For the last and final Civic Issues blog post, we will be discussing the impact of the media on polarized American political culture and how much influence they hold.
The press has always played a crucial role in keeping societies “in the know.” In the United States, the press has been responsible for informing the American people on current events whether they be global, national, or local. While always having a contentious relationship with politicians, journalists and the free press have always been seen as educators of the people, keeping those in power honest. The founding fathers considered the importance of freedom of the press to be so integral to a democratic society, that they made it one of the five freedoms of the first amendment which states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
As you can see, from the founding of our country, the integrity of the press has not only been expected but firmly protected. Although various supreme court cases over our nation’s history have limited what type of language can be used, the truth brought to the public by the press has been a consistently respected and valued industry.
The importance of the free press can be described through the trust it has built with the American public. President Teddy Roosevelt notoriously labeled journalists that uncovered scandals within the government, ‘muckrakers’ because they revealed the “muck” of harmful workplace environments and facilitated an increased public pressure on state representatives to pass laws protecting the quality of American workplaces during the Progressive Era. In the 1970s, the press was responsible for uncovering Watergate. Historically, whenever American politicians are not being truthful to the public, Americans could rely on the press to expose them and keep politicians honest.
Today Americans are left with questions. Has the media lost the trust of the American people as the nation has become more increasingly polarized? Has modern journalism rejected presenting the truth and instead joined the corporate world of selling exaggerated stories to make a larger profit? Has the switch from paper news to television and computers played a part in political polarization? And finally, is the trust of the American people able to be retrieved over time?
The answer to these questions lies in the critical Supreme Court Case of Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Committee. In 2010, the supreme court ruled in a 5-4 vote that the federal government can not prohibit private funding of campaign ads and other forms of campaigning as it is protected under the first amendment right to free speech. One of the side effects of this decision was essentially that money became a legal equivalent to free speech, thus aiding the already polarized political climate. In turn, this created the Big Six.
The Big Six are the six major billionaire corporations that own 90% of the global media. The Big Six are AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, NewsCorp, and Viacom. These six companies have bought up most of the major independent news networks we know today such as FOX, CNN, and MSNBC. This means that all major news stories essentially come from six places. With only six outlets housing nearly all of the major national media this creates an influx in disinformation. Disinformation is mainly utilized to cause a reaction in readers and or viewers to increase the chances that they return to that media source for more news. In turn, the Big Six makes more money and Americans become increasingly hostile towards one another.
Luckily, today most Americans are aware of disinformation however they still subscribe to their media outlets of choice. For example, the majority of Republicans watch FOX news and the majority of Democrats watch CNN. For the younger generation, many people belonging to Generation Z get their news from social media such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. These apps curate specific content specific to the interests of the individual. For example a more left leaning teenager will only get content criticizing policies on the right and vice versa for a right leaning teenager. Without hearing both sides, Americans get sucked into one viewpoint.
The other problem with modern journalism and its effect on polarization is the actual way articles are written. Previously rules to journalism included clear and concise answers to the questions who, what, where, when, and why. Previous journalists were instructed to write a story that conveyed meaning without placing biases. If they were to include biases, they were supposed to give equal airtime to both sides of the story. One way in which they did this was through quotes. That way the audience knew the source was sharing their own viewpoint and they were less persuaded to subscribe to one narrative.
Today, the rules of journalism are much different. They are instructed to share stories that evoke emotions and sell papers, gain clicks, and views. Because of new age journalism, the news people receive diminishes trust in the free press and creates a population of skeptics, in which no one knows what news they can trust.
Whereas the media used to serve the people, it now serves a specific political agenda to raise funds and increase viewership and subscriptions. This seems to be a common issue. When a society is polarized, the truth does not matter, being right does. When being right trumps all else, the needs of the majority are suffocated under the needs of the minority, something our founding fathers warned against and sought to protect the nation from with the first amendment.
To conclude my civic issues blog on a more positive note, although it may seem some days like all hope is lost, culture is like a swinging pendulum, swinging from one side to the next. At some point, the pendulum will have to stop and the truth will prevail. But until that day, Americans have to hang tight and focus on what unifies us more than what divides us.
Sources:
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1-9-1/ALDE_00000395/#:~:text=First%20Amendment%3A,for%20a%20redress%20of%20grievances.
https://people.howstuffworks.com/freedom-of-the-press.htm
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture%20and%20Society/Muckraker
https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/citizens-united-v-fec/
I’ve really enjoyed reading your civic issues blogs this semester! For this one specifically, I totally agree that modern media greatly influences opinion formation within the nation, especially as polarization has been on the rise in recent years. Before reading this, I had heard of the Big Six before but I wasn’t sure which specific companies the group included, and now that I know, I can’t say I’m surprised. The monopoly they have on media is another impact of capitalistic structures and I truly believe that the government won’t function the way it was intended to until we decrease the amount of money in politics. As you hinted at, those with the financial resources to run their political campaigns and have rallies across the nation, and those who lack these resources are disenfranchised. Hopefully, we can reach a point where the glaring polarization is diminished and the country can function in the way it was meant to.
Hi Carolyn! This was probably my favorite civic blog post of yours. I think you asked and described incredibly prevalent questions and concerns currently plaguing the United States’ press. Overall I definitely disagree with the monopoly of that these 6 companies have over the press. Right now with the US government trying to ban tik tok one of the main platforms where people my age get news from, makes you wonder if freedom of press is really being kept. I also hope that truth prevails and once more we can have honest unbiased information however that seems far away from both sides of the isle. For example Fox News has to legally be called Fox New Entertainment after a number of lawsuits that have discredited them from being a factual news source. Hopefully the current Fox News Entertainment Lawsuit with Dominion might help us get back to honest news sources.