ABSTRACT
Our lives are held together by communication, and the media play an important role in sustaining that communication. I begin by summarizing some ideas from media studies regarding the influence of media ownership by large corporations on media content. I examine the idea that corporations impose their view on culture and then turn to the specific issue of news reporting. The way newsgathering is conducted and news packaged and presented creates problems for accuracy and absence of bias. I recount some of the criticisms made by media scholars of the pressures exerted on accuracy and impartiality by such common newsgathering practices as consulting "experts" and such news writing forms as the personal narrative, which leads to a downplaying of social or structural influences on reported events. Finally, I turn to the concrete example of western bias against China and examine an especially propagandistic report by CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria called "China's Iron Fist."
