Mass Media

A lot of the media is being criticized for lack of objectivity, for being biased. I'm reading about politics in the late 1800's and back then each party had papers loyal to it. When you picked up a newspaper, you knew it was guaranteed to be biased and what the bias would be. Personally I think that makes a lot more sense then the pretending media does today. Fox News should drop the Fair and Balanced moniker and just admit who they are: The Network for Right Wingers. The same for New York Times, just admit they are The Newspaper for Liberal Bias. Don't hide your bias, embrace it! Then we can read or view the media and know where it's coming from and how to intrepret it.

Of course the world is not as black and white as the political right/left concept tries to make it. This is a relative world we live in, there is no escaping that. Personally, I think the "liberal bias" in the media is a reflection of the nature of journalism. The job of a reporter is to report every perspective, to show the direction the world is taking. A reporter is supposed to have his finger on the pulse of change. Entertainers also reflect change, if they are not creating the change to begin with. And of course all journalism is supposed to report the facts, to report the truth. All of these things are the values of a liberal. The liberal embraces change, embraces freedom, embraces liberty. The conservative tries to protect current values. Sometimes this means ignoring facts, fabricating truth, in order to preserve the existing worldview.

The greatest problem with mass media today is money. The networks insist on making a profit. This means they must avoid aggravating advertisers. It also means the news must be slanted to attract viewers and ratings. They spend their money on dozens of talking heads, with no money left to spend on actual research. The Truth often suffers in the pursuit of personal gain.