THE FACE OF MEDIA BIAS

I have a confession to make…

I have not watched any news channels in well over a decade. If I wanted to find out what was going on in the world, I would go to the news websites that I know will take different sides on an issue.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was during the civil war in Syria. There was a chemical attack on multiple villages of innocent civilians and children. One side was controlled by government forces allied with Russia, and the other side was controlled by western-backed rebels.

 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which I considered a reliable news source and respected for trying to remain impartial on international issues, only reported on the rebel-controlled village and directly blamed the Syrian government for the attack or conflict.

It just so happened that there was “Russia Today (RT)”, a Russian government-sponsored news channel, talking about the same attack with extensive coverage. RT’s bias is already well-known and demonstrated.

I was curious what they would say about the issue. To my amazement, they reported that there were two attacks of the same type, both well documented and they proceeded to underhandedly ridicule western media for their one-sided and biased reporting.

You can find dozens of examples like this. There is no doubt that journalism has degraded in the past 20-30 years. The question is: How can this be fixed?

There is a clear lack of integrity across the board on all sides of mainstream media. The only place you might find any fairness for integrity is in independent media, and even then, they are not too reliable – due to a smaller scale of operation and personal bias. Unfortunately, the only thing mainstream media seems to care about is pushing their political narratives and advertisement revenue.

It is hard to hit the media on the political front simply because they can stonewall any argument and then misdirect (as the Fox News network likes to do) or throw their favorite bunch of isms, etc.

On the other hand, money and advertisers are much simpler to deal with. Do not give them your view. Without those ratings, the propaganda machine simply cannot get advertisements, and thus, will look the other way. Perhaps they will even start using facts, though that is unlikely. Look into independent media or smaller news sources for news or information. They must work for your view and interest. Make your viewing and news interest worth something.

Always do your research to find a news agency that aligns itself with proper journalistic practices.

I cannot think of a better way of broadening one’s horizons and dealing with the media cancer that we have today.