Unvarnished Truth and Media Bias

A big question has been looming in the minds of the public for some time now. Is there media bias and if so, are they getting the whole truthful story? The media has become so pervasive in our lives, regardless of where one is ideologically positioned between the left and right, the question of media bias has unavoidably come to the forefront.

Is it the liberals, who more or less own the mainstream media and have been accused of manipulating their reporting to accommodate their particular party views? Or is it conservatives who are identified as doing the same thing. Many contend it’s possible to find evidence for both views.

In fact, some say the “Journalism 101” text book that teaches to refrain from bias and report the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, has been thrown out the window. Reporters of old who held these values dear watch today’s media coverage and sadly shake their heads in disbelief. The liberal left media denies any bias on their part, but then again, the right points out “Well, what do you expect them to say? They own the lion’s share of the market.”

In 2001 Bernard Goldberg, a twelve-time Emmy Award winning American, journalist and political pundit, published an exposé claiming to prove liberal bias in the mainstream news media. To prove his point he used a front-page photograph of President George Bush with a copy of his book, Bias, under his arm. But did this prove his thesis? According to Eric Alterman, author of the national best seller What Liberal Media?, Goldberg was not only wrong, but deliberately misleading.

A recent poll indicates 92% of Americans no longer trust the media. If this figure is correct, obviously the media is not doing their job. Americans are left reeling in confusion about what the truth on any given matter is. If the media is lying, it’s not enough to simply say they are. There’s various ways it can be done…outright bald faced lies or just omitting pertinent facts. Americans need to know how and why they lie.

What will the media report and what stories will they simply ignore, regardless of the public’s right to know? Do stories favoring conservatives get ignored or underreported so liberals get premium coverage or vice versa? Then there’s the issue of “fairness” some media like to talk about.

Actions speak louder than words. For example, Fox News is often criticized for its “fair and balanced” slogan. Regardless if one agrees with their coverage or not, the fact remains, when compared to other news outlets, Fox News does allow both liberal and conservative views whereas some allow virtually no conservative representation.

This statement will invariably draw criticism, but before anyone condemns this article, which would amount to bias, let’s examine a statement made by a leading liberal, Senator John Kerry.

“The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it’s exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual.”

Who decides what’s factual, the media? Their job is to present ALL sides of an argument fairly and equally…nothing more. Picking up a phone and calling sources of information until getting one who agrees with a certain opinion is not journalism.

Here’s the truth. One day you’ll click on a link and get the message, “Article no longer available,” because it has been purged by an entity that believes it’s in their best interest no one else gets to read it.

Have Americans degenerated into a bunch of intellectual morons who can be manipulated into believing what liberals or conservatives want them to, like animals being led to slaughter?

Americans deserve better than a media that shovels manure and calls it journalism. Here’s a novel idea. Why not have a media that does their job and inform us of just the pure, unvarnished truth and nothing else…wouldn’t that be nice?