Infotainment and Its Impact on Elections

The news media has the power to shape not only what people believe, but also the outcomes of our elections at all levels. As citizens grow up and become more in tune with what is going on politically, they begin to form opinions on pressing issues that contribute to their party identification. When this happens, they will tune in to a specific news network and will have a hard time watching or reading anything presented by anyone else. News networks feed into ideological biases by presenting information that will appeal to its viewers. If they don’t, they will lose viewers, lose money, and fail. News networks have to gain and maintain an audience to stay in business, so their only option is to give the people what they want to hear. Described as infotainment, the media looks to entertain just as much as it looks to inform, and I think we can all agree that with Trump in office it is easy to find an entertainment value from either his supporters or doubters. If Fox were to present something criticizing Trump’s view on tax reform, it would lose viewers and lose money. Since Fox portrays Trump’s view on tax reform as appropriate, those who agree with his ideas on tax reform will watch Fox, grow more and more conservative, and learn to disagree more and more with liberal beliefs. It is hard to imagine what a non-biased report would even look like, but if there were one, would a viewer even be able to see it as neutral?

There is no arguing that there are biased reports every day on all news media stations, but are our brains so wired to see something that may be factual, as actually biased in the opposing party’s favor?

In a 2017 NBC News poll (typically liberal leaning), 78% of Fox News watchers supported Trump’s job in office while only 18% of MSNBC watchers supported it. In 2014, 63% of Americans believed the news media was either too liberal or too conservative, while only 34% thought it was “just about right.” Studies show that extreme Democrats and Republicans can read the exact same news accounts, but still believe the information presented is biased against their favored positions. So as networks gain the reputation for being politically biased, they determine the way their viewers perceive information given to them. And with Fox News being the most watched network if 2016, it is no surprise that Trump came out victorious in the election.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/trumps-address-to-congress/choose-your-news-how-viewers-different-news-outlets-see-trump-n726241

6 Responses to "Infotainment and Its Impact on Elections"

Jacob Weis says:

March 20, 2018 at 11:28 am

TIm,

Great post, you raised some points worth talking about. I thought your statement about News networks feeding into ideological biases by presenting information that will appeal to its viewers was spot on. These News Medias are centered around money just as many other companies are. Without the people tuning these medias would not exist. This is an important thing to consider as you interpret the information that they are portraying. With this in mind, you can begin to understand why a lot of times what we call bias in the media is really just choices in the context. In an ideal world news media would report all the facts rather than picking and choosing what to present to the public.
Elizabeth Curland says:

March 20, 2018 at 12:32 pm

Tim,

I enjoyed your post – specifically your reference to FoxNews. I recently read an article that described a Standford economist’s study on Fox News and the influence it has on the political attiudes of it’s viewers. The study aimed to conclude whether or not watching Fox News could directly cause viewers to have a rightward shift in their political beliefs. This study estimated that without FoxNews, the Republican presidential candidates’ share of the two-party votes would have been 3-6 points lower in the 2004 and 2008 elections.

Now, I’m certainly skeptical on how reliable this study could actually be, especially since it’s very difficult to measure the direct affect that media outlets have on individuals’ behavior. However, one thing I’m certain of is that Fox News, along with other prominent news outlets, is a critically important agent of American politics. News outlets are doing much more than serving a “watch dog” role – they’re heavily reshaping American public opinion.
Isabella Brown says:

March 20, 2018 at 8:46 pm

Timothy,

You wrote a compelling article on the state of our news media and its effect on today’s political attitude. A key point that Jacob mentioned refers to the media’s ultimate goal of profit maximization. That being said, they strategically choose to be on the extreme sides of the political spectrum because it’s the most profitable for them. Strategically picking and choosing stories and presenting them through a frame that serves their agenda keeps their audience turnout high and therefore their profits. A lot of people think that they have to agree with everything the major news source states or poses a stance on because it aligns with their political party. Therefore, these news sources are shaping people’s political attitudes. This fuels the very divisive attitude between partisan lines and causes a mindset where the people are naturally inclined to think an article is written with bias against their view. A recent politico article suggests that this partisan divide has become so strong that Americans cannot even agree on the definition of “fake news.” Democrats lean towards a definition meaning “fabricated news stories that are intended to deceive” whereas Republicans believe it has more to do with Trump’s use of the term in which “he often tags on stories that he dislikes, regardless of whether or not they are factual.” With news consumers becoming so divided based on partisan lines, it’s troubling to see where the future of our media is heading.

Sources: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/16/americans-fake-news-study-339184
Sara Milano says:

March 21, 2018 at 12:21 pm

I think you’re making an interesting point that a lot of political scientists and journalists have picked up on. Political blocs are becoming more extreme and self enforcing. We seek out ideas, consciously or not, that agree with views we already have. As everything in the media we come into contact with confirms our opinions, we become less open to dialogue or new ideas. Additionally, the media recognizes that dry stories about tax policy or the nitty gritty of healthcare reform do not attract viewership. Thus, the media presents itself as a glorified TMZ report on politicians, especially today when our President and his colleagues behave as politicians never have before. This is why emotional or flashy accounts of stories are presented. For example, DACA isn’t about a legal path to immigration for undocumented people, it’s about “dreamers” and personal stories of contributing societal members who were tragically deported or taken from their family.
James Hulbert says:

March 21, 2018 at 2:36 pm

Tim,

Thank you for your relevant and compelling post. So many children in America today grow up in households where the same news channel is viewed daily. The dangers of this include, as you mentioned, news networks influencing your political identity and in turn election outcomes. My main rebuttal to this post would be the note that we concluded class with on 3/21, and that is that there is little to no academic evidence that news is inherently biased. The fact of the matter is, journalism “doesn’t exist without facts (or else it is generally known as “fiction.” (NBC NEWS) Of course commentary specials on news networks are going to be biased because that is an individual sharing his or her opinion, but straight news is straight news. I would also argue that the statistics in the polls are a whole separate problem. Polling itself is very inconsistent. Representatives from polling companies reach out to people at certain times and through certain mediums (phone, internet) that make the data skewed and biased. Regardless, I had not heard the word “infotainment” and I think it is a perfect word to describe the mainstream news channels today. I think almost all American’s can agree that coverage on politics has recently been both entertaining and amusing. Keep it up!
Calum Johnson says:

March 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm

Timmy,

Your blog post brings up many interesting points on the idea of infotainment. As the internet is expanding the market for these various news stations as well as more independent news outlets, infotainment is becoming faster and more involved in our lives. This has caused even further strategies into how to reel in viewers, learning their preferences and what they are most attracted to. This leads to even more deconstructive information that gears into the viewpoints of the viewers. One extreme case of someone figuring out viewer preference is the most recent Facebook scandal, where using a quiz app, Aleksandr Kogan was able to figure out the preferences of around 50 million Facebook users. The internet has created a platform where the idea of using stories to rope in viewers is growing and growing.

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-in-three-paragraphs/556046/

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