Should we trust the media anymore? I am starting to wonder BIG TIME
By lilwonders
@lilwonders456 (8214)
United States
July 21, 2010 8:49pm CST
In light of fox news recent blunder (I don't really think it was a accident) and the recent media-gate (that no one is talking about). I think we need to take a real hard look at our so called press and media. What do we have?
We have journalists and media organizations that are deciding "what is news" and "how they are going to report it" to control how the public thinks or feels about certain issues. Or even inventing (making up, lying, etc) stories to distract from something "they" don't want us to focus on. They are putting their political beliefs BEFORE their ethics or journalist integrity. I think this is rampant on both sides of the fence.
But here is the Media-gate I am talking about:
http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/20/documents-show-media-plotting-to-kill-stories-about-rev-jeremiah-wright/
You can read about more that this conspiracy ( I don't know what else to call it)
http://dailycaller.com/
I am not saying their is only a liberal conspiracy out there to control what people see and hear on the "news"...the conservatives are doing it too. If you don't think they are then you need to take a harder look at how they report their stories too.
So...how does it make you feel to know they think you are stupid and need to be told what is news and what isn't? How does it feel to know they are manipulating us?
Telling us what is news and what isn't. What we should focus on and when to distract us from something they don't want you to focus on?
Not so warm and fuzzy huh? What we have is several new orgainzation getting together to talk about and discuss how to change public opinion and perception to what "they" want it to be. that is a conspiracy.
Do we have free press anymore? Or are they so in bed with the political parties that they are really just an extention of the parties themselves? Therefore just propaganda and not really news?
Tell me what you think. Why is the fact we don't have journalistic integrity anymore talked about more? Why do we stand for it?
I can't name one news organization that just tells it like it is anymore. They all have their political party agenda to push..which changes how they report stories or if they ignore something because it would hurt "their" party.
1 person likes this
11 responses
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
22 Jul 10
Well I think it just shows that you can't trust any one, or two news sources. I find that often the most reliable and comprehensive news comes from more local sources rather than national or cable news. That said some local sources can also be extremely biased.
When I lived in Tampa I remember the St. Petersburg Times was pretty extreme with the left wing views. Once they even wrote an article criticizing Bill O'Reilly for questioning a judge who let a convicted rapist free, pending appeal. The man had raped a mentally disabled boy and lived in the same neighborhood as his victim.
Either way, it's important to thoroughly check any stories and not just trust your first source.
1 person likes this
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
It agree they have their own slant. But what really bugs me about this is you have journalist from several different media sources and newpapers talking together to decide how to further their political agenda.Not giving a damn about journalist integrity. They are basically a conpiracy to shape the election coverage in a way to get the outcome they want. Not just one network...but several working together to shape the news and the public's perception of it in order to manipulate an election. Isn't that illegal? It definately is unethical.
In reading their emails they clearly cared nothing for reporting the news...they care about how they could report stories to best help Obama and hurt McCain. There acting like a campaign group...not journalist.
I know the other side does it too...which leave me with absolutely no faith in our media at all or any kind.
Yet you don't see CNN or MSNBC or even Fox really covering this. I consider this to be BIG news. You would exspect any news source that wanted to be taken seriously would be covering this...exposing those unethical journalists and doing their dangest to distance themselves from them and their actions. But instead they are helping to cover it up by not covering it at all and ignore this horrible and in my opinion criminal behavior.
@jb78000 (15139)
•
22 Jul 10
journalistic integrity is one of the classic oxymorons. sounds like your tv stations are like our papers, mainly tabloids. all spin everything. our tv news is not so bad but you can detect slight bias in that too sometimes. all you can do is watch at least two stations, with conflicting agendas, and try and figure out the real story for yourselves. just watch one and you'll end up becoming misinformed, as unfolding events discussed show. you might be lucky enough to find one you can more or less trust but even these get things wrong sometimes.
1 person likes this
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
Yep that about sums it up. Misinformation everywhere. To find the truth takes a lot of time and effect..which most americans don't do. they watch their favorite news channel and believe the spin that is fed to them.
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
26 Jul 10
No, we shouldn't completely trust the media, or at least just not just one source. I think we should also be wary of the outwardly conservative and the outwardly liberal blogs, publications and networks. For example, I'd hardly consider the source you used for this post to be very reliable if it's "fair and balanced" you're looking for. The editor-in-chief of the DailyCaller is Tucker Carlson, long time right-wing pundit. That's pretty close to accepting Andrew Breitbart's word as the truth.
About "Media-Gate" - most if not all of the time when something "earns" the suffix of "gate" it has more to do with the cover-up of something than the actual "crime". Usually, there has been some success, at least for awhile, in hiding whatever it is they're trying to cover up. In the case of Reverend Wright, they sure did NOT hide him at all! As you know, I don't watch the "right wing" stations or pundits and yet I heard that snippet from his sermon so many times it drove me to distraction. I think the kind of "plots" by the opinion journalists mentioned in this article is nothing new. Both parties have political and media consultants who tell the politicians, their staffs and members of the media who are on "their side" what catch phrases or words to use and when and how to change the subject when certain topics come up.
I think the main problem these days is the line between "news" and "commentating" has been so blurred it's difficult to tell the difference. That came about with the arrival of all the 24/7 news networks as well as all the blogs and news and political websites online today along with more radio talk shows than ever before. People like you and I know the difference and do our own research and refuse to depend solely on on source for all our news and information. The problem is many people don't seem to know the difference!
Annie
@elmiko (6630)
• United States
22 Jul 10
this is an excellent discussion. the media is absolutely trying to change public opinion and perception alot of the time. it does sound like a conspiracy. the media is more about corporate interests these days. also when you got 24/7 news channels of course you can't(or i can't at the least)expect the channels just to report the news. of course their going to spread their opinions because they got so much air time. theirs a difference though too. theirs more news coverage during the day. during the night however their is more opinions journalism which involves not just the news but opinions from prime time news shows. to stay away from opinions and agendas just watch the 30 minute news shows either on cbs,abc, or nbc. 30 minutes is enough to get the most important news daily. your going to get opinions from 24/7 news channels always. they just got too much air time on their hands. think about it when the news was just reported the world didn't have 24/7 news channels.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
24/7 news certainly has changed how news is reported....but also the fact that the news USED to stay out of the political fray. But now they have all chosen sides and are really just propagenda machines for "their" party.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
22 Jul 10
I can't name one major news organization that just tells it like it is anymore either. I think the problem is that they're owned by very rich people or groups who want to push their personal agendas...and they have control. This is why I get my news from a variety of sources. This is also why I listen to talk radio. It's mostly opinion...both left and right...but the radio stations don't have the same kind of control over what radio personalities say.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
did you read the emails going back and forth between those reporters? They were basically working together to try and get "their" candidate elected...even if it meant lying, cheating and making up stories.
You would exspect that kind of BS from campaigns..but from supposively "respected" journalists...it was eye opening to me. They had their agenda and "fairly" covering the election was not part of it. They were out to get Obama elected any way they could.
@lacieice (2060)
• United States
22 Jul 10
In my opinion, all news media have their own agenda. They sensationalize everything to pull viewers in. Even the local news does it. They give an astonshing headline, then you watch the news, and the story is completely different than what they led you to believe.
It's all about money...pulling in viewers to get ratings.
There's an old saying that applies here: Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.
1 person likes this
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
22 Jul 10
well some of the news outlets out there are a little biased so i dont trust them fully.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
I would say just about all of them are biased to one degree or another.
@OpinionatedLady (5966)
• United States
22 Jul 10
I have to say I stopped believing what the media said years ago. I learned this when friends over seas in the military would not only tell me stories of there time but have pictures and video of it. One had video of Afghan peoples not only welcoming them into their village but hugging and kissing them. They had been filming the entering of the village for a guide who had not been home for over two years and they thought it would be good to document his home coming which was able to happen because they had freed him from some where. At the time our media had been pushing stories about how the people there did not want the Americans there at all and how horrible everything our service men and woman did. I lost all respect for all of the media at the time. More recently I watched the journalist on a morning show interviewing both a Republican and and Democrat reps. He blatantly cut off and would not let the republican speak his mind. Being down right rude while letting the Democrat speak all he wished. Now I then watched on another channel the opposite. I would love to know how these journalists and media stations say they are unbiased as they blatantly disrespect one party or the other by their own orientation.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
I check mulitple sources and do my own research anymore before I feel I have gotten the whole story..which ticks me off. Why can't just tell the facts and let us make up our own minds?
The political parties own our media. Some are on the lefts side...some are on the rights side...none of are on "our" side. Which would be giving us the truth..the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
1 person likes this
@ehsanji (503)
• Pakistan
22 Jul 10
I totally agree with you. There is this media hype and the news channels publicize in an exaggerated and often misleading manner. Media is big time used to stereotype something and masses' thinking is controlled. For example, media in the U.S. and other European countries show Islam's theme as a religion that necessitates or exacts its followers towards extremism etc. Which is totally the other way around. So I think we need not to believe what they tell us on their channels. Plus, another thing about the media; the spice up the news, because by doing so they get the audience level increasing, which means more viewers, and more viewers watching the commercials, and the companies will surely pay them more and more. So all those freaks in the media are making tons of money.
@Ezra710 (135)
• United States
22 Jul 10
I stopped watching the main stream news outlets years ago. News is no longer reported factually. The reporter or editor has to add their personal feelings into the report or take the stance on the issue that the news organization represents. They don't even try to remain neutral. I do believe there are attempts to manipulate opinions and to steer peoples thinking in a certain direction. It is better to search out the news elsewhere, but even doing that is troublesome at times. It can be hard to tell the wovlves from the sheep, when the wolves are dressed like sheep.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
22 Jul 10
It is getting worse too. YOu really never know what the truth is anymore. They all have their own political agenda and report stories accordingly.
@kaka10 (178)
• South Africa
22 Jul 10
News is just hype and is used to promote the shareholders who are in actual fact the ruling government in a country most of the times and on other occasions they will sling mud and dig up dirt on the ones who are in power. I don't think or even recommend government being shareholders in the media and like you said they will control what is considered news and sweep all else under the rug.
