Bias in media has always been prevalent, but with the success of polarized news sources like CNN and FOX, polarization through bias in news outlets has become a much stronger force than it used to be. Ideological and political views of the public are being shaped and reinforced by openly biased news outlets that often admit to their pandering.
While CNN follows neo-liberal trends, the FOX network has maintained an increasingly conservative stance, as was the plan from its inception. FOX News founder and former CEO Roger Ailes once commented on having no actual journalists on the show. "F-ck 'em, It's not a press conference - it's a television show. Our television show. And the press has no business on the set." Reportedly, Ailes' reporters got their news information from the same place the rest of America did: their TV. Throw in some conservative spin and animated newscasters, and you have a thriving new network. Throughout the following years Ailes became a media commodity for presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Bush Sr., using spin tactics and positively portraying them on his network.
Why do we watch so-called "news" networks that maintain political ties, with such obvious bias? The answer once came from Ailes himself: "People watch TV emotionally" - rather than logically. FOX News is a business, programmed and fine tuned to sympathize with the emotions of conservatives, then further solidify those emotions through spin and downplaying any dissenting opinions. This is the heart of our issue, news networks are businesses, just like any other. They rely on a cash flow to remain in operation, and how better to ensure a business's cash flow than to shape the minds of its own customers?
Sources: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-roger-ailes-built-the-fox-news-fear-factory-20110525
