Is the media too powerful?

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Is the media too powerful?

by siddus » Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:33 am
The public is aware of the possibility of biases in the mass media and distrusts the media as too powerful. The body of information against which the public evaluates the plausibility of each new media report comes, however, from what the public has heard of through the mass media.

If the view above is correct, it provides a reason for accepting which one of the following conclusions?

(A) If there is a pervasive bias in the presentation of news by the mass media, it would be hard for the public to discern that bias.
(B) The mass media tailor their reports to confirm to a specific political agenda.
(C) The biases that news media impose on reporting tend not to be conscious distortions but rather part of a sense they share about what is interesting and believable.
(D) News reporters and their public hold largely the same views about what is most important in society, because news reporters come out of that society.
(E) When a news event occurs that contradicts a stereotype formerly incorporated into reporting by the mass media, the public is predisposed to believe reports of the event.

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by ayushiiitm » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:49 am
The argument suggests that body of information against which the public evaluates the plausibility of each new media report comes, however, from what the public has heard of through the mass media.

that means public evaluates the credibility of any media report on the basis of what mass media says

A states just that. "If there is a pervasive (spread throughout) bias, i.e whole mass media is reporting in a prejudiced manner, then people will not be able to make out a difference"

IMO A

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by siddus » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:53 am
you nailed it

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by analyst218 » Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:25 am
A.

the public believes a report to be bias relative to report that is already biased.