ENG 95 Quoting Research

Al Gore's Assault on Reason is one text that argues against the American public's reliance on television news and entertainment media. He writes, "Faith in the power of reason...was and remains the central premise of American democracy. This premise is now under assault" (2). Without reason, logic, and public debate, democracy cannot thrive; voters must be informed for democracy to work. One of the major factors in the attack on reason is what Gore calls "the empire of television" (6). This empire has replaced the printed word in that the public now receives most of its information from television instead of newspapers. The power of the image, combined with the power of those who have the money to control the television image, has led to what Walter Lippman calls "the manufacture of consent" (Gore 10). The beliefs and ideals of the American public can now be bought and transmitted through television media. While Gore's text follows this argument to examine a diverse set of factors that influence the American public's role in democracy, what is most important in this context is the idea that television media only presents a manufactured idea of truth. If the American public relies on television news for its information, then it is even more important for that news to be unbiased and complete. Gore would argue that television news in its present form is inherently biased and one-sided. However, does a media analysis actually show this to be true?

*Note the MLA format in citations. After each quote, a "coming to terms" statement is given in my own words. The second half of the paragraph allows for the rest of the essay to either forward or counter Gore's thesis.