Biased News

Even at the best of times, the media is never really unbiased on political topics. As Tim Harford wrote back in 2010, about the British election:
“It was a typical election for the newspapers, each one setting out its political stall in its own style… But why do newspapers take strong political positions?... The obvious explanation is that proprietors use papers as political tools… An alternative view is that readers do not want a determinedly unbiased reporting of dry facts, but wish to be entertained and to have our biases confirmed.”
Could it be otherwise, wonders Harford:
“In a world full of left- and right-leaning customers, perhaps impartiality is a luxury a commercial newspaper can ill-afford.”
But outside of election time, the media did try to strike some sort of balance (How far they succeeded is another question). As Barrack Obama joked during one of his comedy routines at the White House:
“I admire [CNN's] commitment to covering all sides of a story...just in case one of them happens to be accurate.”

Fast forward to present day. CNN, like so many other Western media, has gone so overboard in its anti-Trump hysteria about every appointment, policy and tweet that it’s hard to watch/read any of them anymore. Alan Jacobs describes the current situation perfectly:
“Trump’s description of the major news media as his “opposition” strikes me as an essentially accurate description, and while on one hand I think he deserves all the opposition he gets, on the other hand I’d like newspapers, magazines, and even some television networks to be places where I can go to find out what’s actually happening in the world — rather than places to accumulate anti-Trump ammunition.”
And as Michael Kinsley wrote, all this may just be hardening Trump’s stance:
“There is also the argument that you help him by encouraging victimisation, the idea that the eastern media elite is out to get him.”

So if all mainstream media is biased, is there any way to get the facts? Yes, but it takes effort. Read/listen to both kinds of media. Balance the leftist-since-Trump CNN with a Russian channel (yes!) like Russia Today. A few examples would help:
1)     Relations between Trump and Russia:
CNN/Western media view: Russia has information on Trump (aka blackmail) + they hacked the elections to help Trump win; so Russia basically have him in their pocket. Hence Trump will be pro-Russia.
Russia Today view: The Democrats are sore losers; they blame Russia for Hillary’s loss. American politicians are so blinded by their hatred for Russia that they won’t even want their country to align with Russia on topics where their interests are the same. Like ISIS and terrorism.
2)    Germany’s continuous rants against Trump:
CNN/Western media view: Yes, Germany is right. Trump is evil.
Russia Today view: Typical imperialistic mindset: Europeans have a divine right to dictate other countries’ policies!

The next time you find yourself being swayed by how a TV channel presents or “analyzes” a topic, ask yourself these questions. Isn’t the media a profit seeking corporation too? Would they voice the opinion their viewers are likely to align with? Are all of them funded transparently? Are all of them ensuring their owners/anchors/editors have no political ties?

At least, a stock analyst has to declare his share-holdings when voicing his views… no such conditions apply to the news media, who happily peddle their bias and call it news or even worse, objective. The onus is on us to find alternate views and then come to our own conclusions. Yes, that’s hard but whining about the bias isn’t a solution…

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