Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Interview with KUJH Producer
The goal of this interview is to research the credibility of
a young person within today’s media culture. I wanted to get information from
an expert who faces challenges of reporting without bias everyday and analyze
it. As a Producer and Reporter at KUJH, my interviewee had a lot of first-hand
experience with bias in the news.
My first encounter with my interviewee, Mary Kate Baker, was
in the KUJH News studio where I was interested in becoming a part of the KUJH
team. I did not end up pursuing a position with the staff, however, I did
acquire Mary Kate’s contact information for further questioning. I then,
reached out to her to conduct this interview.
Mary Kate Baker
The most interesting piece of information that I learned
from Mary Kate is the bias that KUJH challenges between the Greek community and
non-Greek community. At KU, it is such prominent organization, that KUJH has to
keep an unbiased opinion in regards to everything that has to do with Fraternal
life on campus. Although not as complex as say, Republicans and Democrats, it’s
still a challenge of bias and non-bias media that KUJH must balance.
In regards to balancing media bias on campus at the
University of Kansas, Mary Kate Baker has plenty of first-hand experience, and
is a very credible source when it comes to reporting for KUJH. However, when
considering political news media bias and real-world influences on large media
sources, she only has her opinion to give. Although it is interesting to hear,
and potentially more educated than the rest of us considering she is affluent
in the realm of media and reporting, the information is an opinion and can not
be deemed credible.
The follow-up questions I asked where short and gave more
clarity to the story Mary Kate was telling. For example, after telling me that
she was also a producer for KUJH, I then followed up asking her how many people
she oversaw. The story that I got from Mary Kate was one that summed up the
challenges faced by the media (no matter how small) to present the public with
news that is unbiased and truly shows each side of the story.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Utilizing the Freedom of Information
This post is intended to present readers with information
and data from a credible government source. The information I found is data
collected from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the Broadcasting
Board of Governors (BBG) and what they spend their money on. I intend on
evaluating this information with a critical eye for credibility along with any
bias towards certain networks that might stem from the investment of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors.
When searching for this information, I started with usa.gov,
a website that provides access to government information and agencies. I began
by searching for information based of my topic, bias in the media, and came
across the Freedom of Information Act. I followed the link to this site, coming
across data about the Broadcasting Board of Governors. After viewing this
sight, I found a PDF of the agency’s annual report. Below you can find the
links to all three of these sights:
The FOIA is a law enacted in 1966 to allow citizens the right
to view federal agency records. A request to view an agency record is available
to anyone at any time. Often time, people consider the Freedom of Information
Act the law that keeps “people in the know about their government”.
The Freedom of Information Act provided information about
the budget that is allotted to the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Over $202
million is given to the agency, all while $200 million is given to Voice of
America. The law also provided information that the Broadcasting Board of
Governors is exempted from providing “information that is prohibited from
disclosure by another federal law”.
This document is very credible considering that it is a
result of the government’s inability to withhold information from citizen’s if
requested, unless the information falls under one of nine exemptions listed
under the Freedom of Information Act. A quarterly report, one from the
beginning of 2015 would make this document more credible, however, the annual
report gives a larger, better overview of the Broadcasting Board of Governors
actions. This document provides me with a reassurance that the government is withheld
to a certain standard of being unbiased and providing true information to the
public. However, I am now curious how media portrays this government
information.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
The Effects of Media Bias Study and Survey: Credible?
Media bias is very prevalent among leading new sources in
the United States. A study and survey distributed by two professors at
California State University Northridge found that newspapers have a significant
influence on public opinion regarding the angle in which the news is displayed
by certain newspapers with commonly known bias. The article, titled The Effects of Media Bias was completed
by August John Hoffman and Julie Wallach, and published March 7, 2007. A link
to the article can be found below:
According to the authors, the study found that people who
were exposed to photographs that had a significant bias towards one
presidential candidate over the other, tended to believe that particular bias.
The participants used identified themselves as moderate and were given
questions to ensure that was the case, to avoid participant bias. Both liberals
and conservatives argued on behalf of eliminating media bias.
The participants included undergraduate students who
attended California State University Northridge and Compton Community College.
Students varied in age, race, however, they were all enrolled in an
introductory psychology course in which they received credit. Geographical
information on individual participants was not mentioned.
The study claims to represent a college student demographic,
however, the study is limited by the fact that these are students located
solely in California, and students who enrolled in an introductory psychology
class were the only ones interviewed.
The questions the participants were asked to complete
included many agree/disagree style questions on media bias in news outlets.
Other questions were open-ended and required a written answer. For example:
1)
Absolutely do not agree 2) Somewhat disagree 3) Impartial
4) Somewhat agree 5) Absolutely
agree
1.
I believe that Saddam Hussein was harboring
Weapons of Mass Destruction _________
2.
I believe other countries around the world do
not like the U.S. ________
Based on the questions, this questionnaire was very
straight-forward. It would be difficult to misinterpret any of the questions
solely because the participants were shown a picture, then told to answer the
questions based solely on the previous picture. The study was intended to
measure bias in news outlets and its effects on the public.
This survey and study is somewhat credible, and based on the
questionnaire has an unbiased approach among the questions. However, in order
to become a more credible source for information on the effects of media bias,
the study needs to find a larger and more random sample of participants to
gather more generalized results.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Specific Issues with Specific Bias
- In an article release by the New Republic, there was a study done that found that Conservatives are no more scientifically biased than their Liberal counterparts. The study found that intense, polarizing media attention depresses public confidence in the scientific community for both political ideologies.
- Fox News Video reports on the lack of reporting on Boko Haram as a legitimate problem in South Sudan. It is only until they pledge their allegiance to ISIS that the media coverage significantly increased.
- In a story that ran online, FoxNews.com reports on the commemorative march on Selma earlier this month, and the bias in the New York Times. The photograph that is under criticism cropped out, Republican president George W. Bush and his wife Laura, who were among the many people in the front row of the march.
Monday, March 9, 2015
WorldNetDaily: Information Hotspot
WND, formerly known as WorldNetDaily, is a service provider
that supplies readers with news, containing uncompromised journalism with a
focus in exposing the corruption of power. They aim to stimulate an open debate
about independent ideas facing the world by aggressively reporting on current
events.
The WND has a staff of 25 members, however there wasn’t an
official statement of an annual report given out by the company. It was
explained that the company began with a backing of $4.5 million in 1999, from
investors.
WND competes with major mainstream media while attempting to
maintain an independent and credible news source for viewers.
Founded by Joseph Farah in 1997, he remains the
Editor-in-Chief with David Kupelian as the Managing Editor and Joe Kovacs as
the News Editor. Their annual compensations were not found.
The company is a very credible site for news and gaining an
understanding of current events, such as developing stories on the Brian
Williams incident. WND would certainly give audience another viewpoint on moral
and political issues, that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by the more
popular, more biased mainstream media.
This entity tries to maintain an unbiased
portrayal of the news, however, there is no such thing. They identify under the
political ideology as neoconservative/libertarian, and therefore present their
information and findings in that light as well, most likely disregarding
information presenting Liberal ideologies in a positive light.
For more information, contact:
Washington, D.C. (Corporate Office, Marketing, Mr. Farah,
Mrs. Farah)
2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #351
Washington, DC 20006
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/contact-wnd/#VXqMfIJQ2VmkEYMk.99
2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #351
Washington, DC 20006
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/contact-wnd/#VXqMfIJQ2VmkEYMk.99
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