Media and Public Opinion
The complicated relationship between the upper class and the media can be described as have different points of views from each other. “The net result is an often-tense relationship between media executives and the rest of the corporate community, with corporate leaders placing the blame on the mass media for any negative opinions about corporations held by the general public” (Domhoff pg 126). The movie “Constructing Public Opinion” relates to the upper class and media’s relationship as having an elite way of reporting.
To the public who views the media they may perceive them to be liberal in the sense that they are open to different social topics. This goes back to the complicated relationship of the media and the upper class. “These studies show that representatives of the mass media tend to be more liberal on foreign policy and domestic issues than corporate and conservative leaders, although not as liberal as the representatives of minority groups and liberal organizations” (Domhoff pg 126). However, the movie “Constructing Public Opinion” seems to give a more plausible definition of liberal. In the movie they label liberal as having high government intervention. They label conservative as having low government intervention.
The definition of liberal to the public can give further insight on how they perceive political parties. To the public the media can portray democrats as being more left than republicans. However, the movie points out that the truth is both parties have similar goals. This perception the media is giving the public can be known as the Phantom liberal. The phantom liberal is the illusion of a liberal perspective. In reality, the corporate upper class is enforcing through the media more conservative and capitalistic ideals.
To go into further detail how the media is by controlled by both the republicans and democrats the public can take a lot how they are perceived during election time. “The limits on the owners and managers of the mass media in shaping public opinion were most recently demonstrated by the failure of the public to endorse the impeachment of president Bill Clinton, even though it was enthusiastically advocated by most of the Washington pundits who appear on television” (Domhoff 129). The reaction given by the public points out that sometimes the media doesn’t affect the public’s opinion.
However the media still construes how they present themselves to the public. The movie “Constructing Public Opinion” gives different examples on how politicians manipulate the media. ” Politicians are more interested in making a profit above social community concerns so they are more likely to ignore those kinds of opinions because they’re little money in for them” (Constructing Public Oppinion). The media manipulates how the public sees politicians by controlling the commentary and questions they ask. There are other examples how the media manipulates public opinion. The movie gives another example by looking at how the media like ABC potrays education. “The public want more money spent on education, while the movie says that ABC is telling the public that money isn’t the answer” (Constructing Public Oppinion). In that example the media is definitely directing the public in what the upper class wants them to perceive.
The media in the film seems to focus on the upper class needs, and ignore that of the publics concerns. “The power of the media to define what issues are seen as important has to do with the relationship between what the media report and what they don’t. Media influence in sense is subtle but profound. The media can help shape or modify what we know about an issue” (Constructing public opinion). Therefore, when getting information from the media the public should remember that the upper class has control on how the media portrays issues to the public.
