Politics, Bias and Media

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Politics, Bias and Media

There are so many topics that can be covered by media houses worldwide, but what the media house chooses to be aired out is determined by the kind of audience they are targeting. The media has no power to change what you think about a particular news headline, but it can make you weigh what is worth being aired. In this essay, a comparison between BBC News and New York Times on how they put out news will be discussed.

Agenda setting and priming

In terms of agenda-setting and priming, the topics given the most coverage differ in every media channel. For instance, on the BBC home page, the stories that have been given more coverage are political news from all parts of the globe, but the top headline is about us sanctions on Russia. BBC tries to cover news from all sectors, but they have not paid attention to what is trending globally, like the coronavirus vaccination. In the New York Times case, from the home page, it is evident that the media channel focuses most on the news related to the united states, unlike in BBC news. The topics leading in the home page are about the US sanctions on Russia and the covid-19 vaccination. In the New York times, political news is given more coverage than other news.

Framing

Comparing how the two media houses cover the issue of united states sanctions on Russia, the style of news coverage is different for the two. In BBC News, the format in which they have used to cover the information is very appealing because they have used subtopics to help the reader read effectively. In the New York times, the information has been presented in a prose form that can be very discouraging. In most cases, people prefer to read multiple short topics than one massive topic. In the BBC news cover story, they have highlighted how the Russian government has responded to the sanctions, unlike in the New York Times, where they have concentrated much on explaining why the united states have put the sanctions.

Bias

In terms of media bias, the New York times can be considered biased because of how it has covered the story. The media house has focused on showing why Russia has faced the sanctionS and how US-Russia relations have not been smooth. A media house that is not biased will make sure they put out both parties’ stories, like in the BBC, where Russia responded to the US sanctions.

References

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/world/europe/us-russia-sanctions.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepagehttps://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56755484