Both media and American politics are divided as never
before. I am forever amazed with how those who do not have the same reactions
to politics as I do receive a whole different take on news, or do not hear the
same stories reported. No wonder we are
so dug in with our political divisions when we find ourselves asking “where in
the world did that dumb idea come from; I never heard that story. “There is a
good reason. What stories each news outlet chooses to report or how talking
heads back up the opinion of the star of the talk show can be quite different
depending on which news channels we view.
With the advent of cable and internet, we have become one sided because
of the ease of a click to seek out our media that is in our comfort zone,
undisturbed by facts or arguments to the contrary.
There is a relationship between the nature of a
nation that is increasingly sharply divided politically and a blurring of the
lines between opinion and hard news. Newspapers have a tradition of keeping the
two separated and opinion labeled as such. Particularly guilty of confusing the
two are TV cable news channels that mix hard and breaking news with commentary
based upon editorial political biases, increasing the political sharp divide as
each side makes interpretations and reporting news and issue priorities that
cater to their audience’s comfort zones.
It takes effort to check out various viewpoints since rarely do both
sides appear simultaneously on the same page in the same publication or on the
same TV screen.
Who can we blame
for this? To quote my favorite philosopher, Pogo, “we have met the enemy and it
is us” and now we have a variety of media that has provided the method to take
advantage of us by putting in our hands a click and a remote. It is only human to want to get news in forms
that are easy, fast, and comfortable to digest.
We like to think we are objective and open
minded, but a recent survey found that the reality is most of us are not per a
recent poll. https://knightfoundation.org/reports/american-views-trust-media-and-democracy
“Most Americans
claim to rely on a mix of liberal and conservative news sources, but one in
four admit to getting news from only one perspective. .Forty-six percent of
U.S. adults claim to have firm views that rarely change. Americans commonly
share news stories with others — primarily with like-minded people.”
The antidote? Make the effort to hear and read more than one
medium outlet even if it raises your blood pressure. Thanks to freedom of the
press there is a large marketplace of media for you to tap. Use your click and
remote if you no longer hold a newspaper or a magazine in your hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment