The first thing this morning I switched the television on, nothing unusual there you may think. However, this day is different to most other days. It is election dayin the United States. My normal news channel of choice would be the BBC News 24 channel, yet, today I decided that watching CNN, the American news channel, would be preferable and give a fuller coverage as the day unfolded.
Hillary Clintonpress bias
One major issue that immediately became apparent from watching the American coverage to this British citizen, was a bias to the Democratic candidate, Hilary Clinton.
The American channel showed an interview the Clinton's vice presidential candidate, yet, for the Republican candidate Donald Trump they chose a family member to talk to. This election has certainly raised many emotive issues, and other writers have suggested there could be bombshells in this election.
The above example may seem unimportant to the overall coverage, nonetheless, this is one example in the tone of the days reporting. During the day the segments have changed slightly, from an emphasis on swing states, or to a discussion of earlier voting patterns. Yet, the rhetoric and narrative of the day has been overwhelmingly with a democratic leaning. This does make one question the media's role in reporting of an election, and especially one as important as the presidential election.
Yet, this type of unbalanced presenting is not uncommon in the US, and within a system that has at times been called undemocratic.
The UK seems to have more checks and balances
The principles of democracy of course are not in question really here, but unlike the UK the television reporting in the US does come across as significantly morebiased, and it could be argued undemocratic.
It would be naive of course to suggest that news agencies within the UK do not have a political agenda, nor that at times that they come close to showing a preference for one political party over another. However, there does appear to be more checks and balances in place to monitor that a fair and representative view is portrayed,and that there is equal television time for all political parties and messages.
