by Sofia Branco
A quote extremely relevant to the 2020 presidential election and first stated in 1986 by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." These words establish the pinnacle of journalism. When the media violates this ethical standard, a fake news culture is sparked, and controversy arises among partisan voters. Deeply embedded within our country's media are the lies, truths, understatements and exaggerations viewers are expected to believe. Within the past four years, our media has become increasingly biased and manipulative. Major and minor news outlets have held a profound influence on the 2020 presidential election. Distrust in the media is more prevalent than ever, as clear divides in viewpoints make it extremely difficult to decipher fact from opinion. Distrust in the media has especially been induced by the extremely controversial 2020 presidential election. A fake news culture sprouted across America, journalists abused their role in the election, and globally opinions on the United States media emerged. By analyzing fundamentals of journalism as determined by the American Press Association and how the media reported during the election, an insight is provided into how distrust of the media grew and how this affected the election.
The central purpose of journalism has been determined by the American Press Association and a four year study in 1997. The purpose is, "to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society." From this core value, journalists created "9 core principles of journalism" to ensure the purpose is met. This definition of journalism and the guiding principles are of the utmost relevance today, as the United States embarks on the reflection of our media and the presidential election. Contradictions to the principles of journalism caused distrust of the media and a growing number of people in our country began to distrust the media in the recent past. According to a Gallup study in September, 2020, "6 out of 10 Americans distrust the media." Another recent Gallop and Knight Foundation poll study reported by the Washington Post indicated that, “86 percent of Americans say the news media is biased, and 73 percent say the bias in the reporting of news that is supposed to be objective is a major problem.” To better understand the cause of this high level of mistrust of the media, one can look to the core principles of journalism. One of the core principles that epitomizes what has become known as the fake news culture is, "Keeping news in proportion and not leaving important things out.” ‘Fake news’ contains content from primary sources; however, blowing out of proportion or downplaying a story is what leads to a divide of interpretation. Taking a quote or story out of context also has the same effect. Throughout the campaign trail, media that endorsed either President elect Joe Biden or President Donald Trump promoted views on the politicians by suppressing or admiring stories on the candidates. The headlines were featured or diminished in both positive and negative lights and the inverse media outlets showed their bias. People's stances on each candidate are directly affected by the media bias and ultimately this affects how each American citizen may cast their vote.
This election has acted as a catalyst for discovering additional biased media. Naturally, some news outlets are more aligned in beliefs with a particular political party, but truly unbiased journalism was difficult to find in the media throughout the 2020 election. The American Press Association defines this principle as, "Independence of spirit and mind, rather than neutrality, is the principle journalists must keep in focus. While editorialists and commentators are not neutral, the source of their credibility is still their accuracy, intellectual fairness and ability to inform, not their devotion to a certain group or outcome." The Financial Times identifies the violation of this principle when they state, “There is a difference between being selective in what you publish, and actively misrepresenting reality. The short-term effects of that strategy might be effective, but over the long term, it will chip away further at trust in the media.” The Financial Times continues to say, “America’s mainstream media might be doing everything they can to get rid of a dangerous president. But in so doing, they are setting a dangerous precedent.” It has become clear that Liberal and Conservative media have taken the election turnout upon themselves. In August of 2020, the Washington Post reported that a study showed 95 percent of press detailing Trump was negative. Also, the volume of reporting for Trump is far larger than reporting for Biden, and as a result, this study deduced that “viewers heard 150 times more negative comments about Trump than Biden.” This large amount of negative reporting did not translate proportionally into Trump losing the election by a similar amount. Thus, if Americans fully trusted the media, Trump may have lost by a more similar amount to the negative press on him.
The media has a strong influence in general, but perhaps the distrust of its validity has caused it to not have the outcome one might think it would have on the election. Another American Press Association core principle that comes into play in analyzing the effect7 media distrust had on the election is, “journalism is intended to serve as an independent monitor of power." This watchdog role may contribute to the mistrust in the media and a mismatch in voting. As stated in the Columbia Journalism Review," a lot of people are going to distrust the media, particularly when their favorite politicians or the parties they identify with are critically appraised or openly confronted by journalistic investigation, information, or opinion”. People do not like, “explicit criticism of their heroes." Perhaps this anomaly is also due to when “Republicans and Democrats place their trust in two nearly inverse news media environments.” as Pew Research Center concluded. This polarization between political parties results in biased reporting used to defend a chosen side. In many instances, the term fake news has been used inappropriately to describe contradicting information to one's beliefs. By selecting the words you want to hear and mending them together in a meaningful way, the media can easily distract from the reality of a story.
Furthermore, the global community looks to US media as an independent media source which acts as an essential pillar to US democracy. The American Press Association indicated, "audiences around the world are either way aghast. What they see does not fill them with confidence. In other western countries, the thought of enduring four more years of Trump or for that matter, that he’s still performing far better than expected despite everything, makes little sense." How can there be such a disconnect with what globally is reported on and how American's ultimately voted? The American Press Association goes on to say, "public opinion in the United States and among its allies in Europe could not be further apart. When polled on their preferences for this election, the outcome was a no brainer for EU citizens who favored Biden by margins as high as 80%." Biden is the president-elect, but not by the 80 percent Europeans believe he should win by, based on the news they had received.
To conclude, the media is bound to influence the election, and our lives. However, it should be through providing an unbiased lens since independent journalism is imperative for our democracy. Journalists throughout the world look to the US as the highest standard for independent free journalism. More so than ever, good journalism is necessary to obtain facts in this digital age where news is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Quality journalism has never been more imperative with the rapid speed of information dissemination and the abundance of sources available including social media. The fake news culture has washed over our country and must be dismantled by decreasing media bias. The election may be over, but now the hard work begins to restore trust in the media once again.
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