Introduction
The extreme video being a classic example of bias and propaganda is chosen from the CNN archive of the year 2015. The video demonstrates political debates hold in Simi Valley, California in autumn, 2015. The video is shot in such a way that it makes the wide public think that Donald Trump is the strongest candidate among all his competitors. From Henningsen (2015), it is understandable that CNN activity is not for free or even, more impressive, no one can be sure that Donald Trump does not own CNN through some of his counterfeits.
Main body
In any case, in the video under consideration, the channel represents Trump as an outstanding candidate while in 2015, Trump was a sure outsider of the presidency marathon with Hillary Clinton being an obvious leader. The effect is achieved through immense efforts by Jake Tapper, a prominent CNN host. The person manipulates the debate in such a way that Trump keeps on looking better at the background of his competitors. Such attitude is undoubtedly biased, and moreover, at times, the entire show looks as if it is propaganda. The following comment by Henningsen (2015), eloquently demonstrates the whole detestation of what was shown that day in CNN translation: “Instead of using real public opinion as a gauge, the media mafia, just like in a Las Vegas boxing match, made the necessary moves behind the scenes to tilt the playing field in favor of the weaker candidates” (para. 7). The readers may notice that Henningsen pulls no punches regarding the events of that day and calls CNN “the media mafia”, no more and no less. Truly speaking, what other wording can be chosen to describe such unprofessional behavior. It is no wonder that this channel continues to lose its trust among the audience both in the United States and worldwide.
Discussion
I am confident that media ethics applies to social media because social media refers to media the same as journals, magazines, TV channels, radio channels, and any other kinds of contemporary means of information distribution among the wide public (Lachman, 2013). Therefore, social media should follow the same rules as other media including the accuracy of the information presented, information veracity and validity, fairness, ethical rules of information distribution, unbiased attitude, absence of propaganda, and censorship to avoid abusive or obscene speech (Lachman, 2013). Moreover, the same standards as for the general media should be spread on social media in terms of demonstration of the photo material. Besides, the standards of content quality including the appealing method of presentation should also refer to the activity of people engaging in information distribution through social media.
Conclusion
Today, social media has officially become a part of the general media in many countries (Lachman, 2013). For instance, in Belarus, Hungary, and Poland, social media blogs are considered to be official media if the number of their regular visitors reaches the peak of five thousand. At that, when a social media blog acquires the status of official media, the whole scope of regulating legislative standards begins to apply to it. Similar regulations for obtaining the status of media by the representatives of social media are currently developed and introduced in dozens of countries worldwide including France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Australia, Japan, New Zeeland, Russia, and many more.
References
Henningsen, P. (2015). CNN poli-tricks: How the masters of propaganda ‘fixed’ their GOP debate. 21st Century Wire. Web.
Lachman, V. D. (2013). Social media: managing the ethical issues. Social Work, 22(5), 326-35.