Fake News: John Oliver and Sinclair Broadcast Group
Comedian John Oliver did a segment on Sinclair Broadcast Group, essentially asserting that the television behemoth had a conservative bias, which slanted news towards falsehoods and non-facts. Oliver’s criticisms of Sinclair arose during a time when the broadcast group was close to sealing the deal on a merger with Tribune Media, a deal which was worth just under $4 billion and which would have a significant impact in the consolidation of local television networks. This is the event that caused so much of the controversy, as some political commentators seemed to think this would cause alt-right messaging in local news profiles, whereas others dismissed it as a business as usual.
Oliver used his platform on his weekly HBO show to assert that the predominantly right-wing prejudice that Sinclair demonstrated, which he said rivaled that Fox News and Breitbart, was often riddled with lies—a statement that was made with repeated humorous jokes, but also clear examples directly from the media of attack ads riddled with falsehoods (Locker). For example, Oliver played a piece of local news originating from the Sinclair Group, which asserted that Obama had amassed over $750 million during one of his presidential campaigns and that Obama had never revealed where the money had originated. The ad supposed that perhaps this was because some of it was from the terrorist group Hamas. Clearly this ad used the word “might” and did not assert an outright lie; however, speculations such as these given over mass media channels could influence viewers: not everyone might understand that these statements are wild speculations and not being asserted as facts (Locker).
One of the major issues with the television conglomerate that Oliver was quick to point out was not merely that it was exceedingly conservative, “adding it wouldn't be a problem if ‘the opinions were confined to the commentary or the ad breaks.’ Oliver,...
Works Cited
Breland, A. "John Oliver Hits Sinclair Broadcast Group for Conservative Bias." TheHill, 3 July 2017, thehill.com/policy/technology/340542-john-oliver-roasts-sinclair- medias-conservative-slant.
Fessler, L. "John Oliver's Last Week Tonight Exposes the Conservative Media Takeover of Local News — Quartz." Quartz, 3 July 2017, qz.com/1020401/john-olivers- last-week-tonight-exposes-the-conservative-media-takeover-of-local-news/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Locker, M. "John Oliver: Dangers of Corporations Taking Over Local News | Time.com." TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates, 2 July 2017, time.com/4843463/john-oliver-local-news-last-week-tonight/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
National Memo. "#EndorseThis: John Oliver Reveals Invasive Idiocy Of Sinclair Broadcast Group." The National Memo, 5 July 2017, www.nationalmemo.com/john-oliver-reveals-invasive-idiocy-sinclair-broadcast/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Smith, K. "John Oliver & Sinclair Broadcast Group: Calm Down, John." National Review, 6 July 2017, www.nationalreview.com/article/449260/john-oliver- sinclair-broadcast-group. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Media Ownership Concentration The author of this report is asked to do a Marxist analysis of a media conglomerate and what does or tends to happen when a single corporate structure owns multiple publications and how the forcing out or limiting of other publications can lead to a stunted and incomplete view of reality due to an artificially limited marketplace. The company used as an example in this report is Time
Media Archaelogy and Videogames In today's world, the rapid development of technology has opened worlds of vast information and entertainment that are instantly accessible at the touch of a button. The relationships created in this way not only involve those we interact with online or via gaming, but also our own perception, the mental imagery we create and the apparatus we use to access these. A researcher who truly wants to
Media Violence The potential relationship between media violence and actual aggression comes to the forefront of public discussion, but unfortunately this discussion rarely takes into account the science related to the relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior. In particular, there is a widespread assumption that media violence directly causes aggression and aggressive behavior, and this assumption has become so common that even secondary scholarly discussions of the evidence have taken
Media Communications Representation of characters and role models in different media outlets is based on perceptions and preconceived notions held by the producer, co-producers, and audiences at large. Only those representations are drawn that largely resonate with current meanings given to people, characters, places, and objects.The paper presents two theoretical approaches to study media and its impact at large. Theory of social constructivism provides framework to assess the meanings given to
Media Audiences Marxist media theorists discuss the media in terms of their role as 'ideological apparatuses'. Explain the key notions behind this research, paying particular attention to the concept of hegemony and the media's role within it. What is 'hegemony', and why is it important to audience studies? Marxist theorists emphasizes on the role of mass media in reproduction of status quo, however there is no school of thought regarding his theories.
Media Review News story - Union Serves 72-Hour Strike Notice at Viking Air The CAW (Canadian Auto Workers Union) has announced a 72 hours strike while making a bargain with the Viking Air management. As per the notice, the Union will go on strike by 12 noon on Thursday, 19th January (CAW, 2012). The union's national spokesperson Gavin McGarrigle said that it had been over a year since skilful workers had been waiting
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now