Media Truth
We, in our connected, modern life, are inundated
with news, opinions and live, “Johnny on the spot” reports, from anywhere in
the world. Mountains of written press,
volumes of TV reports, and terabytes of online data are produced almost hourly,
to inform us, convince us, and more importantly, get us to buy something in the
interludes. And all of the media now
interfaces to ensure that we don’t escape the message that the media mavens are
pushing.
How much of the “news” we read or watch or access
online is true? To be honest, most of
the news that we consume is biased. And there are fact checkers to identify which
of the content out there is really unbiased news. Probably the best bias vetting website out
there is MediaBiasFactCheck, -https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/. FactCheck.org and TruthOrFiction.com are two
reliable, unbiased fact checkers. Snopes,
which was once considered balanced, is now rated as left of center.
At one time the network TV channels had Walter
Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow, or David Brinkley reading the news for a half
hour or so without any opinion or commentary.
Now we have highly paid opinion mongers like Rachel Maddow or Don Lemmon
or Tucker Carlson giving us their spin on the news, for an hour while we are
inundated with blasting 3-4 minutes of commercials in between segments.
The
Internet
Typically,
by default, most of us use Google Chrome as our web page, the Google search
engine for our online searches, and Wikipedia for our topic lookup. This ensures that we consistently are guided
to the left on most issues, because the algorithms embedded in all of the above
are designed to do exactly that – guide us consistently to a left view of
things. Similarly, the embedded
algorithms in Facebook, Twitter and other major social media platforms ensure
that we are guided to left-slanted views.
This
is not right-wing “bullshit”, in the words of Bill Barr. I have tested Wikipedia versus other
(Infogalactic) topic lookup engines, and you’d be amazed at the differences
found. (I used “Black Lives Matter” as a test topic). Also, Google Chrome and Google Search sets
you up for targeted ads. Ever wonder
why, when you look up socks or shirts, ads for these products seem to follow
you on line forever? Thank Google.
Alternatives? Use “Brave” in place of Google Chrome, for
web access. Use “Duckduckgo” in place of
Google search. (Funny name, but it works just fine). Use “Infogalactic” in place of
Wikipedia. This is a little cumbersome,
but it removes the Wikipedia’s bias.
Publications
You
can use MediaBiasFactCheck, as above, to vet various publications. Of the major newspapers, the New York Times
and the Washington Post are left-wing, almost to the point of propaganda. The Wall Street Journal slants to the right,
as does the Boston Herald. The National
Review Magazine is a well-respected conservative publication.
TV
Stations and Broadcasts
Most
network TV slants to the left. This
includes ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS. Cable news
channels CNN and MSNBC are almost propaganda tools for the democrats and the
left of politics. Fox News is pretty
well balanced to the right, and OAN, Newsmax and Breitbart are further right.
For
a discerning user of the news media, just watching ABC or CBS or Fox News, or
reading the New York Times or Wall Street Journal is not enough. Neither is just “googling” a topic on the
Internet. One really has to consider the
source and aims of the news outlet in question.
On controversial topics, it also helps to peruse or listen to both sides
of the argument and not just automatically gravitate to “your view”.
Ray
Gruszecki
June
17, 2022
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