“Most of us would like newspapers — and television, for that matter — to present the news in a manner free from bias.”
I can’t remember the particular article that had me stop buying newspapers a couple years ago, but it was brewing/stewing for years before I finally had it (biased reporting in the news). I got hooked on CNN 24/7 news (television) but that “reporting” ended up following the same agenda as the newspapers and I finally had enough and turned my tv news off shortly after this past U.S. election. I was watching live the night Soledad O’Brien declared that the panel voted “overwhelmingly” in Obama’s favor for that night’s debate (we all saw the amount of hands–it was thisclose to being 50/50)–I actually gasped out loud with how brazen she was. For months I listened to Anderson Cooper subtly diffuse anything positive about Hillary (and I wasn’t even voting for her), George Bush, any republican, and to Cameron Brown’s “no bias no bull” stories about Palin and how CNN (both tv & web) reported on Palin (and she wasn’t a favorite pick of mine)…I had enough. For a news medium to allow itself to be a political attack machine or a propaganda arm is shameful–and frankly, doesn’t deserve to prosper in any way.
Soon after the election I tried watching a CNN special Soledad did on Jim Jones–and I couldn’t even look at the screen when she was on. I had no faith or trust in her reporting…”what is she trying to make me believe”…”what is the real truth”…and for me to have questions like that for something so sinister as the Jim Jones tragedy, well I knew the goose was cooked for CNN.
The goose is overcooked for paper, tv and any mainstream media outlet. It’s not a “dittohead” thing. Society is getting more sophisticated, learning to question, paying attention to the messaging being beamed out to them, and keeping their eyes open. We won’t be spoonfed what to believe anymore, at least a significant and growing number of us. And the media has only themselves to blame. They should have had more honor for their profession and respect for the integrity of their reporting, but they sold out for ego, money, power, fame, who knows.
It’s true that there’s danger when a free society loses its “4th Estate” in it’s purest form (reporting without bias), but it bailed on us long ago. It’s been Puppet Master Theater for too many years. Although MSM knows *we know*, there’s enough of the population that is still able to be manipulated without question to keep the game going for awhile. I think what’s going on right now (talk of failing papers, losing money, etc.) is that they’re squirming in their seats for some government bailout money. Could be considered “Payment Due For Services Rendered” for this administration.
