Zue Lopez Diaz/Contributing writer
On Thursday, Oct. 27, a panel at the University’s Biscayne Bay Campus discussed whether or not the media biased. University professors and professionals in the media industry went back and forth discussing this question, along with Hispanic media and Donald Trump coverage.
University professors Frederick Blevens, Alejandro Alvarado, Aileen Izquierdo and WLRN-Miami News Director Terence Shepherd were all invited to discuss the elusive question on a panel later opened to audience members.
According to Blevens, who holds a doctorate in journalism, the media wants to cover what the audience wants covered.
“I don’t believe the media is biased against one side,” said Blevens. “I still think that the goal of the news is to be truth-tellers. They are biased towards their audience, and what their audience wants told, but the idea that they favor one ideology or person is not true.”
He further reiterated this by adding the example of current political coverage on the news.
“Donald Trump gets free publicity on the news, so there is good, and there is bad, but news is meant to get the whole picture,” said Blevens.
Izquierdo, instructor and graduate director, challenged this idea. She took the example of a hypothetical Sally to explain her point.
“When we were kids, and the teacher always loved Sally’s work, that was unfair. That was a bias for us,” she said. “So this concept of bias lives within us and it’s a perception that we have, and it’s personal and it’s real and it’s visceral.”
The idea of media bias stems from people’s point of view, especially if they feel something is against them, Izquierdo says.
Alvarado, who has been a part of multiple Hispanic news companies, offered his perspective to the discussion.
“Hispanic media, they can be biased, normally pro-democratic,” Alvarado said.
The majority of viewers are democratic, and in this way, Hispanic media tries to cater to its niche market since the audience does not feel represented in any other general media in the U.S., says Alvarado.
Adding to this is an issue highlighted by Terence Shepherd, news director of WLRN. Shepherd explained that media bias is exacerbated when non-journalists are invited to speak on television. This is mostly done to fill up free air time, but it also brings in a lot of bias into reporting.
“The biggest problem for companies like mine, and TV networks, is time,” said Shepherd.
According to Shepherd, journalism is supposed to be a careful and controlled analysis of fact. Yet when people expect news to be given out 24/7, networks have too much time and not enough news. This is when they bring in the “experts,” says Shepherd.
“They are normal people, and they are not trained like journalists,” said Shepherd. “So most of the people you hear talking on TV are not journalists, and everyone has an opinion.”
Communications student, Daniel Regimer, voiced a question of his own on the subject by asking the panel, “Do you feel there is a double standard in the way the media covered the sexual assault allegations against trump?” which Regimer believed would be different compared to the media coverage of a minority.
The panel unanimously agreed that there was no double standard because the Trump allegations were covered by the media.
Camila Cassio, a junior public relations major, asked: “Do you think Mexico will always be corrupt?”
Alvarado answered “I think Mexico is going through a profound change, and this will have very deep repercussions for the media.”
However, it was Izquierdo who had the last words. She ended the panel with the words, “As journalists, we just have to find that tiny nugget of truth.”
image by abbyladybug, retrieved from flickr:
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The media should report only the truth and nothing Else not by who pays them or what party they are associated with.Now a days the American people do not believe anything they say because they are bias.Home town media can still be believed because they have not moved to the big ranks where all they care about is the big story more false hood the better,They don’t get it the American people are tired of the lies,and eventually they will become obsolete.There are other ways the American people can find out about the importance news.