8. Mainstream media does not provide viewers with the appropriate background information or alternative viewpoints

When this past November rolled around I couldn’t wait to vote. I’d spent a lot of my time trying to educate myself about the important issues this election and about the campaigns both candidates were running. I wanted to make sure that I was taking my right to vote seriously. I considered what I was doing to prepare for my first time voting in a presidential election above and beyond. However after spending the semester learning about how bias the news media is I wondered if my preparation had been all in vain. How could I cut through the manufactured public relations BS and the political jargon to insure that I was educated on the issues and that I was getting ALL of the facts?

After this semester I’ve learned that nothing is wrapped up in more confusing and misleading packaging by the media than politics. This very fact was so clear to Postman that he dedicated an entire chapter to it in his book. In Reach out and Elect Somone Postman reminds the readers how invigorating politics was prior to the invention of television. People were content and in fact willing to site and listen to future president Abe Lincoln speak for hours without distraction (125). These day candidates must sell themselves in as few words as possible in order to get elected. Postman argues that the use of television in politics takes the focus away from the actual issues and it places it on how well a candidate can come across in a little more than a sound byte.

Media and Society also gave this topic an entire chapter because there was so much to cover. According to Media and Society a candidates most important campaign tips is to use the media for everything (pg 233). With this concept in mind it’s not hard to see how America elected a president that ended up leaving the white house with an all time low approval rating. When our country elected Bush in 2004 the media and its coverage were directly linked to the success of the Bush campaign. However this time around more and more people were conducting their own research and taking the time to educate themselves on the candidates instead of letting the new and their packaged stories do it for them.


I can’t think of a better example of limited viewpoints and one sided coverage than the coverage of the 9/11 attacks. As the country rebuilt and more and more facts began to come out, the media refused to acknowledge any other viewpoint than the one they had initially reported on. I used the same clip that Kat used when she presented in class. In my opinion this is one of the more researched and credible 9/11 videos out there.