The Media: Filter or No Filter?

By: Paige Nielsen

Since we cannot all attend every debate, interview, or suggestive comment from our political leaders, we receive much of the news about the election through the media. However, our very own Mrs. Whitaker, Upper School Government teacher, witnessed first-hand the Second Presidential debate last weekend.  

         Since we cannot all attend every debate, interview, or suggestive comment from our political leaders, we receive much of the news about the election through the media. However, our very own Mrs. Whitaker, Upper School Government teacher, witnessed first-hand the Second Presidential debate last weekend.  Although not her first presidential debate to attend, Mrs. Whitaker flew to Washington University in St Louis to serve as an audience member at 2016’s second presidential debate this past Sunday, October 9. The biggest takeaway, she commented, was that “sometimes the television camera didn’t show the body language that happened when the person wasn’t speaking, failing to reveal a lot about the mood of the candidates and how they were handling what was going on on stage.”  In other words, on top of the bias that often comes through media-filtered summary of the debates, the at-home audience also misses physical cues that aid them in understanding how each candidate is conducting him or herself throughout the debate.
          In a discussion about the effects of watching the debate in person versus on television, Mrs. Whitaker stated, “Commentators offer their interpretation of what they have seen,” hinting that, in viewing the debates online, on television, or by following them on social media, the information is often skewed.  This poses the question about whether it is possible for the media to be unbiased. Clearly the media possesses much power in the political process.  In fact, polls show that 44% of the United States general population receive their news from Facebook and 62% of adults in the United States receive their news from social media in general.  Keeping this in mind, readers and viewers must do their own research and make sure to pursue diversity in their sources, especially in the heated political climate of the 2016 election.