The American public’s political opinions have been polarized over the last few years. The news sources that the public receive are swaying the opinions, whether being left or right winged. The bias in different news outlets have been appearing more and more that many Americans don’t know which outlet to believe.
The main outlets that have been under attack for media bias is Fox News for being right leaning and CNN for left. News with political affiliation adds more fuel to the fire when the competing parties already are on edge with each other. The delivering of unbiased news is important for the public to receive valuable and accurate information.
It was found that Americans who identify as Republicans or that lean right often had different news sources, than Democrats or left leaning individuals. The problem of this is the misinformation that is being spread through different news outlets.
Recently, Tucker Carlson, the main head of the Fox News network, a right leaning news station on television, was released from the network. He has been often criticized from both right and left leaning Americans, for his extreme views and discussion. He was let go from the network in a defamation lawsuit for firing many journalists he didn’t like their work and often denigrated colleagues in profane and sexist language.
An example of spreading wrong information was Carlson falsely portraying rioters as “mostly peaceful” who had innocently ambled into the Capitol. He received countless video footage from Speaker Kevin McCarthy. To back his point that the rioters were shown in the wrong but in reality they stormed into the capital and were accurately shown in the other news outlets.
The media will often edit and reword information to fit their news network. Fox News is not the only place where this has happened. Don Lemon, a CNN anchor also was recently fired for inappropriate actions.
CNN a left leaning news station has been a popular choice to receive news, however is unliked by many. Don Lemon was caught using sexist language against a Republican candidate. He discussed the 51 year old candidate was not, “in her prime.” Although, this is not spreading misinformation, this is slander of the other party. Since CNN is a well known left leaning network most viewers that agree with the anchors will receive opinions from the news outlets.
Finding a news source that is reliable can be difficult, however not impossible. The outright or unconscious bias of reporters or unintentional bias from equally biased research papers and sites. Although finding unbiased new sources is not impossible , no news outlet is completely unbiased. In fact instead of “unbiased” it should be called, “the best least biased.”
To avoid news bias, it’s important to consume news from a variety of sources, including those that may have different political perspectives. It’s also helpful to be aware of the potential for bias and to critically evaluate news stories based on the evidence presented.
The best thing to remember is to consume news from multiple sources, instead of relying on just one news outlet. Realizing your own bias is also a key component as well. Try to overcome them by seeking out opposing viewpoints and considering all sides of an issue. By identifying these issues and considering other points of views, receiving unbiased news can be easier than expected.
The American public consumes media daily so making sure that unbiased information is being spread instead of the opposite is an important factor to not spread misinformation. Also the stereotype of, “don’t trust everything that you read online,” can correlate and relate to the topic of misinformation. A false narrative can spread fast online without the public realizing it isn’t true.
Realizing and changing the way you access the internet and information is important to help receive the best sources. Not realizing that misinformation and biased news is a problem can be harmful to the public, especially to the American public.
