~~The News Media and The Internet ~~

1.) Does objectivity still exist in the media's coverage of politics? Of the major news outlets (CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, NPR, NBC, etc), which are the most objective and which seem to have the most bias?

Personally, I don't think a lot of objectivity is shown in the media coverage regarding politics. Most of the news I watch see either lean to the liberal side of things or the conservative side. There seems to be no in between, especially with our current government. Some news agencies blame the Republicans, saying they are unwilling to pass a budget unless it's stacked in their favor. Other news agencies blame the President for not working with the Republican house, and wanting the entire bill his way or he won't accept it. I haven't saw any good objective reporting on why this budget isn't passed. I think it's due to faults on both sides. Both sides need to give in on some of the issues, meet in the middle and work together toward putting a budget in place for this country. The citizens of the United States will be the one's who suffer over the budget issue, because it won't be the politicians who suffer when detrimental programs collapse due to lack of funding not being there. Our military will suffer and the overall safety of this country will suffer due to monies not being set aside. Our safety while flying will be put in jeopardy due to cutbacks in airport security personnel. There will be much needed program cutbacks, such as unemployment extensions, and this could quite possibly affect the loans and monies available to people who are attending school in order to further a career or change careers altogether. These are just a few of the things affected by having no budget passed and in place for this country.
When it comes to the major news outlets, I feel that most of them lean one way or the other. FoxNews is totally conservative. They lean to the right on everything they report. Rush Limbaugh is one of the main personalities associated with the Fox networks, and he is an extreme conservative. MSNBC reports more on the liberal side. I think NPR is more conservative biased. It used to be said they were on the liberal side, but in recent years the statistics even show they are more biased to the conservative way of thinking. If I had to pick a news outlet, I would have to say that I view CNN as being more "middle of the road" when it comes to reporting political stories and issues.

2.) How does talk radio (Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, etc.) affect your view of politics? Why?

I really don't have an "answer" one way or the other for this question because I honestly don't watch these type of Infotainment shows. So, in saying that, they don't affect my view on politics at all. In reading a little about these shows and what is covered on them and how it is covered I can see why they are able to sway people who watch them who really don't know what they need or want to do.It's hard for media to sway me on issues. I take an issue, such as gay rights, and think it through for myself and form my own opinion about it. Once that's done, it's hard to change my mind, because I'm more interested in looking into ways of solving the issue than I am the political parties involved and their right or left wing ideas. I, personally, want to see the issue worked on and resolved instead of turning it into a "party" issue.


3.)Is media objectivity important? Why or why not?

I believe media objectivity is very important. I think they should tell the stories based on the issues and not based on a certain parties perspective. America is a democracy and we all have the freedom to express our thoughts and ideas, which we do at the voting polls. However, I think some of the politicians are more in tune with the "party" name and reputation than solving the issues and the news media pounces on this in order to make a story.


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