Introduction
The media is an important function of democracy in any society. Any country requires that its media is unbiased to facilitate democracy. An unbiased media ensures that all reports, regardless of their nature and scope, are presented to the audience with careful evaluation of both sides of the narrative. Freedom of the press is a fundamental aspect of human rights and ensures a public authority to check and balance the government when and if it does something wrong. However, full impartiality is not a given with the media. There is a likelihood of political affiliation among the individual media members as they are likely to be inclined to one side more than the other. The inherent bias among people is to be anticipated, however, the internal bias among individuals should not affect their reporting.
Bias in Media
The problem occurs when the bias is not just in individuals but entire media institutions. The spreading of bias among these institutions means that gathering and reporting of news are bound to occur from a particular standpoint. It causes challenges because events like the storming of the Capitol after the 2020 elections should be criminal activity. Still, Fox News and other right-wing outlets defended these individuals by stating that they were expressing their frustrations. Such action indicates a lack of acceptance of the election outcome, and this sentiment could foster hostility and violence in the nation. It could incentivize individuals to express bigotry and other discriminatory activities. The presence of biased media, right-wing media, in particular, poses a significant challenge to the democracy of any nation.
Consumption of Right-Wing Media and Polarization
The consumption of right-wing media results in polarization and selective exposure to events as they occur in the country or globally. DiMaggio set out to consider the effects of viewing what is considered left-wing media in the form of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News (171). The latter is considerable right-wing media. Di Maggio sought to assess the formation of either conservative or liberal ideologies in either or both of these types of media (172). The research was done via an analysis of Pew Research data available from 2014 to 2016. After conducting a regression analysis based on the data, the findings indicated little evidence of polarization or selective exposure to news. In essence, the people who watched what could be considered liberal left-wing news were not polarized by the events they witnessed. Neither was there evidence of the viewers becoming more left-wing inclined nor the news station selectively reporting the news.
The implication is that CNN and MSNBC were unbiased news outlets that had some sense of objectivity while reporting events. The viewers were also more neutral. However, regarding statistical findings on Fox News, the results were the opposite. DiMaggio found evidence of selective exposure to the news through collecting and reporting information and political polarization (172). The implication is that Fox News is a biased news outlet that selectively reports events in a light that will favor right-wing politics or right-wing politicians. The result of this mode of reporting is that it causes polarization in the viewers. They become more included in believing in right-wing politicians as opposed to understanding both sides of the debate. DiMaggio finds a commonality between these findings and the generally held consensus that right-wing news audiences are more insular and the media they prefer consuming is more self-reinforcing than their left-wing counterparts (172). The media thereafter has measurable effects on their political ideologies. Consequently, the consumption of right-wing media causes polarization and selective exposure to national or global events.
Effect on Immigration Policies
The consumption of right-wing media heavily influences the nature of policies that the consumers of this media feel should be applied. As seen in the previous paragraph, DiMaggio demonstrates how right-wing media consumers prefer self-reinforcing news outlets (172). Further, the paragraph indicates how right-wing media consumption leads to polarization and selective reporting. The same polarization occurs in light of government policies that right-wing individuals are likely to favor, further illustrating the negative implications of consuming right-wing media. A study by Hoewe et al. sought to review the nature of policies that individuals consuming right-wing media would favor, particularly policies aimed at migrants and refugees in the United States (2042). The researchers’ work was guided by the reinforcing spirals model and analyzed two sets of survey data collected. The data was controlled for demographics, political ideology, and other news use. The overall findings from the data were that the consumption of Fox News resulted in a specific outcome for policy preferences regarding migration and refugees. Individuals who reported watching Fox News as their main news outlet wanted stricter policies directed at immigrants and refugees. However, the same was not seen with individuals who use MSNBC or CNN as their main news outlets.
The findings showed that Foxnews.com published fewer stories on immigrants than refugees relative to CNN.com. The few stories on Foxnews.com regarding immigrants emphasized the context of authority, control, and subversion while deemphasizing the aspect of care for these migrants and refugees (Hoewe et al. 2042). The findings imply that Fox News is creating and reinforcing the attitudes and beliefs of its consumers on immigration policy. No similar relationship was found with any other news channel. There is an element of bias and bigotry in this type of news reporting because consumers of Foxnews.com prefer that migrants and refugees are not admitted into the country. Migrants and refugees often stem from the minority communities (Tully et al. 211). The findings indicate that the consumption of right-wing media influences the nature of the policies that consumers prefer, especially when it comes to migration and refugee policies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the consumption of right-wing media poses a significant challenge to democracy in the United States and other countries. The best exemplification of the dangers posed by right-wing biased media is through the consumption of Fox News, considered a right-wing news outlet, and other news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC considered left-wing news outlets. The findings indicate that the consumption of right-wing news outlets results in polarization and selective exposure to domestic and global events. The implication is that Fox News tends to select the type of information placed in their reporting and that the individuals who consume Fox News tend to become polarized due to the selective reporting of events in a manner that appears to favor or threaten pre-conceived political notions. Further, the consumption of right-wing media causes a shift in the policies that individuals favor, particularly those discussing migration and refugee status. The consumption of Fox News results in individuals preferring stricter policies directed at immigrants, while no such effect exists for individuals consuming CNN or MSNBC. Overall, biased media, particularly right-wing media, threatens any democracy globally.
Works Cited
DiMaggio, Anthony. “Slanting the News: Media Bias and Its Effects.” Oxford Academic, 2019, pp. 153-190.
Hoewe, Jennifer, et al. “The Relationship Between Fox News Use and American’s Policy Preferences Regarding Refugees and Immigrants. “International Journal of Communication Vol. 14, 2020, pp. 2036-2056.
Tully, Melissa, Emily K. Vraga, and Anne-Bennett Smithson. “News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news.” Journalism. Vol. 21 No. 2 (2020): 209-226.