2008 Woodie Awards
Is media bias healthy or unhealthy to society?
Matt Flanagan
Opinion Editor
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Opinion
While it's easy to make the argument that the media is the guard tower from which all information passes through and reaches the public (thereby dictating the news to us), it is also just as easy to make the argument that the media is just as casual an observer as the rest of us, and that they let the news dictate itself.
Maybe I'm just an idealist, which would make you all see what I'm writing with a rather skeptical eye, I imagine.
I think, however, that for particular subject matters there are at least two, if not more sides to every story, and that the subject of bias in the media is one of them. It's a topic of great importance, for it pertains to how we take information in, what information, what we choose to discover about that information, etc.
You might even argue that it's the most important question in all of human existence.
With that said, do I think there's bias in the media? Yes.
Do I think the media reports based on that bias? Yes, and inescapably so (the media IS a human entity). But I do not think that their bias necessarily affects the way we see the events.
Here is my point: As human beings, we're gonna have biases toward everything: from simple decisions like what shirt to wear, to large issues like what kind of career you want. This is a fact of the nature of everyday things.
As is, I believe that the news -- being real events based upon real, everyday things -- happens in reality and thus the media, in turn, reflect it and not the bias or opinion of the networks or writers.
I believe they point their cameras or write their articles, and let us decide (coincidently I just quoted a slogan from Fox News, too, which is infamous for having a conservative bias).
I will agree that there is a certain amount of bias inherent in the topics presented. It may sell more newspapers or gain more ratings to have a story on Britney Spears' love affairs than to talk about a person's kitten being saved from a burning building.
However, regardless of the topic, we all experience a type of bias in the way we perceive things. It's possible that the kitten may belong to a celebrity, or that the fireman won an award for outstanding civil conduct. Shouldn't that trump the celebrity story?
"No, of course not, Matt, it's a celebrity story versus a kitten in a tree."
The point of view you take on the topic is what really counts, not the views of the reporters.
Their job is basically to imitate your eyes and ears, while your job is to perceive the news through your own lens.
Maybe I'm just an idealist, which would make you all see what I'm writing with a rather skeptical eye, I imagine.
I think, however, that for particular subject matters there are at least two, if not more sides to every story, and that the subject of bias in the media is one of them. It's a topic of great importance, for it pertains to how we take information in, what information, what we choose to discover about that information, etc.
You might even argue that it's the most important question in all of human existence.
With that said, do I think there's bias in the media? Yes.
Do I think the media reports based on that bias? Yes, and inescapably so (the media IS a human entity). But I do not think that their bias necessarily affects the way we see the events.
Here is my point: As human beings, we're gonna have biases toward everything: from simple decisions like what shirt to wear, to large issues like what kind of career you want. This is a fact of the nature of everyday things.
As is, I believe that the news -- being real events based upon real, everyday things -- happens in reality and thus the media, in turn, reflect it and not the bias or opinion of the networks or writers.
I believe they point their cameras or write their articles, and let us decide (coincidently I just quoted a slogan from Fox News, too, which is infamous for having a conservative bias).
I will agree that there is a certain amount of bias inherent in the topics presented. It may sell more newspapers or gain more ratings to have a story on Britney Spears' love affairs than to talk about a person's kitten being saved from a burning building.
However, regardless of the topic, we all experience a type of bias in the way we perceive things. It's possible that the kitten may belong to a celebrity, or that the fireman won an award for outstanding civil conduct. Shouldn't that trump the celebrity story?
"No, of course not, Matt, it's a celebrity story versus a kitten in a tree."
The point of view you take on the topic is what really counts, not the views of the reporters.
Their job is basically to imitate your eyes and ears, while your job is to perceive the news through your own lens.
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