Communication Issues

Media Issue Analysis

T207

Alicia Leck S10173170J

Eldon Lee JinHui S10172108A
Jamie Leo S10172352D
Lee Zi Ying S10172145F
 Balance and impartiality should be the objective of the news media.

With the advent of the internet, news information is becoming increasingly accessible to the common man
As competition arises from the saturated market, news media have started to change their content to
adhere to viewers’ preferences (Prior 577). This affects the balance and impartiality of news media - both
of which are values commonly viewed as paramount in the role of journalism (Enli 48).

Examining prominent world issues such as the September 11 World Trade Center terrorist attack (9/11) in
the United States of America (US), some claim that a skewed angle might be necessary at times as being
overly impartial might result in the public becoming cynical of an issue (Baughman, “The Fall and Rise
of Partisan Journalism”). Hence, this essay will discuss both sides of the argument and attempt to answer
if balance and impartiality should be the objective of news media.

Balance is defined as displaying a range of views and opinions of different stakeholders across a subject
while impartiality refers to reporting and selecting sources for an article in a disinterested manner
(Soloski 210) News is defined as a “record of current events that in some way touch on the lives of
readers” (Palczewski 10) and news sources include major world publications, newspapers, magazines and
web publications (Bangalore and Messerli 370).

This essay will evaluate three main topics in relation to balance and impartiality. Firstly, the Code of
Ethics is examined. Secondly, the impact of the news media’s decision to cater to the interests of their
target audience to increase profitability is discussed and lastly, the media’s role as the fourth estate is
compared to its role as a nation building tool.

The Code of Ethics is a set of guidelines regarding ethical standards that recommends the best practices
for journalists (Gordon et al. 29). One such guideline is journalistic objectivity, which refers to taking a
detached stance and the refraining of reporting vague and dubious information (Starck 45). It can also be
identified with three values: truthfulness, neutrality and detachment (Calcutt and Hammond 98). A
prominent example of journalistic objectivity is media coverage of the 9/11 attacks.

On September 11, 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, devastating the lives of many.
Newspapers around the world covered and provided in-depth information on the event, with recounts
from people in the vicinity. Journalists covering the issue detached themselves from biases to provide the
most details possible. News media like The Washington Post and The New York Times largely covered the
event in a balanced and impartial manner, providing up to date information on facts, statistics and
timelines with little to no opinions injected into the articles. This balanced and impartial reporting helped
the public gain a better understanding of what happened by reporting various views and facts through
statistics and timelines. An example of this would be The Guardian.

Their reported best piece of article that day provided 3,000 quotations from various points of views all
over the world on the incident, which is consistent with the neutral, detached and truthful values of
journalistic objectivity. Additionally, the article was neutral as not only the act of terror was addressed,
questions on US’s response to the attack were raised, and the US government was called out on their
treatment towards the Muslim world (MacAskill “9/11 Anniversary”).

This helped describe the events in a balanced and impartial manner, allowing people to make sense of the
event and come to their own conclusions (Ostapenko “The importance of neutrality.”). This addressed the
anger and distress of the public and provided a reliable source of information to keep the public updated.

However, critics argue that balance and impartiality might not be always good as being overly detached
and impartial can leave audiences feeling cynical and helpless towards pressing issues (Baughman, “The
Fall and Rise of Partisan Journalism). Harm limitation, another code of ethics, refers to the need for media
practitioners to weigh and minimise harm when reporting to avoid harming someone. (Plaisance, p105)
Should a journalist prioritise minimising harm, they might self-censor when reporting to avoid marring an
individual’s reputation or exacerbating sensitive issues like grief. This means that balance and impartiality
will be compromised as the journalist is inserting his opinion by excluding information that he thinks is
detrimental to the stakeholders involved in the issue covered.

In the case of 9/11, the public demanded answers and the balanced and impartial reports by the media did
not provide a face people could hold accountable for (Driscoll “How did newspapers cover the attacks of
September 11, 2001?”). As Osama bin Laden was the only prominent figure mentioned in the media and
with his most prominent characteristic being his islamic faith, the public started to come to their own
conclusions and discriminated against Muslims, associating them with terrorists.

This lead to the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes reported within a year in US jumped from 28 to 481
cases, with the actual number unconfirmed due to numerous unreported cases (Perigoe and Eid 3). Post
9/11 anti-Muslim backlash saw an increase of 64% civil right complaints by Muslims in 2002
(D'Appollonia 171). Although major news outlets like The New York Times, CNN and The Washington
Times addressed issues in a neutral stance by providing balanced factual articles, not taking a stand to
address the accusations led to an untrue portrayal of the Muslim community (Liat “US media helped anti-
Muslim bodies gain influence, distort Islam.”).

Hence, overly balanced and impartial reporting can lead to misunderstandings as observed in the surge of
hate crimes after the media’s overly balanced and impartial coverage of 9/11. In this case, the news media
should have taken a stand to give Muslims a voice, helping people to understand the community by
educating the public and preventing innocent people from being harmed. Thus, following the ethic code
of harm limitation would be more ideal.

Another reason why balance and impartiality is a challenge for news media is because many traditional
news media outlets are struggling to stay profitable in the face of digitalisation. The rise of the Internet
has made it increasingly easy for audiences to access information, inevitably making audiences spoilt for
choice. Today’s audience expect to choose content and contribute opinions to the media in a two-way
feedback system that engages the media content producer and the audience(Harper "The Social Media
Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations.").

Most traditional news media offer one-way communication between reader content producer and viewer
and audiences are choosing digital media platforms over traditional platforms (Taylor and Perry
“Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis communication.”; “Latest Media Consumption
Estimates Show Expected Trends.”). (refer to figure 1) As a result, advertisers are following suit, leading
to global advertising dollars shifting towards digital media on the expense of traditional media platforms
(“Digital Media: Rise of On-demand Content”). (refer to figure 2)

According to the agenda setting theory, media is able to convey prominence of issues to the public (Reese
67). Gatekeeping is a part of agenda setting. It is the way news information is passed through gatekeepers
who decide what information to release according to the agenda of the organisations as they pass through
news channels (White 385). In news media for example, reporters and editors are gatekeepers who filter
key information from sources before releasing them to the public.

As most large media organisations are owned by stockholders that see profits as the paramount interest in
their agenda, managers and gatekeepers like editors are expected to maximise profitability or risk being
replaced. Hence, most organisations are run as profit-driven enterprises that care little about public
service or balance and impartiality if it compromises profitability (Reese and Shoemaker 139).
Consequently, news media organisations are starting to treat the audience as a market to win over by
producing audience targeted content(DeWerth-Pallmeyer 15). However, this means that balance and
impartiality is compromised as gatekeepers regulate content according to the values and opinions of the
target audience, selecting and presenting news on a skewed angle.

Nevertheless, this strategy is effective as proven by The New York Times. In 2014, they acknowledged
that readership was falling and to combat this, they analysed audience data and habits and adapted their
content accordingly (Cherubini and Nielsen 13). This resulted in a 20 percent rise in readership within the
first two months and an additional 20 percent increase in unique viewers clicking on their digital articles
(“ComScore Ranks the Top 50 U.S. Digital Media Properties for August 2014.”). This proves that
audience targeted content is highly effective in attracting audiences and that compromising balance and
impartiality might be a necessary evil to keep a news organisation profitable.

However, the media’s adoption of audience targeted content has its downsides too. One prominent
example will be found in the US where the news media is growing increasingly overly partisan. With
gatekeepers disregarding balance and impartiality in the creation of audience target content, content in the
news media is becoming distinctly different, leading to the polarisation of partition groups in the news
media. A recent study found a clear divide amongst republican and democratic partition groups in the
news media. A large majority of republican supporters favor Fox News while democratic supporters name
a wider variety of news sources like Cable News Network (CNN) and The New York Times (Mitchell et al.
“Political Polarization & Media Habits”). (refer to figure 3)

With the polarization of political groups on the news media, people are increasingly exposed exclusively
to news information that reinforces their pre-existing beliefs. This effectively creates an echo-chamber
where people surround themselves in a media environment that resonates with their pre-existing values
and beliefs, making people ignorant and intolerable to contrasting ideas, further segregating the partisan
groups (Jamieson and Capella 6; (Chalif 46)

This can be seen in the increasing divide between democratic and republican views towards the issue of
global warming, with democrats being highly supportive of global warming issues and actions and
republicans believing it to be not as important (Dunlap et al. 6-10). (refer to figure 4, 5 and 6) This shows
that without balance and impartiality in reporting, the news media might become a medium that divides a
community, with the potential of creating socio-political segregation and widening ideological rifts within
a community .

Balance and impartiality is also key for the news media in playing the role of the fourth estate. Taking on
the role of a watchdog, Ashdown noted that it promotes governmental transparency and serves as a
hindrance to abuses of state authority by assessing governmental behaviour and exposing corruption
(682).

This was illustrated during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s where President Richard Nixon’s re-
election campaign was revealed to be connected to burglars caught “wiretapping electronic devices” and
stealing documents from the Democratic National Committee (Feldstein 551).

During the coverage of the Watergate scandal, Framing, a tool of agenda setting, was used to reveal the
case. Framing is defined as the process by which a communication source, such as a news organization,
“defines and constructs a political issue or public controversy” (Nelson et al. 567). Episodic framing
focuses on an individual and single event while thematic framing focuses on larger issues by providing
context.

By acting as watchdogs investigating the link between the burglars and a fund-raising organization for
President Nixon's re-election campaign, The Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein were
able to reveal a bigger and elaborate cover-up scheme planned by the White House. Using this, The
Washington Post released articles focusing on a range of opinions from different people which led to both
the public and the Supreme Court demanding President Nixon submit the tapes of recorded conversations
in the White House. This crucial piece of evidence eventually exposed the corruption of state authorities
to the public and led to the President’s resignation (“The Watergate Story”).

This shows that as a fourth estate, news media is key to government accountability and a hindrance to
abuse of state power. When acting as a watchdog, their primary objective is to remain balanced and
impartial, not taking the side of the government. However, in countries that utilise the news media as a
nation building tool, the news media may not prioritise being balanced and impartial.

With the power the news media holds in shaping ideas and opinions, it can be used as a powerful nation
building tool that supports the government instead of checking on them. An example is the use of media
as a nation building tool in Singapore where the government plays the role as gatekeeper of media
content. Founding Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew identified media as a tool to “reinforce,
not to undermine, the cultural values and social attitudes” (190).

Singapore inherited a diverse group of races and religions after gaining independence, hence, the
government resorted to using the media as a nation building tool. The government took up the role as
gatekeeper by creating strict censorship guidelines and regulating content, ensuring that the media help
build the ‘Singaporean Identity’. However, the use of media as a nation building tool for Singapore means
that balance and impartiality of the news media is compromised, the government can regulate information
to favour their agendas and present it in a skewed angle. Singapore’s strict control over the media can be
seen in the 2017 global ranking on press freedom, where it came in 151 out of 180 countries, while the
US was ranked at 43 (“2017 World Press Freedom Index | Reporters Without Borders.”). This shows that
the Singaporean government is actively gatekeeping the news media through strict regulations, limiting
press freedom.

Still, this does not mean that using media as a nation building tool is a bad thing as the government’s
guidance of the media prevents the polarisation of news media - a phenomenon prevalent in the US as
mentioned earlier in the essay, where the news media leans heavily towards democratic or republican
(refer to figure 7) stances, causing social and ideological divide (Martin and Yurukoglu 2597). On the
other hand, Singapore has seen some great achievements in creating a cohesive society as studies reveal
90 percent of Singaporeans feel a strong sense of national identity, with 95 percent feeling satisfied with
racial relations (Fu “A shared endeavour to strengthen national pride and identity”).

Therefore, the news media does not always have to act as the fourth estate. In certain situations a
regulated and “guided” media that uses gatekeeping is a better option to maintain social harmony and
cohesion. Therefore, objectivity and impartiality might not always be the objective of news media if
promoting social good as a nation building tool is what is important.

In conclusion, there is no clear answer to whether balance and impartiality should be the objective of the
media as it is subjective to the situation that the news media is placed in. When one considers cases like
the ethical obligations to objectivity, media polarisation and media as the fourth estate, balance and
impartiality should be the objective of media. However, the news media should also be mindful that
balance and impartiality is a double-edged sword that may also cause harm to others like in the case of the
rise of hate crimes after the 9/11 attacks. Additionally, the media should also consider the role that they
play within a community and their financial position to decide on their stance towards balance and
impartiality. Therefore, balance and impartiality is indeed important to the news media, but the news
media should also consider the environment and role of the news media to decide if balance and
impartiality should be the objective of the media.

Total: 2404 words

Figure 1:

Figure 2:
Figure 3.

Figure 4.
Figure 5.

Figure 6.
Figure 7. (Estimated Ideology by Channel-Year: Each point corresponds to the estimated ideology of the
news channels based on phrase usage as described in the text, with 95% confidence bounds shaded.)
 Work Cited

“2017 World Press Freedom Index | Reporters Without Borders.” RSF, Reporters Without Borders,
<rsf.org/en/ranking>

A. David Gordon, John C. Merrill, John Michael Kittross. Controversies in Media Ethics.Vol. 3. New
York: Routledge, Taylor & Farncis, 2011. 3 vols.

Ashdown, Gerald G. “Whither the Press: The Fourth Estate and the Journalism of Blame.” William &
Mary Bill of Rights Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, 1994, pp. 681–703.,
<scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmborj/vol3/iss2/6/>

Bangalore, Sripal, and Franz H. Messerli. “Towards a More Responsible News Media.” The American
Journal of Medicine, vol. 126, no. 5, 2013, pp 370-372.

Baughman, James L.. “The Fall and Rise of Partisan Journalism.” University of Wisconsin-Madison,
<https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/2011/04/20/the-fall-and-rise-of-partisan-journalism/> Accessed
5 January 2018.

Calcutt, Andrew, and Philip Hammond. Journalism Studies. Hoboken, Taylor & Francis, 2011.

Chalif, Rebecca. “Political Media Fragmentation: Echo Chambers in Cable News,” Electronic Media &
Politics, 1st ed, no. 3 , 2011, pp. 46-65.

Cherubini, Federica, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. “Editorial Analytics: How News Media are Developing
and Using Audience Data and Metrics.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016,
doi:10.2139/ssrn.2739328.

Clark, Liat. “US media helped anti-Muslim bodies gain influence, distort Islam.” WIRED, WIRED UK,
30 Nov. 2012, <www.wired.co.uk/article/anti-muslim-influence-on-us-media>

“ComScore Ranks the Top 50 U.S. Digital Media Properties for August 2014.” ComScore, Inc., 18 Sept.
2014,
<www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings/comScore-Ranks-the-Top-50-US-Digital-Media-Properties-for-
August-2014>

D'Appollonia, Ariane Chebel. Frontiers of fear: immigration and insecurity in the United States and
Europe. Cornell University Press, 2012.

DeWerth-Pallmeyer, Dwight. The Audience in the News. Routledge, 2013.

Digital Media: Rise of On-demand Content. (2018). [ebook] Deloitte, p.7. Available at:
<https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/technology-media-
telecommunications/in-tmt-rise-of-on-demand-content.pdf> Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.

Driscoll, Kelsey. “How did newspapers cover the attacks of September 11, 2001?” AOL.com, AOL, 11
Sept. 2016, <www.aol.com/article/news/2016/09/11/how-did-newspapers-cover-the-attacks-of-
september-11-2001/21467648/>

Dunlap, Riley E., et al. “The Political Divide on Climate Change: Partisan Polarization Widens in the
U.S.” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, vol. 58, no. 5, 25 Aug. 2016,
pp. 4–23., doi:10.1080/00139157.2016.1208995.

Enli, Gunn. “Gate-keeping in the New Media Age.” Javnost- The Public, vol. 14, no. 2, 2007, pp. 47-61.

Feldstein, Mark. “Wallowing in Watergate: Historiography, Methodology, and Mythology in Journalism's

Celebrated Moment.” American Journalism, vol. 31, no. 4, 2014, pp. 551-552.

Fu, Grace. “A shared endeavour to strengthen national pride and identity.” MCCY , Ministry of Culture,
Community and Youth, 14 Apr. 2016, <www.mccy.gov.sg/news/speeches/2016/Apr/shared-
endeavour-to-strengthen-national-pride-and-identity.aspx>

Harper, Ruth A. "The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media
Organizations." Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 2.03, 1st March 2010,
<http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=202>
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall., and Joseph N. Cappella. Echo chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the conservative
media establishment. Oxford University Press, 2008.

“Latest Media Consumption Estimates Show Expected Trends.” Marketing Charts, 10 May 2017,
<www.marketingcharts.com/industries/media-and-entertainment-76996>

Lee, Kuan Yew. From Third World to first: the Singapore story, 1965-2000. HarperCollins Publishers,
2000.

MacAskill, Ewan. “9/11 anniversary: how the Guardian reported the attacks.” The Guardian,
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2011/sep/06/9-11-attacks-guardian-
archive> Accessed 8 January 2018.

Martin, Gregory J, and Ali Yurukoglu. “Bias in Cable News: Persuasion and Polarization.” American
Economic Review, vol. 107, no. 9, Sept. 2017, pp. 2565–2599., doi.org/10.1257/aer.20160812.

Mitchell, Amy, et al. “Political Polarization & Media Habits.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project,
Pew Research Center, 21 Oct. 2014. <www.journalism.org/2014/10/21/political-polarization-
media-habits/>

Nelson, Thomas E., et al. “Media Framing of a Civil Liberties Conflict and Its Effect on Tolerance.”
American Political Science Review, vol. 91, no. 3, 1997, pp. 567–583., doi:10.2307/2952075.

Ostapenko, Raisa. “The importance of neutrality.” Varsity Online, Varsity - University of Cambridge, 13
Feb. 2015. <www.varsity.co.uk/comment/8243>

Palczewski, Marek. “The term news- its concept and definition in Anglo-Saxon tradition. A review and
classification attempt.” Media Studies, vol. 3, no. 39, 2009, pp. 1-15.

Perigoe, Ross, and Mahmoud Eid. Mission invisible: race, religion, and news at the dawn of the 9/11 era.
UBC Press, 2014.

Plaisance, Patrick Lee. Media Ethics: Key Principles for Responsible Practices. Thousand Oaks: SAGE
Publications, Inc., 2009.
Prior, Markus. “News vs. Entertainment: How Increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political
Knowledge and Turnout.” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 49, no. 3, 2005, pp. 577-592.

Reese, Stephen D., and Pamela J Shoemaker. Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass
Media Content. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.

Reese, Stephen D, et al. Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social
World. 1st ed., Routledge, 2003, pp. 67.

Soloski, John. “News reporting and professionalism: some constraints on the reporting of the news.”
Media, Culture and Society, vol.11, no.2, 1989, pp. 201-228.

Starck, Kenneth. “The International News Services (A Twentieth Century Fund Report).” American
Journalism, vol. 4, no. 1, 1987, pp. 45–46., doi:10.1080/08821127.1987.10731097.

Taylor, Maureen, and Danielle C. Perry. “Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis
communication.” Public Relations Review, vol. 31, no. 2, 2005, pp. 209–217.,
doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2005.02.018.

Tey, Tsun Hang. “ Confining the Freedom of the Press in Singapore: A “Pragmatic” Press for “Nation-
Building”?” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 4, 2008, pp. 876–905.

“The Watergate Story.” The Washington Post, WP Company. <www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

srv/politics/special/watergate/timeline.html>

White, David Manning. “The “Gate Keeper”: A Case Study in the Selection of News.” Journalism &
Mass Communication Quarterly , vol. 27, no. 4, 1 Sept. 1950, pp. 383–390.,
doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/107769905002700403.