How Much Does the Media Influence America?

I know what you're thinking. This sounds like some crackpot conspiracy theory, the "Wear tin foil hats so the government can't read your thoughts" kind of conspiracy. Let me clear something up. I'm not saying that the media has some kind of secret agenda, or that they are subconsciously planting their signals into our brains. No, in fact, they are always blatantly obvious about their opinions, views, and agendas. Here's what I mean by influence. One of the most popular and influential political speakers in our country right now is comedian Stephen Colbert. He speaks from a satirical point of view, parodying shows that strongly promote their conservative agenda. His audience understands that he actually has strong liberal views, and that he is a satirist. In early 2008, Stephen Colbert announced that he would be running for President. This was a short-lived publicity stunt, and everyone understood that. However, polls showed him as quite a popular candidate, especially considering the fact that it was nothing more than a joke. However, because he was popular, a voice to which American youth could relate, he was considered by many young Americans for the office of President.

How does the media become so influential? Basically, it all stems from ratings and viewers. Every station wants to be on top, so one station will sacrifice journalistic integrity to be flashy, interesting, or exciting. From there, it's a slippery slope. We can watch the dominoes fall. After, one station sacrifices their journalistic integrity to gain more viewers and higher ratings, in order to keep up other stations have to do the same, and then to keep up with that, even more stations have to do the same. So, the vast majority of the media will be pushing the same views in order to compete with other stations. However, we could safely say that the majority of television political shows are liberally-biased, but the shows that are conservatively-biased use the same methods and have the same flaws, because they, too, have to keep up with their rival stations.

Why are people so influenced by this? Well, simply put, we live in a time of strong political uncertainty. Excluding the last election, America has showed lower and lower voter turnouts over the years. Most Americans remain undecided on, not only their political candidates, but also major issues even on Election Day. So, in an attempt to understand the political world, and gain a foothold on the things that affect and control the country, they turn to those who do know what they're talking about... or at least seem to know what they're talking about.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, that depends. Nobody in America has ALL the answers. The media pushes the answers that they believe are right. They tell you what they believe to be beneficial to the nation. They could be wrong in every way, or they could be doing a service to the world. In my opinion, it is the media's job to inform, not to persuade. The individual should be left the right to make up their own mind about every issue. The nation may very well be better off without this spin on the issues, but it is impossible to change, because each newscaster, "pundit," analyst, musician or actor will always give their opinion, whether it is wanted or not.