Why are US news so manipulated on TV, papers, etc?
369242
If other countries look bad, we look good.
565021
As several people have already said, there is no non-media-influenced view in the US--just as there is no non-media-influenced opinion in the UK.  I mean, first of all, "media" covers essentially all sources external to one's self and so if one's opinion is completely uninfluenced by media, it's an uninformed and fanciful opinion at best.  When you say "media" you're most likely referring to television first and AM talk radio second and these, I'm sad to say, have a frightening influence on the American mindset.  Mainstream t.v. and radio are very much controlled by what we like to call "special interests," which translates as "anyone with enough power and money to influence news content and coverage."  With the Bush administration in particular, the name of the game has been "access"--the news organizations that don't play ball with the Bushies don't get access to the Prez and/or his many crooked puppeteers.  Now, you might reasonably ask yourself why news organizations would care about having access to a bunch of known liars, but at this point the press itself is so complicit in so many numerous political scandals that it has become part of the problem. Young Americans are somewhat better-informed because they tend to get most of their information from the internet, but young people have also been really apathetic about voting, so I'm not sure how much we benefit from their "research."  \n\nWhat you should keep in mind as you watch America from a distance is that Republicans and Democrats, "liberals" and "conservatives" have been so manipulated by "wedge issues"--abortion, gay marriage, immigration--over the last twenty years or so that they believe themselves to be much more polarized than they actually are. The "red state/blue state" dichotomy, for example, is entirely false--the image came about mostly because of the "winner-take-all" nature of the our electoral system. Consequently, we should be seeing Americans unifying toward the impeachment and probable criminal indictment of Bush and his band of thugs, but instead we're seeing Republicans trying to prove that their dislike of Bush doesn't mean that they've (gasp!) gone liberal, while the Democrats--the big weenies--are so busy trying to capture the affection of the Religious Right, (whose power has been grossly inflated by mainstream media),that they don't recognize a constituency  when it walks up and hits them over their collective, (and profoundly stupid) head.  \n\nIn short, it's a mess over here that's probably going to get a lot worse before it improves.  There are no viable contenders for the 2008 elections and there's no reason to believe that our now firmly-entrenched aristocracy, (which includes mainstream media), will let in an "outsider."  My guess is that we are, at most, maybe ten years away from significant civil strife and some kind of totalitarian backlash. I hope that I'm wrong, but I read a lot of history  and it's just not looking good at all.
276778
the media greatly affects what people think. for example, if someone relies on the media for all their news, and the media omits something like: everyone is rioting at the president and changes it to everyone is fully behind the president it affects a persons bias. now in all fairness not all media are like this, but sometimes they fudge the truth (especially if they are corparatley owned and the government is giving them big multimillion/billion $ contracts, that encourages them to support the government. Ex. GE owns NBC, and GE takes multimillion dollar contracts from the government because of the war in iraq, so on nbc they'll be more supportive of the war. yes, they'll show the negatives sides so they can look fair and balanced, but in reality it is a deception.)
239084
That is a very good queation. But I don't know the answer to it. It is the media. They do some strange things.
868211
Unfortunately, in the United States, many people are "that dumb" and are easily influenced (manipulated would be a better word) by the rhetoric of the right-wing media.  God help America, indeed!
930041
Absolutely, this is the crux of the problem in the United States today. Sensationalized news for the sake of ratings has deteriorated the truth of how the world actually operates and interacts economically The impacts of different policies from all countries effects eveyone one of us globally. The shame is we in America have the most capacity to educate via the mass media. The conundrum arises because our current capacity to educate has stemmed from greed perpetuating the sensationalization of "Real News". Personally I don't care about the Scott Peterson case or O.j. Simpson. Real news is happening and people are dieing because the misinformed public prefers to be distracted with Paternity tests on The Maury show and an "MTV" culture of who's dating, marrying, and or divorcing who.\nCapitalism is a breeding ground for greed and the result is ignorance on a mass scale. I love my country and what it truly stands for. I just don't think our founding fathers would be too pleased with our outcome at this time. God Bless.
47638
It influences more.  People today are trying so hard to be "glam" like celebrities we see splashed all over the media.  There is no sense of just being yourself anymore.  \nAnd I think people trust the news much more than they should.  People don't realize that journalists are getting paid to write what will sell and won't offend, which is not necessarily the truth.\nThe media in no way reflect our society.
444093
Yes sometimes we need just to turn to another channel and not watch any news at all or just turn off the TV altogether and listen to relaxing music.  The media likes to hype and harp on things to try to work us up into a frenzy.  That's how they make their salary.
21771
A better question may be whether media can mis-shape an event or mis-shape foreign policy.  According to a panel of editors on TV some time ago, Newspapers used to be far more open about their political leaning, taking names like The Morning Republican or The Evening Democrat, and you knew where they stood.  Now conglomerate news is far more subtle and profess not to be biased.  However it is probably easier to get into journalism schools and survive if you are liberal rather than conservative, and it is probably difficult for journalists to resist their personal biases.  Many believe that our country is strong because we have freedon of the press, and I agree.  But I believe we are even stronger by accident in that we now have a strong two-party system (with smaller parties free to come and go).  Countries that have to form coalitions of many small parties that mutually hate each other are not very strong.  As soon as the press succeeds in installing their favorite party as an overwhelmingly dominate party you can almost guarantee that the minor party and the press will be surpressed to ensure survival of the winner.  Both parties have liberal and conservative wings and often these wings supply the most interesting ideas, because that is where the passion is.  The moderates of both parties usually control the outcome by asking the important questions such as who is going to pay for this great idea?  We will probably get along OK as long as enough citizens look past the headlines and read between the other lines to seek the unvarnished truth.  Distortions occur in events and foreign policy when people accept biased reports and fail to observe what is on the other side of the coin.
1033420
Because the media doesn't want to put the truth out there!
716987
You can't...İt is not how it works.You can only rely on what the newspapers giving you.They put special equipment to people's houses who are willing to do that for them.That's how they see how many people watch what...
807336
I do not trust any american news outlet. They are all influenced by the government.
462024
historically propaganda has proven to be an effective tool to manipulate public opinion hitler and stalin among other leaders have demonsrated how to properly abuse this power, only a few corporations own American mainstream media, from t.v. to magazines this is how our news becomes so biased and censored. what can be done we can turn off our tv more often and read our news and listen to our radio from independent radio sources and support these institutions and vote down any legislation that attempts to subvert this one freedom we should all take the time to exercise,we can also remain skeptical and consider thesource of our information and how it may serve certain interests of certain parties and question anything that only offers one view,remain aware, and resist being manipulated by our fears
233353
That's because it sells newspapers & raises TV ratings...I personally don't watch the news....I go online  with Yahoo Alerts.....it's all whatever Ted Turner decides we need to know....\n Sadly,we are jeopordize our troops , and give "heads up" to those who are fighting a holy war...
951400
But how much of your "information" is filtered through a system that may not give you the whole truth?\n\nAny source for news will have a bias, regardless of the intention.\n\nNo offense, what proof do you have to support the 90% number you quote?
1123604
Because Americans are brainwashed by the media. We believe everything said on tv. At this point, Americans aren't trained to question. Not only that, but the people who don't agree with the government just choose to wash their hands of it in general. One person can't change anything at this point. \n\nI'll probably get a cross burnt on my lawn for this. Ha.
552119
They certainly render misleading media releases, though my personal presumtion is that that is more for their own benefit (e.g. playing down a story, playing up an achievement - anything to make them look good.)\nWhether a government as a whole (rather than an individual politician) would do similar to manipulate the market I'm not so sure. Having said that, I wouldn't put it past them.