The Medium Is the Message
by Abigail Spitzer, Class of 2026

From Instagram to Tiktok to cable news networks, Americans are flooded with multiple sources of media every day. Although the media's original purpose was to become the foundation for communication, the way it has been used has turned sour. The media and the United States have developed such a strong, prevalent bias that American citizens simply cannot decipher what's real and what's fake.

When did this uncertainty of truth in the media begin?  It has been engraved into people's heads since they can remember, whether it's in the news they watched with their parents or in their favorite movies and TV shows they adored growing up. Take Saving Private Ryan for example. This movie is a cult classic favorite of many who describe it as a war movie that displays the characteristics of loyalty and friendship. This movie does such a good job of showcasing these qualities, it makes people forget that the movie is taking place during a war. Despite this, Saving Private Ryan which does depict the violence of war, transforms the war experience into one of brotherhood and honor. Nope, it only shows the glamorous parts. 

These kinds of tilts are not completely out of character for Hollywood movies, as everyone knows they are not the most truthful or realistic source when learning about experiences or news. News sources, on the contrary, were created for that exact purpose. So, it is pathetic that they can't even do their job of representing issues equally. For example, news sources often cover missing people to spread awareness about them. The people they feature are often carbon copies of each other; they're usually conventionally attractive white women. This phenomenon has happened so many times in fact, it has been dubbed Missing White Woman Syndrome. This may lead people to believe that only pretty white girls go missing because that's all they see on the news, but this couldn't be more wrong. Missing people of color are astronomically underrepresented, although they make up 78% of missing people. So why aren't sources sharing their stories to make people look for them? It's because there is a deep-rooted racial bias in the media that has always been there. 

Are media giving audiences what they want, or are they molding audiences' tastes with the most cost-effective productions that take reality and flip it on its ear?