that it does not give correct information. Sometimes people will take articles that state the current COVID-19 has side effects and tweet out saying that it has side effects such as incurable diseases, tricking people into believing misinformation due to their dissaproval of the vaccine. It is insane that a small swipe of the finger can spread so much information through a biased lens. Many are turned away from using social media as a news source yet many people still do. I believe bias has only been able to grow stronger due to the growth of social media. A great example is Donald Trump’s reign on twitter. He spread bias against those in opposition to him. Whether people were supporters or not, they spread Trump’s tweet full of bias to where it could reach others with the same views as him. This can grow biases on politics and politicians. Social media has become a construct that helps to build biases and misinformation. I wonder how the political world will continue to see these biases as social media continues to grow. Thank you for a great semester!

Is There Good Bias in Public Opinion Polls?

Public Opinions Polls are used in order to represent the opinions of a population. Surveys and polls are conducted in order to gain this data. Public opinions polls allow for much bias because that is what they literally are, the opinions of others and not the truth. Individuals could be asked about a political candidate or political agenda that they do not support, so it allows bias in their answering. Sometimes public opinion polls may be seen as a necessary bias. Though biased, public opinion polls offer an anonymous look at citizens' perceptions of politics. They are a media form that allows politicians to measure if they are helping their citizens and what they must do in order to better the political world they live in. It is important that citizens’ input is shared so that there is reform to better their politics. I included a recent poll on Biden and his administration. As the media shows politics, more public opinion may change on politicians. This link can show in the poll done by the Npr/Marist Poll. There was a majority vote on disapproval of Biden during the same period that he spoke on the Kenosha verdict, stating that citizens must acknowledge the jury has spoken, Widespread articles of his statements may have been disliked by Americans, pushing their bias on the President. Bias does not only come from news outlets and articles but from citizens as well.

https://www.pollingreport.com/biden_adm.htm

Differences Between Fake News and Media Bias

Media Bias and Fake News are some popular terms that we are familiar with in the Mass Media and Political world. Since my blog focuses on Media biases, I wanted to focus on the differences between fake news and media bias and how they are harmful to the political world. Many people believe that the two terms are the same when they are not. Fake News focuses on purposefully giving false information in order to gain engagement and attention. Media Bias is the deliberate favoritism towards a certain audience to push a partisan narrative. They misinterpret real news and facts. Fake News can include bias in it but the two terms are still extremely different. I believe it is important that people know the two terms in order to determine them in their news so they may receive the most accurate and important news. Too many outlets focus on engagements and too many people have begun to depend on social media apps to receive their news. It is important that readers know how to spot fake news and media bias in order to not be wrongly misinformed on current topics in today's politics.

Critical Race Theory from a Left Wing and Right Wing View

This post will focus on two very different media sources. One is the HuffPost that focuses on serving a left-wing audience. The other is Right Wing News that focuses on serving a right-wing audience. As you can already tell from what audience they are trying to serve, there is much bias on these platforms. Many news outlets cater to certain audiences and to do so, they throw in some bias. If they showed favor or too much of the truth in their articles, their news would not be sought after. Mass media and politics now focus on these tactics so that they can gain a large viewing audience. We will look at how the two websites mentioned view critical race theory. 

Right Wing Views article,  Why Critical Race Theory Should Be Banned from American Schools, on critical race theory does not hold back on its attacking and biases. The article makes claims that critical race theory is harmful to everyone. Critical Race Theory is just as repulsive as white supremacy and that others will think they have special privilege now due to incidents in the past. The Huff Post's article, Daily Show Exposes Conservative Cluelessness About Critical Race Theory, discusses how Right wing supporters don't even know what Critical Race Theory is and use a comedy-focused video in order to go against them.

I felt it was important to use two different news sources on opposite sides of the spectrum to show the bias in news and how it can overshadow the truth. From reviewing them, I did not learn any substantial information. It was just two sides showing their bias in order to spread their messages. That is the point of these news sources. They post news that will allow them to get the engagements and viewers they know will read it and want to read it. Mass media and politics have changed so much now that there is a large influx of outlets that focus on bias being the main fuel for their news articles.

https://rightwingnews.com/column-2/why-critical-race-theory-should-be-banned-from-american-schools/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daily-show-critical-race-theory_n_60dc1395e4b0956390dd858b

https://youtu.be/6ofjZH80y3g

Fact Check is Proving Biased News Channels Wrong

I wanted to discuss the website FactCheck and show how they were very pivotal to what my blog is all about. FactCheck focuses on debunking fake news and allowing the truth without any bias in their articles. This website does an amazing job at sticking to these claims. Their website even has a section where it debunks all of the bias and misinterpretations from posts on other platforms. This segment is known as "Don't Get Spun by Internet Rumors." For example, one of the posts under it states that "Bogus Antifa Claims Follow Capitol Riots. Viral social media posts and a Republican House member have amplified claims wrongly identifying some right-wing figures at the U.S. Capitol riot as part of “Antifa.” The claims feed into an unfounded conspiracy theory that anti-fascist activists in disguise orchestrated the event. There had been biased claims against Antifa supporters and those on the far left because the Capitol riots were orchestrated by right-wing Republican members. Fact Check provides an unbiased view, not on any side, to simply state the truth behind the riots. I think it is important that more people look for unbiased outlets like FactCheck in order to receive unbiased and truthful news. Websites like these hold politics accountable and do not try to hide anything with bias and are also able to combat fake news.

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/scicheck-benefits-outweigh-risks-of-pediatric-covid19-vaccine-contrary-to-posts-misusing-vaers-data/

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/01/bogus-antifa-claims-follow-capitol-riot/

Vaccination Bias against CNN and Big Bird

This Fox article dived into the Sesame Street propaganda. Sesame Street characters had tweeted out that they received the vaccination and were encouraging children to make sure they are vaccinated. This is much like how famous stars and singers got vaccinated, but Sesame Street was aimed at younger audiences. It was clear the bias in the article as it laid out many comments and tweets going against what CNN and Sesame Street were trying to promote. Lines of government propaganda for your five-year-old were thrown around by Twitter users. It shows the bias in the article as they were showing the negative reactions of the vaccination tweets and did not really focus on the vaccinations themself. Compared to CNN which only discusses answers about vaccination and why children need to be vaccinated. This further shows their bias push for a certain audience appeal. The articles aim for an audience with certain political views as they both push for or against the vaccine. Furthermore, the use of Sesame Street shows the common link between mass media and politics. CNN used them in order to show children that they should get the vaccination like their favorite animal characters. This is similar to the use of TikTok in vaccinations and the recent campaign.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-calls-out-cnn-sesame-street-town-hall-for-covid-vaccine

https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2021/11/03/the-abcs-of-covid-vaccines-a-cnn-sesame-street-town-hall-for-families/

Buzzfeed's coverage of The Capital Raid shows the bias Behind the Article

On January 6, 2021, many people took to the Capital in order to let out their distaste for recent American policies and governance. Many Trump supporters stormed the capital in a protest against the recent events. Buzzfeed wrote an article discussing these events and how Trump incited and instigated the protestors into doing more. The Buzzfeed article shows the bias that it has and how it leans more towards the left. The article uses strong words against the protestors and Trump, saying that they attacked the news which they claimed to be fake and how they wanted to "take back" the Capital. Furthermore, tweets were included which showed videos of protestors yelling that Trump had invited them to the Capital and how it was theirs to take back. Buzzfeed offers reliable news but it also shows their bias against Trump supporters and how they were not in favor of them. Much of the article was used to discuss what the protestors had done wrong and not background information on the Capital raid.

 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/january-six-suspects-trump-statements

Fox News's Bias vs President Biden

I discovered a recent article that discusses the current travel ban Presiden Biden has placed due to the new COVID variant. The Omicron variant is the newest variant in the virus. There is not much research on it yet but the World Health Organization is conducting research currently to see if it is more transmissible and severe when compared to the Delta virus. Due to this and our uncertainty about the new variant, many new travel restrictions are being put into place. Joe Biden placed travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries as news of the virus spreads. It is important to note that the President did not place any bans, only restrictions. The Fox News article I have included shows them ripping into Biden. They claim he is a hypocrite because he did not agree with Trump's travel bans in 2020 and even called them a disgrace. The article focuses on bashing Biden and claiming hypocrisy. This shows the difference of news outlets for which audience they are trying to reach and the bias in it. Fox News is focusing on those against Biden's decision, therefore they focused on an article discussing their distaste with his decision. However, articles from CNN and the World Health Organization focus on delivering the news and do not offer any bias to the situation. It shows how much mass media and politics have evolved over the years. Many news articles now have a biased approach and no longer truly cover the news. The Fox article did not offer any information on the new variant, further showing the difference between a biased article and an informative article.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bongino-biden-democrats-trump-travel-ban

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/politics/travel-restrictions-south-africa/index.html

https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron