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Kevin E. Magee
Media & Society
September 30, 2003
Stage #2: Research Project Proposal with Support
Title: Understanding Media Bias in the News and its Affect on Presidential
Campaigns and Elections
Thesis: The media’s biased coverage and reporting of presidential
elections has an extremely large influence on the outcome of elections
due to inaccurate polling, selective reporting, and detrimental
labeling of candidates pursing a position in public office.
Issue: Was the Media’s coverage of the 2000 Presidential
Election campaign fair or was it biased?
Whether the media was fair or biased during the 2000 Presidential
Election campaign is a very important question for both media and
society to ask. If the media cannot be trusted to give a fair and
accurate account of events taking place on the campaign trail,
how can society form an educated judgment about their country’s
future leader? The fact is both media and society are dependent
on each other and with out the other, neither exist peacefully.
Today’s society needs the media to be an unbiased source
of news and reporting so they can: one, form a knowledgeable opinion
on the issues that face society today and two, have another source
of information besides the government. On the other hand, the media
needs society to trust them; that they will offer a fair and balanced
view of the world’s events and give them another outlet than
just government issued news. This type of codependent relationship
hangs on the principle that both sides do their jobs. If one party
does something to break that bond, then the relationship will never
be the same until they work together to fix the brokenness. In
a recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll, it was found that 36% of Americans
believe the media present a fair and accurate account of the news.
This is a little over one third of the country that trusts the
media. In this case, both sides have some work to do. Society needs
to be able to trust in the news networks again and news networks
need to show they are worthy of society’s trust.
This is also important to today’s media and society because campaigns for
the 2004 Election have already begun. This question’s urgency is vital
now more than ever so both party’s will be ready to make a very important
decision come election day.
Both Sides of the Issue:
There is a sizeable group of the nation’s public which believes the media
presents a fair and accurate look at the news. There are even more Americans
who think that it would be hard for the media to present a completely unbiased
report of the news but that they do the best they can and society cannot ask
anything more. There are many sources to back this point of view up but it is
also easy to understand why some American’s wouldn’t agree. Some
feel that any piece of information reported, which is different from their point
of view, is biased. This viewpoint is expected but not necessarily valid.
On the other hand, there is a large group of American society, as well as media,
that believes there is a large liberal tilt in media coverage whether dealing
with elections or the everyday occurrence of events. This side also has a valid
point and must, at least, be looked at due to the different organizations formed
just to combat such claims of biased news such as the Fox News Network and the
Media Research Center.
Both sides of this issue raise valid points and need to be jointly assessed to
gain a fair and balanced view of the issue itself. One cannot solely point fingers
but must take into account facts on both sides of the fence.
Outline:
I. Introduction of Topic
A. Explanation of Bias In Media Coverage
of
Presidential Elections
1. Presentation of both sides
2. Statistics to support both sides
B. Timeline of 2000 Presidential Election
Campaign
II. Examples of Biased Presidential Election Coverage
A. Polls
B. Labeling
C. Selective Reporting
III. Comentary of Biased Presidential Election Coverage
A. Books
B. Articles
C. Web Sites
D. Downloadable Video Interviews
IV. References
V. Further Readings
VI. Websites of Interest
Bibliography:
- Bozell III, L.B. (2000, March 30). Infinite Scandals, Infinite
- Apathy.Retrieved September 26, 2003 from the Campaign 2000
Media Reality Check Web site: https://secure.
mediaresearch.org/columns/news/col20000330.html
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- Bozell III, L.B. (2003, September 10). 20 Years
of Bias:
- Network anchors are captains whose ships list left. Retrieved
September 29, 2003 from the Media Research Center Web site:http://www.mediaresearch.org
/oped/2003/wsj20030910.asp
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- Dennis, E.E. & Merrill, J.C. (2002). Media Debates:
Great
- Issues for the Digital Age (3 ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth/ Thomson
Learning.
- Goldberg, B. (2001). Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the
- Media Distort the News. Washington, DC: Regnery.
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- Jackson, J. (1999, September/October). Gore, AIDS and
- Greed:Media blow the first issue of the campaign. Retrieved
September 29, 2003 from the FAIR Web site:http://www.fair.org/extra/9909/gore-aids.html
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- McGowan, W. (2001). Coloring The News. San
- Francisco:Encounter.
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- Saveri, A. (2003, May 28). Trust in Media Slips. Retrieved
- September 29, 2003 from the Future of Entertainment Web
site:http://blogger.iftf.org/Games/000081.html
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- Solomon, N. (2000, November 9). Arrogance of TV
- Networks: Compounding A National Crisis. Retrieved September 22, 2003 from the FAIR Web site: http://www.fair.org/media-beat/001109.html
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- Wright, K. (2000, September 29). Media Out to Lunch on
- Gore's Big Gay Shift. Retrieved September 26, 2003 from the Campaign 2000 Media Reality Check Web site: https://secure.mediaresearch.org/ news/reality/2000/Fax20000929.html
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- (2003, September 22). U.S. presidential election, 2000.
- Retrieved September 26, 2003 from the Wikipedia Web site: http://www.wikipedia.org/ wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2000#Primaries
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