I have worked for a widowed octogenarian for about 4 years now just doing her housework and gardening. We are very close and she is a good friend of mine, but she watches Fox News. It is a clear and unspoken rule that we leave political conversation light and agreeable because we know that we won't agree on a single major issue. Sometimes we break this rule and when she starts spouting her opinion I hear Fox News in her words. Clearly, a media outlet like Fox is influencing her ideas just like NPR influences what I say.
But then there is other side of the coin. If I didn't possess many of the same biases as my particular news outlet, then would I listen to what they say? The answer is, "probably not." I try to balance myself out sometimes by mixing conservative talk radio in with my NPR... It's infuriating. I yell and scream and shout at the radio. "HOW? HOW? HOW can you BELIEVE that?" or "WHY? Why on Earth did you treat that caller with such disrespect? That's not fair." or simply "sigh..."
There is a positive feedback loop. The news tries to draw in a niche audience because attempting to appeal to all viewers would be incredibly difficult. If a news outlet creates an image that a certain type of person feels comfortable with then that person will follow that news source. In return the news outlet feeds listeners the biases they want to hear.
So, to pin the blame entirely on the media outlet is unfair. While the expectation of a media outlet is to be unbiased, anyone you ask will tell you that there is no such thing as an unbiased news source. Yes, a media outlet has an agenda: to keep their viewership and increase their influence, but a news outlet's desire to really report on news for increasing knowledge or informing the public is secondary to the reality of increasing profit margins and market share.
The answer to this question, "How might the goals of a media outlet affect their audience's knowledge?" is a complicated one. News media wants to keep its viewers so it must stay true to its perceived code if it wishes to do this. At the same time viewers crave media that they feel most aligns with their ideals. It's a complicated mixture of what the providers and consumers expect to receive from media.
There is a positive feedback loop. The news tries to draw in a niche audience because attempting to appeal to all viewers would be incredibly difficult. If a news outlet creates an image that a certain type of person feels comfortable with then that person will follow that news source. In return the news outlet feeds listeners the biases they want to hear.
So, to pin the blame entirely on the media outlet is unfair. While the expectation of a media outlet is to be unbiased, anyone you ask will tell you that there is no such thing as an unbiased news source. Yes, a media outlet has an agenda: to keep their viewership and increase their influence, but a news outlet's desire to really report on news for increasing knowledge or informing the public is secondary to the reality of increasing profit margins and market share.
The answer to this question, "How might the goals of a media outlet affect their audience's knowledge?" is a complicated one. News media wants to keep its viewers so it must stay true to its perceived code if it wishes to do this. At the same time viewers crave media that they feel most aligns with their ideals. It's a complicated mixture of what the providers and consumers expect to receive from media.
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