Thursday, September 27, 2007

Do Partisan Newspapers Result in a More Informed Public?

One major complaint about the media today, is the lack of objectivity. More and more newspapers and media outlets appear to have either a left or right slant. FOX News, for example, is a very conservative news outlet. CNN has been accused of having a more liberal stance, as has the New York Times.

Our nation is more divided along partisan lines than ever. The goal of most newspapers is to maintain unbiased, objective reporting, but would people actually benefit from a partisan press?

The British press is primarily partisan. There is a spectrum of partisan newspapers, from the Mirror on the far left to the Sun on the far right. Two of the most popular hard news publications are the Guardian and the Telegraph. The Guardian has a liberal slant while the Telegraph is more conservative.

British journalists tend to be tougher and more agressive in their reporting tactics. However, there is less in depth research. Standards for accuracy are not as high as those in the United States, and therefore the credibility is lower.

Despite having media outlets that are more in tune with their views, the British public still reads tabloid news, such as the Sun and the Mirror, two to three times more than they read hard news.

Simply providing people with news that is reported from their political viewpoint will not get them interested. Media outlets still need to find a way to make the American public to stand up and pay attention.

(**Information for this blog was taken from my Mass Media and Politics class)

No comments: