Nowadays, the news is riddled with opinions on the subject rather than actual facts. It's become increasingly difficult to find media that isn't overtly left or right in the search for factual news. Some of my past research based classes have instructed me to look at charts like this one, showing where popular news sources fall on the scale between Liberal and Conservative, as well as between opinion based versus fact based reporting.
In an attempt to avoid participating in confirmation bias, I tend to look toward these five sources:
Like most people my age, I'm often made aware of major news first through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. While I think we can all agree that social media platforms are not reliable sources, these programs in which users can easily share and repost media make it easy for news to spread fast. And while that can be seen as both a good and bad thing, there's no denying that social media can get people talking about current events shortly after they occur.
Of course, the downside of social media is that it is largely algorithm based, so each user's feed is tailored specific to them based on previous posts they've liked and viewed, making it near impossible to stumble upon posts conveying opinions different to those the user already held.
Growing up, I'd often end up listening to Fox News, simply because it's what my dad would put on the t.v. when he was watching the news. I can honestly say I have never been a fan of Fox News, the constant yelling and berating of the opposing party always bothered me. While I dislike the t.v. news portion of Fox, I don't mind occasionally reading articles posted by them in order to look at a story from a perspective I don't typically agree with.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also like to look at CNN, as their opinion pieces tend to align more with my personal views. While CNN does demonstrate a left leaning bias, I feel that they're able to do it without openly mocking the right. As compared to other opinion based sources on the bias chart pictured above, CNN is the one I gravitate toward as it still fairly close, although still slightly left, to the neutral standpoint.
Looking at a more neutral source, I also love National Public Radio. I particularly enjoy the wide range of podcasts they offer, as well as the radio news. NPR does a really great job presenting a wide range of topics, be that updates on current events, to new entertainment reviews. Where it's necessary, I think NPR also does well to incorporate differing opinions into the same piece. This works well to remind us that people can agree to disagree, rather than continue to polarize people for having different opinions.
Lastly, and while this might be a controversial one, British Broadcasting Corporation is likely my favorite news source. Because BBC is a British based news source, they provide an unbiased outsider's perspective into American political issues. While most other media sources truly sway left or right, or fail to keep the writers' personal opinions out of the posts, I've found that BBC actually manages to present news, simply as "here's what's going on in the world" which actually allows the consumer to form their own opinions rather than just following in the footsteps of the anchor or journalist presenting the information.
No comments:
Post a Comment