Media Bias: Liberal and Conservative Bias

Today one of the bigger outlets that people learn bias from is the media. Writers use the media to desensitize the viewers to certain hot topics. The media is also used by writers to feed the viewers political ideas and values. Every form of media has some form of political biases. A few examples of this is television, movies, social media like Facebook, and the news. Media shows both liberal and conservative bias depending media outlet.

Television shows demonstrate both liberal and conservative biases. This largely depends on the network the show airs on. For example, shows like “Lethal Weapon” (Santiago) and “Last Man Standing” are centered around conservative values. These are on typically more conservative based networks such as Fox. There are more liberal based networks such as CBS and ABC. Shows that appear on here that are more liberal based are “Black-ish” (Santiago) and “Madam Secretary.” These shows are just examples as are the networks. There are some shows that are the outliers for networks. Such as “NCIS” (Santiago) being more conservative on CBS and “Family Guy” being more liberal on Fox. There are some shows like “The Simpsons” that shows neither is predominately conservative nor liberal values. It demonstrates both values and makes fun of both.

Movies are similar, but the political bias is not based on company ownership. Nonetheless, the bias is still noticeable. Movies centered around conservative values focus on things like faith, military, and other basic values such as pro-life. Movies like “Juno” and “Knocked Up” (IMBD) are easily interpreted as centered around liberal values. However, since they focus on the women keeping the unborn child instead of aborting the child. These movies are centered around the pro-life value which is one of the key values of the Conservative Party. “The Chronicles of Narnia” (IMBD) series demonstrates faith throughout the movies (and the books they are based on). The lion, Aslan, is written and demonstrates Jesus. The witch, in the first movie, “runs a godless, oppressive, paranoid regime” (IMBD). Aslan helps lead the war against her, after being willingly killed and coming back to life later. The first movie is a clear representation of the New Testament. Then there are the movies centered around the military. Movies such as “Heartbreak Ridge” (IMBD) and “Saving Private Ryan.” The movie “300” was released during the Bush administration and the Iraqi war (IMBD). When there were rarely any movies showing our soldiers, this movie was released and shows the courageous men that fight for their country against all odds. Sounds familiar to what American soldiers were going through. Today, more and more movies of things that soldiers were going through during the wars in the Middle East. Movies like “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” and “Lone Survivor.” Movies centered around liberal values are typically more about the environment, feminism, and corruption in the government. Movies centered around the environment such as “Bio-Dome” and “Avatar” (IMBD) seem to focus on people destroying the environment and how to better the environment. Movies like “Brave” and “The Princess and the Frog” (IMBD) focus around feminism the main characters are strong female figures for young girls that show them that women do not need men to achieve their dreams and desires. One very good example of corruption is “The Wolf on Wallstreet” (IMBD). Movies show political biases across the board and is a great way for the biases to be spread to the masses.

Another great way that political biases are spread is through social media. Social media spreads everything and not usually in a good way. Everyone shares everything, good and bad. Social media is rampant with political biases both conservative and liberal. The two pictures above are just examples of what is all over social media. Their bias is clear. The picture on the left of Hillary Clinton shows an example of conservative bias. The picture on the right of President Trump shows an example of liberal bias. It’s interesting that both demonstrate the person aiming a gun. It strikes an unforgettable image into the viewer and instills anger and hatred. Facebook, Twitter, and all the others show images and posts like these nonstop. They help fuel the discord in America. When this is all people see they form a huge distrust in their government. Many people get their news from social media. They believe that what they see is how it is in real life. The same goes for the news channels.

The news is the biggest outlet where one sees political biases. One cannot watch a minute of the news without being subjected to political bias. The news is all about ratings and people love to see the negative. More and more often news channels show more and more negative stories and even fake news. However, that is just a small part of the news and not political bias. As these pictures above demonstrate there are news channels that are predominately liberal and those that are conservative. The most popular liberal news channels are CNN and MSNBC. The Most popular conservative channels Fox News. These are on the national level. However, on the local level, there are only liberal news networks. Fox News is steeped with conservative values and bias. During the 2016 election, it was heavily anti-Clinton all one would see was bad things about Clinton and more good things about Trump. It was the exact opposite for news channels like CNN and MSNBC. It has only continued since then. For the foreseeable future, it will continue to be this way.

Throughout all of the mediums, there are political biases. In all the mediums they show liberal and conservative biases. American people cannot turn to anything without seeing political, and social, biases. This will only lead to more discord and distrust between the American people and the American government. In the future, it is hopeful that this will stop so the American people may trust their government again. 

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