Analysis of Media Bias in The Nunes Memo

The Role of Media in Shaping Public Opinions

The public in any country relies on media outlets for news and information on occurrences taking place locally and globally. Drawing from Matthew Levendusky’s ’How Partisan Media Polarize America’ (5), media is expected to remain unbiased as a way of ensuring objectivity, instances of partisan reporting and political inclination is rampant in the media industry. As a way of analyzing medium sources, the Nuno Memo is brought into consideration by assessing how Politico and the Blaze medium sources reported the issue. It is important to state that the Nunes memo is a four-page memorandum that was authored by Republican staff members working under the guidance of Devin Nunes. This memo was released to the public on February 2, 2018. The allegation in the memo is that the FBI was not objective in its investigations on Russia’s role in the recent American elections. Carlos Garcia authored the article in The Blaze. This article contains Republicans and Nunes opinions on the FISA memo. Nunes and the Republican officials are accusing the Democrats of instigating the investigations to cast doubts on Republican win of the presidency. The article contains important information on the claims that were made by the Democrats. Jason Schwartz authored the article in the Politico. This article states that Fox News is the first media channel that had news about the memo. The second outlet was the right-leaning Washington Examiner. Schwartz states that conservative news media were the first to see the Republican-written FISA memo. The implication from Schwartz opinion is that this may mean that there could have been selective leaking of information (Schwartz, 2018).

Influence of Politico and The Blaze on Public Perceptions

Public opinions and perceptions as far as politics is concerned in the United States are influenced by the media (Levendusky, 7). In the case of Politico, the mobile, web, Television and print media outlet is described as biased towards liberal reporting according to The Washington Post (1). The political inclination and the public perception towards Politico are expected to influence the consensus and nefarious interpretation of its readers about government programs. According to AllSides’ 2018 media bias survey, Politico is seen as shifting from a slightly right inclination depicted in 2013 to a liberal bias. Politico which was established January 2007 with its base in Arlington, Virginia is seen as responding to the changing environment as far as political reporting is concerned. According to All sides, Politico is the most read print and online Capitol Hill publication.

In the case of The Blaze, the internet, radio and television news and entertainment media platform are depicted as conservative (The Washington Post, 2). The Blaze alongside its founder Glenn Beck is explicit about the inclination towards conservative ideas and policies, and in 2016, Beck was open about his opposition to Donald Trump presidency (The Question, 3). According to Accuracy in Media, The Blaze which was launched in the year 2010 is guided by a quest to be a global libertarian news network. However, the move by The Blaze Founder to drift from Republican Party ideologies in 2013 is seen as a business strategy to tap the following of the younger American audience.

Conclusion

Based on the revelations about The Blaze and Politico, Levendusky’s argument that televised news sources are partisan can be asserted as true. The inclination of The Blaze and Politico towards conservatism and liberalism respectively has a direct effect on the Americans ability to moderate their political beliefs. The reporting of the Nunes memo despite the authenticity of the content was interpreted by both the news readers and viewers of The Blaze and Politico based on the political, ideological inclination of the media platforms and the audience.

Work Cited

Accuracy in Media. (2013). Glenn Beck Plans to Relaunch The Blaze as a Global Libertarian News Network. (online). Available at https://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/glenn-beck-plans-to-relaunch-the-blaze-as-a-global-libertarian-news-network/. Accessed February 19th, 2018.

AllSides. (2018). Politico media bias rating is Lean Left. (online). Available at https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politico-media-bias. Accessed on February 19th, 2018.

Bertrand, N. (2018). Republicans release the Nunes memo to the fury of Democrats. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/a-closer-look-atthe-nunes-memo/552233/

The Question. (2017). Which non-mainstream news sites can I trust and which are fake? (online) available at https://thequestion.com/questions/195000/which-non-mainstream-news-sites-can-i-trust-and-which-are-fake. Accessed February 19th, 2018.

The Washington Post (2014). Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences. (online). Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/lets-rank-the-media-from-liberal-to-conservative-based-on-their-audiences/?utm_term=.e81b041d9102. Accessed February 19th, 2018.