News media is so important for our society. This is how our society is informed of what events are currently, recently or to eventually happen. The problem with news media is that different stations are biased. The worst thing that ever to news stations is the injection of influences, funding and political views. Funding, I believe, is the biggest of all issues because the world revolves around money and every business/organization news a revenue stream to stay in business. Here is a scenario to help better understand my previous statement. Imagine if CNN received an annual investment from Coca-Cola then at some point in that year Coca-Cola is found to be involved in a scandal of some sort. Now CNN is a reliable source of news for millions of people all over the world, CNN must deliver the story but they’ll probably bend the truth in areas and try to minimize the situation to keep their investors happy. Scenarios as such are not uncommon and that is why people often have their reliable news sources.

Probably the two biggest news stations are CNN and Fox News both are enormously influenced by political parties and this past election outlined that. Fox News is viewed as leaning right and because of that the station is loved by Republicans. In a survey done by Business Insider asking responders to choose the most and least bias news stations, Fox News was viewed as the most bias new station for said Democrats but then the least bias for said Republicans. On the other scope, CNN was viewed as the most bias for said Republicans and was at the top tier for least bias with said Democrats. Then you have MSNBC which holds a tier in the middle of the field. Holding middle ground is not something that individuals like, they want a right or wrong answer and if that can’t be achieved then they want you to pick a side. MSNBC doesn’t do either of these so, it comes as no surprise that the network received negative feedback from both political parties. The question that resides is how can news programs that are supposedly spreading the same message have such different views to viewers. The media decides what points of interest to maximize and minimize, sides are chosen with many topics and issues of the world, and in effect you have individuals that form positions based on what the media highlights.

I am not much into politics so when it comes to watching the news I don’t have much a personal bias nor do I pay attention much to what they initially speak on. I always let the news play out before deciding what is right or wrong and if the news is that important to me then I will do my own research to find my answers before believing anyone else. The media has proven to just be a race for facts and because of that you’ll often receive misleading or even completely false information. In a world that rely so heavily on media coverage, who do we as the people turn for the truth?

Questions for response:

What news station do you watch on a regular?

Have you ever heard completely false information from the news?