A Brief Analysis of Media Bias

李在鑫

“Yougotnothingtoworryabout. Itsallacircus. Athreeringcircus. Thesetrialsandthewholeworld...itsallshowbusiness.”Whenmedialosesitsresponsibilityandcriminaljusticesystembecomesstuckinformwithoutworking， songswillbechantedlikethis——inasocietyofshow， fabulousandluxuriant， dullandfilthy. Thebeginningof20thcenturywitnessedsocialchaosandeconomicdownturninAmerica， wherepeoplehadntrecoverfromtheworldwarⅡatall， withweaknerves， indireneedofstrongstimulation. Gimmickssitbehindtruth， fromwhichtheformeralwayswonattentionsincethepublicwaseagertoforgettherealityfullypackedwithmisfortunes. Consequently， mediabiasrosefromthesupportofthepublic. Itisinappropriatetojudgewhethermediabiaswerebadornotatthattime. However， thingsgetarguablenowadays.

Withtherapiddevelopmentofeconomy， ithasbecomeafactthateverything， includingthemedia， iscloselyrelatedtointerests. TheinformationexplosionontheInternethasmadeitmoreconfusingtotellafabricatedpieceofnews， whichismixedwithvariousfactorssuchaseconomy， politics， cultureandsocialpsychology. Actually， falsenewsnolongermeanstotallyfalse， butsophisticatedandmediabiasriseinresponse. Therearethreemainfactorscontributingit.

Firstly， mediasharereferencestonoveltyandsensationinsteadofnecessityinpublic. Inordertocatertothepublic'scuriosity， thenewsmediainclinetoreportthenovel， weirdandsensationalevents， whilethesignificantandmeaningfuleventsareduetobeabandonedbythemedia. Infact， newscomesfromlife， wherethemajorsocialproblemsusuallyarise. Whereas， sucheventsareoftenignoredbythemediabecausetheyarenotattractiveenough.

Secondly， thecommercializationofmediapartlycurbsthetruth. Apparently， informationisseenunequallyimportantbymediagiventheirincomeoutofadvertisers. Therefore， mediaselectivelyreportnewswhichbenefittheiradvertisersforsevercompetitionsonprofits. Meanwhile， toensuretheproperworkofinterestschain， mediausuallyavoidnewsdetrimentaltotherelationsandalwayssetpositivereport， whichiscrucialtomaintainapositivepublicimage.

Thirdly， fixedculturalimageinevitablyinfluencesmediaworkersattitudeandstandpoints. Themediaworkerssharethesameworldwiththeirtargetaudienceandhaveinherentsenseofresponsibilitytoprincipallyprotectthehistoryandsocialideologyofthecountry. Therefore， thenewsofmainstreammediawillunavoidablybebasedonthedominantculture， whichmakesmediabiasuniversalinsociety.

Atpresent， eithermediaoraudienceissupposedtorecognizeandweakenprejudicetoaminimumandtolookatourworldinmultipleperspectives. Onlyinthiswaycanwemaintainourownwayofthinkingratherthanbemisledandbecomethoughtless.