Masuk Free Press

Every day, there is something new happening in our lives. It doesn’t matter if that means we take a new way to work or are studying something new in school; there is no true monotony in our world, except ironically, when it comes to the news. The stories being covered may be new, but the way that bias has been injected into everything has gotten old really fast. 

           Whether we like it or not, we need the news; not just because Americans need to know what is happening around them, but also so our democracy can continue to function. So what are we to do when this institution lies to, manipulates, and divides us?                                                                                                                                            The media is supposed to give us information and allow us to interpret it ourselves, but in today’s world, many media agencies, from CNN to FOX to the BBC and beyond, have an agenda. It has become very difficult to listen to anything they have to say without hearing someone’s opinion or feelings mixed in.

The truth is not subjective, but many in today’s media like to pretend that it is. Whether they do this by using certain words in a headline or just outright telling falsehoods, it’s clear that this trend has reached a lot of the journalistic world.

I’m sure we’ve all seen news videos on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, many times over. I’m also sure that we all know that we can trust those sources about as far as we can throw them, which isn’t very far. We also need to recognize how algorithm bias can create a space of compound bias in which both you and the internet are working to prevent any outside ideas from getting to your For-You page.

As a writer for our school’s newspaper, I get nervous if I make a typo, let alone purposely lie to the people who are reading my stories entirely. I may not be a professional, but it’s not hard to think that using your influence to lie to the public is wrong and should not be allowed.

Americans have taken notice of these activities, though. According to Gallup polls, in the 1970s, 68 to 70 percent of adults expressed confidence in news reporting; today, this number has fallen sharply to 28 percent. This decline in trust towards something that is supposed to help and protect us is so devastating to see. This is especially true in an era where we are supposed to have more access to information than ever and be able to see the world around us much more clearly.

“[I see it] pretty often…it’s pretty annoying. I don’t like it,” said senior Riya Pooskur. “In the headlines, wording, the way they just frame the whole story and leave out a lot of details.

The manipulation that comes from this misuse of power is not hidden either. While on the treadmill at my gym, I am able to view FOX and CNN side-by-side on the big TV’s in front of me. Do you know what is always so eye-catching to me? How different the stories being covered are, and the aforementioned language used. 

CNN might be calling President Trump’s newest policy a complete disaster, while FOX is saying it is the greatest policy ever established in the history of the United States. 

“I don’t really watch the news that often, but oftentimes on certain networks you can see bias, especially because you know certain networks have sponsors and those who also sponsor other people,” said senior Klaudia Jaworska.

This overload is so exhausting that sometimes I just want to throw my phone away and go live in a cave somewhere, and I know I’m not alone. The practices of the media are causing people to choose between listening to earfuls of biased junk or nothing at all. This uneven distribution of “knowledge” is more than unfair; it’s unjust. 

People need to hear what is happening, no matter the time or place, but their ability to do so is being messed with. Anyone who watches or reads the news too often has to confront a warzone of bias and indecency so disturbing that it is beginning to reflect the plot of certain novels.               

We’ve all read dystopian novels at one point or another, so let’s remember a line from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: “Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information.”

As much as we probably don’t want to believe it, this dystopian existence is becoming our reality. Some think they know everything because their news source told them and no one is willing to talk or debate because they think they are always right. In today’s world, events as simple as family dinners to ones as complex as international meetings have become unbearable to participate in.

Polarization has been brought into a space that is supposed to be one of truth. It only furthers the divide America is already experiencing. The news is becoming more and more opinionated, and those opinions are becoming increasingly radical. Coupling that with a complete disregard for professionalism and hard journalism that is so popular today, we just create a better environment tensions and chaos to rise.

Opinions dressed up as facts are being given the most coverage and airtime, leaving little room for unbiased or even just moderate reporting. By allowing certain voices to be heard en masse, the media creates an echo chamber for itself that all of us are forced to listen to. Some news organizations like Ground News have been created to show the bias in stories across the media, but they can only do so much.

“I don’t think it’s possible to be unbiased, but I do believe some sources are better at being a little more moderate, and I think there is just no way to be completely unbiased, so it’s important to look at both sides or at least focus on the moderate discussion”, said Pooskur.

Bias on some level is unavoidable in any piece of media; there is the surface, but also the subconscious. This wouldn’t be a big issue at all if it weren’t so prevalent in our world, but it is. The bias we see today just facilitates the further decay of what is supposed to be the greatest society in the world, because even the most obvious examples of it are not being checked.

Media bias isn’t new, but neither is fraud, defamation or extortion. Does that mean we should allow those things to go unpunished or happen in general because we are simply too tired to fight for what is right? Absolutely not. This was not okay in the past, and it certainly isn’t in this new age of development and intellectualism.

We need to come together and put an end to this problem wherever and whenever we see it. News outlets need to be regulated and fact-checked, reporters need to be trained to keep bias out of reports, and Americans as a whole need to work to expunge this damaging activity from our society.

“I feel like there’s always been legal action concerning this, through every part of history, but in general I feel like they should remain unbiased by giving sponsors some lines they shouldn’t cross, even though it’s hard, I believe that it’s better for the citizens…,” said Jaworska.

In the future, be sure to fact-check new stories, be aware of bias in everything from headlines to your algorithm itself, find as many unbiased sources as you can, and call out bias when and where you see it. Even if the effort to stop trusting leads to nothing more than a few words being taken out of an article title, then it will still be worth it.  By working to stop media bias, we are fighting to preserve the country that our ancestors gave their lives to create.