Looking towards practically every prominent and U.S.-based media outlet at this point in time, one would be hard-pressed to find a lack of sensationalist coverage of the scandal involving Russia’s alleged involvement in the election of President Donald Trump. Some of the most recognizable media outlets such as CNN are especially guilty of pushing the notion that there existed some degree of collusion between President Trump’s campaign and administration and the Russian government. CNN’s role is particularly important, as a CNN producer had just recently been caught on camera stating that the network’s coverage of the scandal is “mostly bullshit” (Concha). This scandal is quite clearly not being covered from an informative perspective but is instead attempting to influence the public’s feelings towards the President and his administration. That reality is hardly going unnoticed, particularly by the President, who has consistently called out this coverage by labelling it and its propagators “fake news” (Rieder). The purpose in these actions are quite clear for their attempt to undermine the President’s authority, legitimacy, and moral character. The messages being conveyed through the media in this regard are indeed very valuable indicators of the role that media has been playing in attempting to control the political narrative and subtly advocate for the progressive ideology countering that of the current President and the Republican Party to which he presently belongs.
The notion that U.S. media organizations are actively attempting to corrupt and destroy the current Presidential administration is one that is clearly evident upon analysis of media reporting on the Russia collusion scandal. It is also a deeply troubling notion that should be considered both valuable and worth caring about for the implications that it may have for the political future of this country. The role of the press in American society has never been one of pushing a certain political ideology or working to secure certain political objectives, but rather one of keeping the public informed regarding noteworthy events. While much of the media still adheres to these traditional purposes, the evolution towards acting as an arm of left-wing political ideology has never been more evident than in recent months upon the onset of the Russia collusion scandal (Prager). Media outlets have begun sending the message that the current President’s political ideology is a dangerous and damaging one far before this scandal had even come to light. Several months before Donald Trump had won the Presidency and just shortly following his nomination as the Republican candidate for President, the New Yorker ran a story categorizing Trump as a danger to American society and predicting that “the American experiment would be over” if he had managed to secure the Presidency (Gopnik). The narrative connecting Donald Trump to disaster, corruption, and outright evil had been long in the making and only came to see significant amplification upon his election and the revelations of possible collusion with the Russian government.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Analyzing the Media’s Role in Attempting to Control Political Ideology & Discourse".
The American public absolutely must be made aware and begin to show concern for what the media is attempting to accomplish in manipulating political discourse and the public’s views towards the President. To do otherwise will only grant the media more power to do so going forward, to the point that the media no longer actually serves to keep the people informed but rather to execute social control over our views and beliefs. The freedom of the press granted to the media through our Constitution has never granted them the type of authority and control that they are seeking. Leaving them to continue getting away with controlling the narrative and forcefully pushing ideological messaging and attacks on the opposition to that messaging will ultimately evolve into private-sector authoritarianism that will certainly also come to involve government as well. If we continue to value freedom of speech, thought, and conscience in this country, we must place value in the gravity of this new reality. We must then in turn act to bring media back to its original form and purpose of keeping the American public adequately informed in an unbiased and non-manipulative manner.
- Concha, Joe. “New O’Keefe Video Shows CNN Producer Calling Russia Coverage ‘Mostly Bull–‘.” The Hill, 27 June 2017, thehill.com/homenews/media/339632-new-okeefe-video-shows-cnn-producer-calling-russia-coverage-mostly-bullshit.
- Gopnik, Adam. “The Dangerous Acceptance of Donald Trump.” The New Yorker, 2016,
www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-dangerous-acceptance-of-donald-trump. - Prager, Dennis. “How the Mainstream Media Operate.” National Review, 24 Aug. 2017,
www.nationalreview.com/article/450753/mainstream-media-left-wing-bias-classic-example. - Rieder, Rem. “The World Is Watching Trump’s Attacks on the Press.” CNN, 27 Aug. 2017,
www.cnn.com/2017/08/27/politics/donald-trump-media/index.html.
