{"id":2549,"date":"2018-04-17T11:43:51","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T15:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=2549"},"modified":"2018-04-17T11:45:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T15:45:09","slug":"does-the-news-have-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/17\/does-the-news-have-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the news have bias?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Biased<\/a><\/p>\n

President Trump seems to say ‘Fake News’ a lot, so my question is why does the news have a bias?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1960’s there was a widely acclaimed news anchor named Walter Cronkite. He was known for telling the news without any bias and for his truthfulness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since he died quite a while ago I am supplying the following background information<\/a>, \u201cFrom the anchor chair of the <\/i>CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite<\/i><\/em>, he reported on the most traumatic and triumphant moments of American life in the 1960s, from the assassination of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy<\/a> in 1963 to the Apollo 11<\/a> Moon<\/a> landing in 1969. The influence of Cronkite\u2019s reporting is perhaps best illustrated by his commentary on the Vietnam War<\/a>. In 1968 he left the anchor desk to report from Vietnam on the aftermath of the Tet Offensive<\/a>. Upon his return Cronkite departed from his usual objectivity, declaring that the war could end only in a protracted stalemate. U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson<\/a> told his staff, \u201cIf I\u2019ve lost Cronkite, I\u2019ve lost Middle America,\u201d and some held that Johnson\u2019s decision not to run for reelection that year was a direct result of Cronkite\u2019s reporting.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that many of those of Generation X and younger get your news from an online source and even older Americans are now abandoning newspapers and the local TV newscast for an internet source. My problem is that many of you have no idea if there is a bias or ‘spinning’ of the news that you are getting no matter the source.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just to make it clear here is a very good definition<\/a>, \u201cSpin is a contemporary term for a form of propaganda<\/a> that relies on deceptive methods of persuasion<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In politics, business, and elsewhere, spin is often characterized by exaggeration<\/a>, euphemisms<\/a>, inaccuracies, half-truths, and excessively emotional appeals<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cronkite did not ever do this and yet today’s news, no matter where you get it from, does do this. Thus many people are getting what President Trump calls ‘Fake News.’ I do not agree with Trump about what is fake or not, but I do understand that the news media have become distorters of the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some are of the liberal bent and others are of the conservative bent, but no matter how you see the world politically there should be no distortion of how and what news is related to the masses. When you the reader just use one source that gives a biased view on the news then you are being blinded to the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

This must stop, for without unbiased truthful reporting our democracy can not function in any fashion that would not preclude the (false) use of the public to meet the political aims of a political party or individual. Both parties have done this and all that it does is polarize people, thus leading public opinion down a false path that could end up in disaster for the United States one of these days.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you blindly listen to biased views disguised as the news, then you are metaphorically wearing a set of blinders that only let you see what you agree with and nothing that might contradict those views. That is lesson you must learn, be open to all views and learn that the world is not black and white. It is a world of many truths and too many falsehoods.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I ask the following, \u201cWhere is Walter Cronkite when we need him?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n