Free Essay Dedicated to Interest Groups and The Media

Over the years, interest groups have been the voice of American people. Many rights that people take for granted such as the eight-hour workday and social safety like Medicare are all due to the tireless efforts made by the interests' groups present. However, critics believe that the interest group has unfair access to key decision makers in government due to the large sums donated to political campaigns that allow them to influence policy outcomes (Bessette 13). Also, critics also believe that interest groups are a tool of the wealthy to control the political system denying ordinary people to have a connection to the government. The critics are accurate as more money comes from businesses and corporations than from any other source.

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Initially, large corporations and businesses that have more wealth have higher chances of participating in the daily workings of the Congress. Participating in the congress hearings gives the corporations the ability to stress on urgent matters to members of the Congress and policymakers thus policies are made in the corporation's favor.

Secondly, corporate lobbying has influenced political decisions and shape legislation throughout the years. Lobbyist either directly or informally contacts government officials and present compelling cases over and over again until desired outcomes are achieved for example the drafting and vetting of legislation. Lobbyists also offer campaign aids as a method of 'buying' politicians (Drutman 25). Politicians, therefore, are indebted to the lobbyist and are more likely to make politic decisions that beneficial to the corporates.

Undeniably, nowadays, the amount of political activity that is due to wealthy businesses and large corporations is exceptional. It is evident that the rich tycoons control majority political decisions in America. Participating in Congress hearing and lobbying, have given large corporations ability to shape policies, political decisions, and legislation.

The Media

Contemporary media has become too biased in its reporting. News producers and journalist do not report all the available stories based on facts and evidence. Media biases are obvious starting from the topic choices of New York Times to the choice of think-tanks that the media refer to or abide (Alterman 10). The biased information aired by the media acts as a platform for political orientation and has a major influence on political choices that people make.

Fox News has been put on the limelight by people's critics. The channel is accused of broadcasting biased news in favor of the Republican Party. News broadcasted by Fox shows the widely supposed conservative viewpoint in the coverage. During the 2016 presidential election, Fox dominated the media airwaves. Fox hosted the 2016 presidential debate and shaped the debate had the right to determine which candidate shared the stage thereby dictating the campaign front-runners. Notably, only three percent of Clinton's supporters reported Fox news as the primary news source (Gabbatt 1). However, the widespread criticism on Fox are unfair to other companies such as MSNBC and CNN who are as equally biased as Fox. Interestingly, during the presidential election, CNN was seen to favor and help Donald Trump. The channel aired a lot of Trump's unfiltered presidential rallies and speeches.

In the long run, media biases have been present over the years. The media has taken charge to influence people's political decisions. With much critics being laid to Fox news which has been seen to support the Republicans. However, channels such as CNN are not left behind on the issue of media biases as the channel is accused of showing large support to Donald Trump. It is about time people realize that today's media is biased thus start making strong independent political choices without relying on the media.

Works Cited

Alterman, Eric. What liberal media? the truth about bias and the news. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Print.

Bessette, Joseph M. American government and politics: deliberation, democracy and citizenship. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2014. Print.

Drutman, Lee. The business of America is lobbying: how corporations became politicized and politics became more corporate. Oxford New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015. Print.

Gabbatt, Adam. "Fox News, NBC And Facebook Pull Trump Ad Widely Condemned as Racist". The Guardian, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/05/trump-anti-immigration-ad-pulled-fox-news-nbc-facebook. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.