Fair and Balanced, what we can learn from bias
The very idea that anyone, anywhere, can express a completely unbiased opinion is wholly false, as most people would agree. But this fact, as obvious as it may seem, stretches far beyond what most consider. Bias ekes its way into every aspect of our lives. And why shouldn't it? It is who we are.
Take for instance the trademark owners of this post's title, the Fox News Channel (FNC). They have constantly caught fire by other news networks, political commentators, and liberals far and wide as having a political bias. They are called liars and frauds for trying to say that they are indeed "Fair and Balanced". After all, it seems obvious to many that FNC has a conservative slant to their news reporting (to me as well). Why then, do they continue to claim to be "Fair and Balanced"?
The answer is that to the producers, anchors, and viewers of FNC, they ARE "Fair and Balanced". Unbiased? Of course not. But to both themselves and their viewers who hold a similar bias (Weltanschauung if you will) the news reports are in all actuality fair and balanced. Obviously then, the people who do not have the same bias as FNC attack them as being conservative, and those people who do agree with FNC….
…attack others for being liberal. CNN, CBS, ABC…you name it, they have all been accused of being too far left. We've heard conservatives complaining of a liberal bias for years. It seems logical to me then, that if Conservatives are complaining of such a bias, there probably is a difference in the Weltanschauung (bias) between them and the news networks they are levying the attacks against.
So when someone says to you, "I don't watch such-and-so network because they are biased", you can tell them, "Of course they are. And I watch them because they are biased and I agree with the bias that they have. Anyone who believes there are people in this world without a bias is also likely to believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the boogie man and many other such absurdities. I hope you do not fall into such a category."
I am sure that the above few paragraphs--if only a reminder--is obvious to most of you and merely sets me up for the real point of this post. It cannot, it seems to me, be argued against the shift in the stance of the United States towards conservatism regardless of what elections and political polls may say. Even more so than many liberals who point at narrow polls and narrow majorities for the right may think. Consider this--if people watch news networks that hold a similar opinion/bias as they hold, and the FNC holds a decidedly conservative bias--what does it say of this country that 8 of the top 10 cable news shows are owned and operated by the Fox News Channel?
Biases, of course, affect us more than I have even discussed in this current post. Even more than your political opinions, your upbringing, ethnicity, nationality, experience…these all way into YOUR particular bias and comprise the elements with which you judge how biased OTHER people are. Why do you think that most American's hate al Jazeera and most Arabs do not?
Take for instance the trademark owners of this post's title, the Fox News Channel (FNC). They have constantly caught fire by other news networks, political commentators, and liberals far and wide as having a political bias. They are called liars and frauds for trying to say that they are indeed "Fair and Balanced". After all, it seems obvious to many that FNC has a conservative slant to their news reporting (to me as well). Why then, do they continue to claim to be "Fair and Balanced"?
The answer is that to the producers, anchors, and viewers of FNC, they ARE "Fair and Balanced". Unbiased? Of course not. But to both themselves and their viewers who hold a similar bias (Weltanschauung if you will) the news reports are in all actuality fair and balanced. Obviously then, the people who do not have the same bias as FNC attack them as being conservative, and those people who do agree with FNC….
…attack others for being liberal. CNN, CBS, ABC…you name it, they have all been accused of being too far left. We've heard conservatives complaining of a liberal bias for years. It seems logical to me then, that if Conservatives are complaining of such a bias, there probably is a difference in the Weltanschauung (bias) between them and the news networks they are levying the attacks against.
So when someone says to you, "I don't watch such-and-so network because they are biased", you can tell them, "Of course they are. And I watch them because they are biased and I agree with the bias that they have. Anyone who believes there are people in this world without a bias is also likely to believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the boogie man and many other such absurdities. I hope you do not fall into such a category."
I am sure that the above few paragraphs--if only a reminder--is obvious to most of you and merely sets me up for the real point of this post. It cannot, it seems to me, be argued against the shift in the stance of the United States towards conservatism regardless of what elections and political polls may say. Even more so than many liberals who point at narrow polls and narrow majorities for the right may think. Consider this--if people watch news networks that hold a similar opinion/bias as they hold, and the FNC holds a decidedly conservative bias--what does it say of this country that 8 of the top 10 cable news shows are owned and operated by the Fox News Channel?
Biases, of course, affect us more than I have even discussed in this current post. Even more than your political opinions, your upbringing, ethnicity, nationality, experience…these all way into YOUR particular bias and comprise the elements with which you judge how biased OTHER people are. Why do you think that most American's hate al Jazeera and most Arabs do not?
posted by Cogito at 12:02 PM
3 Comments:
I think the real problem is not in media bias itself but in the inability of the mainstream media to recognize their own bias and, therefore, to arrogantly portray themselves as the gatekeepers of truth.
...when of course everyone knows that I MYSELF am the real gatekeeper of truth.
It took me by surprise in college at ETBU when Dr. Summers told me in response to an essay I had written that one could not be without bias. He said, "It is possible to be objective but not possible to be without bias." It was one of those significant tidbits that stayed with me and influenced how I think.
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