readers, media has to create their news as well as a scandalous story in order to please the readers. News is difficult to be differed from entertainment because both of
them are parts of media spectacle. ibid.:387. News is a narrative which contains of plots, protagonist and antagonist characters, and events in a particular time.
Sensationalism is based on the bias of media. News bias can be in many forms. However, the discussion focuses on American media, political bias and bias
based on sex especially on the source of data: the New York Times and the Washington Post
. For, understanding both biases give a basic knowledge of why media hit Hillary Rodham Clinton harshly in her presidential candidacy.
1. The New York Times and the Washington Post
The New York Times Company is one of the largest newspapers publishers in
the U.S. It owns several media such as newspapers, newsonline, radio, and television stations. International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe, and several local
newspapers belong to this giant company. Thus it is influential not only in the U.S but also in the world.
The New York Times TNYT is well known as Gray Lady because of its style
of narrating and its appearance. It nowadays becomes a reference newspapers since it is believed as the most reliable and objective newspapers. It is called “a paper of
record” for its objectivity. TNYT is one of the oldest newspapers in the U.S. founded in 1851, and has
one the highest circulation in the country. Hubenko: 2006. It has been identified by
many scholars as key gatekeeper in national news coverage. The www.nytimes.com
is the web presence of TNYT that was published on 1995. It has been ranked one of the top websites. The emerge of reporting standards i.e objective, or unbiased,
reporting to alter the one-sided reporting in the early twentieth century generated one of the most popular newspapers heretofore in the United States. The New York Times
with its slogan “All the news that fit to print” established itself as serious alternative rather to be sensationalist journalism Goddy, 1992. TNYT is “the elite U.S.
newspapers” Winter, et al., 1981: 379. This daily is considered in the U.S. as the leading publication.
The Washington Post is another newspapers company with its large circulations. The company has its headquarter in Washington D.C. It also owns dozen
of local newspapers, television station and cable television. Though it has ever experienced the bankruptcy in 1920s, the company gets well soon under the direction
of Eugene Meyer. It now becomes the most respected newspapers in the U.S. Though, the New York Times and the Washington Post is believed as the
objective newspapers in the United States, many research find that their framing show obviously tendencies and biases to particular interests. Media bias undeniably
happens through its discourse. The 1980 deregulation is believed as the cause of the taking over companies resulted in the loss of media’s autonomy to realize democracy
Herman and Chomsky, 1988 cited in Gamson et al., 1992. Media is nowadays a dependent institution which has to follow its supplier of capital and discourse.
“Commercial concerns dictate important elements of media content, prompting a privatization of culture” Schiller, 1989 cited in ibid..
News company political bias mostly is influenced by their political ideology such as being liberal or conservatives. American media is believed to have liberal
bias in their narration. “The old arguments that the networks and other ‘media elites’ have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it’s hardly worth discussing anymore. No,
we don’t sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we’re going to slant the news we don’t have to. It comes naturally to most reporters.” Goldberg, 2001:
13. Thus, Schiller underlines the important of media for the ‘dominant power’ as “the media are the central component of an ‘organic process by which the corporate
‘voice’ is generalized across the entire range of cultural expression” Schiller, 1989 cited in Gamson, et al.,1992.
The media political bias can be obviously seen in presidential election, as it has been stated before. The manifestations of bias in political news can be in the form
of explicit argument and set of evidences benefiting a party; the use of facts and comments purposively taken to support those arguments; the use of language
elements to paint the facts and deliver the implicit value judgment, and so on. Hacket, 1984 cited in Gamson, et al., 1992
A content analysis on gender bias in the New York Times shows media framing on Hillary Rodham Clinton focus on her political activity rather than any
other issues Busher, 2006. On the issues of Iraq War, a research shows that the New York Times
has a bias on American Government side. News of Iraq war in this
newspaper tends to blame Palestinians and show them as aggressors Keramati, 2008.
The Washington post shows bias on left – conservatives while the New York Times show more on democratic – liberal bias. In a research of media political bias
on 2000 presidential election found that the media narrative of The New York Times tend to attack candidates from Republic Party while on the other hand The
Washington Post show its tendency toward candidates delegated by Democratic Party, but most of news in the U.S. tend to hit harshly to the candidates if they are
Republican.
2. Media Narrative
