Throughout American history, media and propaganda have controlled the opinions of citizens. Media is the only source that can tell the facts about worldwide news, giving people no choice but to believe everything that the news stations report. This creates a dangerous situation because news stations can report falsified or dramatized new stories in order to attract viewers. Many news stations have been blamed for relaying biased news on politics to the public, something that is frowned upon by all media personnel. A fiction text that relates to this current day issue is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which tells the story of a nation led by a gruesome government that controls all its districts and the media. The government provides all information that the media report, helping them sway and dominate the minds of the people they govern. Recently, an election took place that captured the attention of millions. Many believe that numerous news stations favored certain candidates and reported news that supported one political party’s beliefs. Biased media in politics controls the minds of citizens by reporting false or swayed news stories that favor certain parties, this must be stopped so citizens can get the true information and develop opinions based on non-biased news. 

At the beginning of the novel, Katniss Everdeen and all the other citizens of District 12 gather in the middle of town to hear the announcement of the tributes that will fight in the annual Hunger Games. This event is televised, recorded, and played days before the Games to exhibit the stories of how the tributes made it to this point. Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself as tribute during the announcement ceremony in response to her sister getting randomly chosen to fight for her district. Being the most dramatic event during the announcement ceremony compared to the other districts, the event was televised all over the nation, making every citizen aware of the amazing sacrifice Katniss made for her sister. One of the things she is asked in her interview is about volunteering as tribute, “‘Let’s go back then, to the moment they called your sister’s name at the reaping,” says Caesar. His mood is quieter now. “And you volunteered. Can you tell us about her?”’ (Collins 129). This marks the first time media bias is shown in the novel, and the first time the government feeds off a dramatic event in order to lure the public in to the Games. Although it is incredible that Katniss volunteered to take her sisters place, many other tributes, from the lower districts, volunteered themselves because they’ve been preparing their entire lives to fight in the Games. The government’s goal is to make the media display the Hunger Games as something to be celebrated, creating a belief that the slaughter of children is justified to keep peace as a nation. This belief is comparable to the way the media presents information on elections today. News stations cover the candidate’s whereabouts and report unimportant stories about speeches in small towns or visiting small businesses.  They could be reporting on more important news that impacts more people directly like the economy or local developments. Many anchors, reporters, and new stations as a whole feel passionately towards a political party. Even politicians believe that much of the media is bias, statistical research states, “As summarized by the authors: ‘95% of congressional staff members believe that political bias in the media influences or shapes decision-making in Congress’” (Clinton/Enamorado ). In this past election, it was made obvious by the body language of anchors and stories being presented in different ways based on the candidate being reported on. This is similar to The Hunger Games because the media only reports news on the Hunger Games when it is occurring. Choosing what to report and what not to report has extreme bias on viewers. The media can choose what they think is important, and not what the people think is important. This kind of reporting is a problem and highlights the tremendous amount of power the media has over the information presented to viewers. 

The turning point in this novel is when Katniss and Peeta take the media advantage from the government into their own hands by creating a love story to capture the attention of the nation. Peeta captures the audiences hearts when saying, “‘I don’t think it’s going to work out. Winning . . . won’t help in my case,” says Peeta. “Why ever not?” says Caesar, mystified. Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. “Because . . . because . . . she came here with me’” (Collins 130). In some ways, this helps their chances of survival by gaining sponsors to help them during the Games, but also moves them closer to their goal of alerting the public that the government is basically murdering children to keep peace. By giving the audience someone to root for, even if it isn’t their own district, it allows them to comprehend that they don’t want these kids to be killed. Additionally, the citizens of Panem can begin to see that the government has dominance over the media and can command the Games according to their script.  This book relates to today because people are beginning to become aware of the bias in the media through internet articles and obvious bias. A recent article displays statistical research stating that many people believe that certain news stations are biased, favoring certain political parties and candidates. The data shows that more people believe news stations favor the Democrats than Republicans, but also that the most biased network is Fox News, one that many people believe is pro-Conservative. Articles like this are informing people that media bias needs to stop, and that the public deserves to know the all the information. 

A common occurrence throughout the book is the Capitol’s short temper for attitudes and plans that don’t follow their objective. Up to this point, no tribute has ever questioned the government and threatened the playing future Hunger Games. The President seeks total control over the nation, people that don’t follow his plan are forced back on track. For the most part, the tributes in this year’s Hunger Games are the same, except for Katniss, who want to make a difference. Although Katniss is positive in her mission to make a difference, she knows the danger and lack of control she has when she gets into the Games. Katniss expresses this concern when she says, “The attack is now over. The Gamemaker’s don’t want me dead. Not yet anyway. Everyone knows they could destroy us all within seconds of the opening gong.” (Collins 176). The President attempts to use the media in order to do this by creating situations during the Games that attempt to injure or kill Katniss. Yet the public can’t seem to understand that the President and the government control the settings in the Games, and that they can choose to kill tributes whenever they feel necessary. This is comparable to the media today because although many people believe that the media is somewhat biased, they continue to believe nearly everything reported. Although many people point out the flaws in the way politics is reported, there is no other place to find legitimate sources of information regarding politics. The public of Panem is similar to the citizens of the United States because they are innocent and helpless, not being able to know all the information due to poor reporting and biased opinions of the media, and also those that control the media. 

Until the recent campaigns for the 2016 election, media bias wasn’t as obvious in their support for one candidate, but still existed for nearly every news station. During Bush’s term, Fox News viewers supported Bush’s policies regarding Iraq more than viewers of ABC, CBS, NBC and many other popular news stations. This is ironic because the reason for creating the Fox News channel was to create a fair, unbiased channel for viewers. Similar to Fox News, President Snow and the government are thought to create a fair Games so every contender has an equal opportunity to win, yet when Katniss ventures off far away from other contenders, they create a forest fire that wounds her badly. “Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy” (Collins 19). This is another example of the control the government has on the Games and country as a whole. Not only can they affect the environment and situations that occur during the Games, but also let the citizens believe they are unbiased to what happens during the Games. Many districts, like One through Five, never question the Capitol’s authority and judgement since they are frequent winners of the games. This can be related to many viewers of biased news stations not realizing they are biased due to news stations reporting stories that only concern their viewers’ beliefs. Many Conservatives believe that the upper middle class should not be taxed more because they have a higher annual salary. So when they hear a news story on Fox News that expresses how great the President-elect will be seeing that there will be a decrease taxes on the upper class, they will be satisfied and continue watching that news station. While in reality this is bad for many lower income households, who will not watch Fox News seeing reported information like this. In The Hunger Games, when District Three wins numerous Hunger Games in a decade, they won’t question the reason for the Games because they have been satisfied with recent results. Citizens in both The Hunger Games and today’s society never seem to notice a problem until it directly effects them or contradicts their beliefs, which does help solve the problem of limiting the media bias presented to the people by news stations. 

This novel’s characters are similar to candidates in an election for a variety of reasons. In the past election, both candidates relied heavily on the media through commercials and biased reporting in order to convince the public that their opposition had unforgettable flaws. For example, Donald Trump repeatedly reminded American citizens that Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy, and should be put in jail for the release of confidential information. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton pointed out Donald Trump’s inexperience and radical claims while campaigning. Both of these candidates needed the media to report on the issues of their competitor in order to win this election. Tributes, in this situation, are not much different from presidential candidates by the control of the media in order to get their names out to receive sponsors while in the Games. Katniss’s and Peeta’s love story, the baby, and Katniss’s rating were all objectives from the District 12 team to gain sponsorships through playing the media. This differed from the President’s plan, which led to numerous events to stop the media from focusing on Katniss, and get the nation back under their control. The reason the District 12 team had to work so hard to have their tributes recognized is because the lower districts always get the better rankings due to their preparation for the Games by training years prior to participating. Biased media plays a huge role in the winner of the Hunger Games by publicizing certain tributes more than others, and making them more relatable or attractive to the nation’s citizens. This explains the reason District Twelve has had only one winner of the Games prior to this Hunger Games, and why certain districts have had consistent success in the Hunger Games. This directly relates to the huge impact media has over presidential elections in the United States, and why candidates believe control of the media wins each election. 

 The 2016 election will be remembered throughout history as one of the worst, yet entertaining elections of all time. Donald Trump changed the way candidates campaign and gain support by attracting as much attention as possible to himself. By stating extreme, and sometimes radical comments, Trump focused the media away from other candidates and put the spotlight on him. The media expressed their concern with the election by speaking in disappointed tones and focusing on small, extreme comments made by candidates. Many news stations reported record low satisfaction rates of citizens on both candidates, making each candidate more unattractive than they already were. This contributes to media bias by what the media focuses on. Instead of recognizing all the candidates and giving viewers the opportunity to find one they believe in, all the attention was on one candidate making incredulous remarks that had very little chance of actually happening. This is similar to Katniss in a sense that she changes the way people view the Games by creating intriguing scenarios and not feeding in the President Snow’s plan. Katniss ruins the objective of the government by recommending Peeta and her eat poisonous berries to not give the President his lone victor. In response, they announce that both contenders will win, folding to Katniss’s possible bluff. Two victors had never occurred before, and the media focused on how adorable Katniss’s and Peeta’s love for each other were. After all the doubt displayed by many citizens on their chances of winning at the beginning of the novel, Katniss and Peeta proved them wrong and won the Hunger Games. The win was similar to the magnitude of Donald Trump’s victory; ironically, the media began to support Donald Trump although they were very surprised. 

Throughout the novel, there are numerous examples of how the government controls the media by supporting certain tributes and many other things, allowing them to control the minds of nearly all their citizens. The media in this novel is controlled by the government, and never says anything that could be harmful to President Snow’s regime. In today’s media, many news stations have their own political views and support one political party while bashing another one. The news that they report contains bias towards a political party, and many citizens have begun to notice. New data has proven that many citizens believe most news stations are somewhat bias, yet that doesn’t change the information they believe due to the amount of bias throughout every news station. This is a problem that needs to stop, but will be hard to destroy from all news sources. Networks rely on dramatic events or attractive information to keep viewers. Statistics show that many viewers of similar networks contain the same political views. This allows networks to express their beliefs through the news they report, and the people that agree with them will continue to watch their news. Being in a democracy, many people believe that all information is told so they can make decisions and form opinions based on all the facts. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case in today’s world, and definitely not in The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins shines light on the problems with the media in today’s world, while also creating an intriguing plot that describes the beginning of a revolution against an oppressive government. Media bias needs to be diminished from news reporting because it doesn’t tell the whole story, and doesn’t allow citizens to develop true opinions on important issues.
