By Karen Neill
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All of us are familiar with media. Whether it’s print or broadcast media or the internet, we have all come into contact with it. There are tons of sites, papers, channels and other methods of receiving information. But how much of that information is accurate? Why is it important that we are able to separate the reliable from the unreliable?
Recently, due to our dependence on the internet and mobile networking within the last decade, we have become able to type nearly anything into Google and get a response. This is fantastic when you are looking to get an answer to a math problem or find out the meaning of a poem, but what about when it comes to world news? You look for articles on global warming and find one site telling you we need to act now, another telling you it doesn’t exist, and hundreds more with their own theories and facts to back these theories up. It’s now nearly impossible to find only one answer to a question.
Ideally and traditionally, news medias are meant to stay as unbiased as possible, giving the people reading or listening to the facts the opportunity to create their own opinions on the world. This may not seem to be the most important thing, but our individual opinions shape the opinions of our society as a whole, which can in turn make major changes to the way we live, so where we get our facts and how they are presented to us is an extremely important factor.
Take the events following Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo. New information or coverage of the developing situation has, for the most part, lead to topics either demonizing the local police or justifying their actions by claiming Brown’s accused theft in some way elicited multiple gun shots, including two to the head. This has left people unsure of what to make of the situation or wary of which side they should take.
Similarly, news stations such as Fox News and MSNBC are publicly known for their apparent bias. President Barack Obama himself has stated on ‘The O’Reilly Factor,’ a show on Fox News hosted by Bill O’Reilly, that O’Reilly and the station are biased and unfair. And yet strangely it is also one of the most watched news stations in America. In fact, Fox has been the number one cable news network for over 12 years straight, beating CNN and MSNBC combined in viewers. It seems as if our tendency of craving entertainment in all aspects of our lives has crept into how we see news as well, and as I doubt that will change, we must at least be aware of it.
Be cautious of the abundance of opinions mixed within newspapers, broadcasts, blogs, etc. However, also learn to keep your mind open and take it all in, as really there is no escaping it. Don’t base your thoughts and ideas on the first thing you read or hear; continue on to read different perspectives and interpretations of events. You may find there are things you agree with from multiple, contradicting sources.
Lastly, but far from least, establish credible sources with reliable information that you can get the facts and truth from. As humans, it is a difficult task to keep emotions out of our work, but there are publications out there that do a better job of it. Whether it is the New York or L.A. Times or the Washington Post, find sources you trust. This way, when people are trying to impose their thoughts on you, you have a base knowledge to stand on and make it easier when determining what to believe. I believe you will find it easier to judge for yourself what is most likely true and build your way up from there to create and shape your own unique stance.
