Media Strategies for Understanding Contemporary News in a Biased World

Mid-level officers responding to the survey about media habits preferred to get their news from online sources. While these officers who are typically in their mid thirties, and many young people surveyed in national polls gravitate to the internet for their news, the internet may serve as a medium to get the same exact content provided on television, newspaper, or radio outlets. Demographically, the military has a significantly higher proportions of males than females, and the upper ranks are filled predominantly with white, male officers with an increasing tendency to identify themselves as republicans. These demographics will not result in a solid block of white, male republicans acting in comparable ways as a similar group in national polls, but will be close. Mid-level officers have a higher degree of education than the national average and a higher degree of news seeking, which are directly correllated. Additionally, as an instrument of politics, many military members have a vested interest in ongoing events in the news. The survey identified a high degree of reliance on CNN and Fox News as both television and online sources of news. While most individuals identified these two sources as representing the liberal and conservative points of view respectively, a majority sought perspectives from both the right and the left. Finally, if one considers the subject matter experts as a defining method to measure media bias, many of the mid-level officers are unaware of the overt biases of the top ten most cited think tanks and policy advocacy groups.