The American Public Does In Fact Choose Their News Source Based on Their Own Political Alignment

Research has shown that people will choose a news source that aligns with their own political alignment. Data charts and photographs can be used to help prove this theory. This data chart would be the most explanatory visual to include in my final e-portfolio. It shows what people choose as their mains source of news on a scale from liberals to conservatives. The chart shows that 47% of consistent conservatives choose Fox News as their main source. On the other end, the most consistent liberals chose CNN as their source of news. This chart is the most explanatory because of how it presents the research findings. The percent is put underneath the news source so it is easy to see how many people chose the source as their response. It also coordinates the size of the box to the percent so it can be seen visually as well. The scale from liberal to conservative is clear and it is easy to tell what the research has found. Overall, this would be the most explanatory visual.

This bar graph is very explanatory as well. It shows the selection rate of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans based on the label of the story. Again, the theory that people will choose a source based on their alignment was upheld. Republicans had the highest selection rate for Fox News while Democrats had the highest selection rate for CNN/NPR. This graph is explanatory because it clearly shows which bars go with which alignment and also which news label each one represents. It would have been more explanatory however if it showed the selection rate above each bar graph. But, it is still a good visual to include to show how research has backed up my theory.

Finally, this picture is from a Fox News broadcast and is showing a polling about President Obama. This would be the least explanatory visual out of the three. It shows that a typically Republican news station is reporting negatively about Obama who is a Democrat. However, this is all just inferred from the screenshot of the newscast. Looking at the picture, it is not clear what they were saying or how they were reporting on the poll. I think that this photo can add an example to the theory but does not explain it enough on its own. After looking at these three visuals, it is clear that data charts of research findings are much more explanatory than a photograph that cannot tell the reader much information.