Fair and Balanced

Media coverage in our modern world has bias. It is nearly impossible to report the news without it. As consumers, we are given a choice. Who do we watch and why? I enjoy watching a myriad of different news sources for different reasons. Fox is my favorite for political commentary. NBC is my number one choice for domestic news. On international issues I often look to new sources outside of the United States such as the BBC. Recognizing who I trust and who I don't is important. CNN and CBS are not my favorite because I feel their perspective comes more from the left. That is all well and good if you are a viewer who expects that and aligns with that particular perspective. This is the freedom of choice. Watching news is not the only method in which to discover information. Reading is a actually a relaxing outlet for me to catch up on current events. Magazines and newspapers certainly have a similar bias to that of the major news conglomerates. For example, I would never read The New York Times because they lack credibility in my eyes due to their passionate pursuit of a political agenda. The Washington Post is more up my ally. In an ideal world, the news could always be trusted and the print we see in the paper could as well. However, this not being the case- it is the responsibility of the consumer to make well educated choices about what they tune in to and to hold the news conglomerates accountable. I feel that in this day and age where controversy abounds, no one can truly say that they are fair and balanced. It is a daunting challenge, but as consumers we must have the deft ability to sort through the coverage and find the facts ourselves. With this being such a time consuming task it is easy to see why so many Americans watch news for entertainment or become distracted by the superficial world of entertainment. This trend certainly needs to change and it is up to all of us to make that transition into a more media savvy realm.