The Danger of Bias in the Media

“Fair and balanced,” “The most trusted name in news,” these are the most common slogans for two of the most popular news channels watched by… well you! What do these slogans imply? That they are impartial? That they are trustworthy?

The battle between the media has been reduced to a simple name calling. Gone are the days of debate on issues depending on logic and intellectual argument. Now it seems all the media does is try to prove to its audience that the competition is bias.

The word bias in the journalism world is so beyond wrong it is heightened to dishonesty, villainous. If you can make your competition look bias, then you have won!

Is this what we put our trust in? This type of malicious media that will stop at nothing to make their competition look bias, even if it means less focus on the real issues?

Bias

The title of this weblog implies that the words unbiased, impartial and objectivity exist. The URL of this site is politicallyobjective.wordpress.com. This is a play of words that shouldn’t exist, if so, to merely explain what does not exist in the world. If you already knew this, then the rest of this post will be nothing but entertainment rather than an informative lesson of sorts.

Each individual person has a unique predisposition of the how they view the world. Not one person has the same view, it’s like fingerprints. Some may get close, like identical twins, but it is never exactly the same.

Much of our bias is controlled by instinctual, primal urges. No one is an exception to these urges; the desire to procreate, eat to survive.

However, separate from our basic biases, is an extension of bias based on experience. We become influenced by experiences that occur on a regular basis in the duration of our lives. These experiences leaves marks, marks we, subconsciously, let do the talking, the actions.

So, although I am attempting to remain impartial, objective, unbiased… this cannot be completely true. I know that. But my stab at it will show that there may be a way to achieve what journalists today strive for: covering all sides, not letting others know what party you support, ideals you value and morals you live by.