PS 4165

January 28, 2016

Mass Media Paper #1: News Media

The news media does not do an adequate job of informing the public. While there are many
differing opinions on the subject, I hold firm in my opinion that in the modern age of media, the
news does not do their job as well as they should. Their job should be to inform the public, but
unfortunately, in large part thanks to media fragmentation, the news media has had to change
their goals and priorities leaving the public either not informed at all, or distracted and informed
with generally useless information. From research, we have seen that the public is ignorant, and
you could argue many reasons for why that is, but you cant deny that the news media is not the
best explanation for their ignorance because the news media not only fails to inform, but it also
fails to explain, fails to be objective, and fails to focus on the important issues. In this paper I
will discuss the evidence that shows why this is
Politics and world issue are complicated. Not even the most powerful government officials
can possibly know and understand everything that is going on in the world on any given day;
thats why they usually have such a large staff, why the president has so many advisors. Given
that, it is still important to at least have a general understanding or awareness about politics and
global current events; this is where the news comes into play. To adequately inform the public,
the news should be able to summarize the most important events, and put things into terms that
any person could understand because we still live in a democracy, and I believe we as citizens

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have a right to know what is happening so that we can use our democratic and constitutional
rights if we feel the need. This especially important when it comes to elections.
Michael Shudson wrote an article, Americas Ignorant Voters, where he uses a lot of
empirical evidence to show that Americans are ignorant and dont care as much about voting and
being a part of democracy as they used to, when there were Whiskey Parades and a lot of
fraternalistic public pride in voting. Shudson would argue that based on historical evidence, we
are no more ignorant than we have ever been, that ill-informed publics are just part of what
makes America unique. He said, Italians and Brazilians know more about the United States
than Americans know about their countries(Shudson, 18). This says it all. He uses a lot of facts
and figures that show how statistically other first world democratic, rich countries are much
more informed, not only about their own countries, but about America than we are; despite
writing earlier wrote in his paper that its not relevant to compare to other countries to prove
ignorance because we are so culturally different. However, I would argue that that is exactly
what we should be doing because one big reason why they know whats going on in the world
and Americans don't , is because their news media is much more effective. They dont have
networks like FOX News that are shamelessly biased towards the conservative side of the
political spectrum, or CNBC for the liberal side. They dont make entertainment a priority, they
have much more committed to inform news media outlets than America does. They dont waste
time arguing and debating about for example, Hilary Clinton uses tape to coral reporters, they
would use that air time to talk summarize for us what Clinton went there to speak about. Cleary
their method is working.

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One big difference also comparing us to European news media is that many of the countries
are not restricted by organization like the FCC, and are much more free to write based on what
they see. While they have gone through media fragmentation from technology in the same ways
we have, they have still some how been able to keep their informative status, while American
news decided they have to be flashy, entertaining, 24/7, and in many cases almost gossipy and
dramatic in order to keep the viewers attention. I don't doubt that there is some truth in that, but
there is nothing biological different between us and Europeans, at least not that would influence
how we receive good news media information. Yes, there are many cultural and historical
differences between us all, but what matters is that their public is informed and more importantly
has the capacity to be informed, and there is no scientific evidence that says Americans just cant
be informed, we just need the right news outlet to give us the information we need.
Another point that many people, including Shudson would bring up, is that there is a
certain, reasonable-ness to being politically ignorant. The American government is so
complicated that no one really knows who is in charge of what, so why the hassle? Ignorance is
bliss and its impossible to understand, so why try? This is a valid argument, except for the fact
that usually the people that make a conscious effort to not be informed are usually the people that
aren't going to have a hand in making big decisions about our country, these people probably
don't even vote at all, as is their right to do so, so in their case it doesnt matter if the new media
is ineffective. The problem comes with all of the people that do want to vote and be involved
with governmental decisions and they cant because their news media outlets they go to for
information are debating and speculating about Obama saluting with a coffee cup, and not any

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real news. So those voters are being primed by biased news about un-important information to
distract them from any real information or explanations.
In conclusion, the news media not only fails to inform, but it also fails to explain, fails to
be objective, and fails to focus on the important issues, resulting in a public that has become
more concerned the respectful-ness of a salute than the issues that political figures stand for and
the problems that are going in the world, that if the news keeps failing to report on, will start to
effect us, and no one will know how to deal with it. At this point, I think people need to stand up
and fight for their right to information and objectivity from our news media before we become
any more ignorant than we already are.

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