By Rebekah Chiasson | Assistant Editor
Being a communication major and taking multiple journalism classes throughout the 2016 presidential election has been invigorating as well as infuriating. Watching the mainstream media I once aspired to be part of fail to expertly, fairly, and justly report the news on this election was heartbreaking. While learning how to avoid media bias in journalism class, myself and the nation watched national news leaders sway opinions and skew facts.
It culminated to news anchors from channels including CNN, MSNBC, and Fox being forced to admit, “We were wrong.” The day after the election, these networks asked, “Who is the ‘silent voter?’” Where did these Trump supporters come from because mainstream media was oblivious to their existence? The answer – Mainstream media created the silent voter.
So why did they become silent? Although the nation was afraid of Trump eliciting riots if Clinton beat him, before the election Trump supporters were afraid of what we are witnessing today: Verbal and physical attacks due to voting for Trump.
The media and the Clinton campaign repeatedly accused Trump of being a misogynistic, racist, xenophobe. Whether or not he is, and whether or not Clinton is a crook, this was not up to mainstream media to decide. The media’s job is to answer the nation’s questions, as well as report facts: fair and balanced.
How did the silence start? Mainstream media posted their political opinions early on this election. For example, April 9 the Boston Globe published a fake newspaper where it projected a dystopian United States during a Trump presidency. The front page headline read, “Deportations To Begin” in big bold letters with other stories including “US soldiers refuse orders to kill ISIS families” as well as “Markets sink as trade war looms.” The front page included a small Editor’s note at the bottom left to say that the stories were fabricated.
By major news corporations like the Boston Globe taking a firm anti-Trump stance, the world of politics becomes like high school where the anti-Trump news corporations are the popular seniors and the Trump supporters are the unpopular freshman. The Trump supporters are not going to voice their opposing political views in fear of being ousted by their peers.
In addition, after these news sources took a stand it became increasingly difficult to find news reporting only the facts. Many co-workers and school mates confessed how hard it was to find Trump’s policies versus Clinton’s because the information was just not being reported.
However, the mainstream media loved reporting the ‘cat and dog fights’ on social media forums. Essentially, news stations promoted online bullying by showing tweet after tweet of negative comments between presidential candidates.
But the bullying did not stop between candidates, it reached their supporters as well like Arsa Nomani, a Muslim immigrant who told CNN that she was a “silent secret Donald Trump voter.” Nomani told CNN, “unfortunately, what happens is that this liberal honor brigade shuts down all conversation, calls you bigot or racist or Islam-ophobe if you dare to speak your own concerns,”
The silence continues October 11 when several women came forth claiming Trump sexually assaulted them. The same day, WikiLeak emails were released including derogatory comments by senior Clinton campaign officials about Latinos, Catholics and the NAACP as well as blatant examples of media collusion with her campaign.
According to Media Research Center (MRC), ABC, NBC, and CBS reported on Trump’s allegations 15 times more than Clinton’s WikiLeaks. This is an example of story selection media bias, or a pattern of news stories that coincides with one side, ignoring studies of the other group.
Another form of media bias is omission where you leave one side of a story out and ignore facts. There were several cases of mainstream media ignoring several stories especially close to the election including major Medias like CNN, MSNBC, and Fox initially ignoring Scott Foval’s undercover video containing negative allegations towards the Clinton campaign on October 19, and NBC ignoring ObamaCare premiums rising to 22%, a negative story for Liberals that launched October 26.
It is up to us to let the media know that we will not accept their one sided behavior when it comes to something as important as the person who will represent this great nation. It creates an environment where people are afraid to speak up and have the necessary conversation to create peace and achieve what is best for our country. It is up to us to have the dialogue with those who have an opposing belief and try to find common ground.
As Chris Wallace said to Trump during the third presidential debate, “The pride of this country is the peaceful transition of power and no matter how hard fought a campaign is that at the end of the campaign that the loser concedes to the winner and the that the country comes together in part for the good of the country.” Let us come together and have the necessary discussions in order to break the silence.
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