Do you trust the news media?

[Dolezal]

I’m Dutch, all our media is leftist, so I’ve become pretty good at filtering out the BS. But I don’t trust Fox News either. They never struck me as really genuinely conservative or doing serious journalism. Rupert Murdoch just took advantage of an untapped market.

I check Drudge Report daily to stay up to date on the most recent news, and Al Jazeera for it’s well researched and balanced news stories.

 

[Regular_Atheist]

I fully trust the media…to give me their viewpoint of their agenda.

What they know, and that we need to learn and implement is that those who control the media control the culture. We need more Christians and conservatives in the media; both on the conservative side, but particularly in the liberal outlets so as to be able to change them from the inside.

So, basically, you don’t trust the media because they aren’t trying to further the agenda that you support as much as you’d like?

In the perfect world the media would be very objective, and would report the facts without any bias. Sadly, they’re trying to make money and so try to appeal to a certain audience. The best thing to do is to read a number of articles with different political ideaologies reporting on the same story. That way it’s easier to seperate the facts from the propaganda.

 

[Seeker1961]

So, basically, you don’t trust the media because they aren’t trying to further the agenda that you support as much as you’d like?

In the perfect world the media would be very objective, and would report the facts without any bias. Sadly, they’re trying to make money and so try to appeal to a certain audience. The best thing to do is to read a number of articles with different political ideaologies reporting on the same story. That way it’s easier to seperate the facts from the propaganda.

That’s pretty much the philosophy in a nutshell. If the media doesn’t agree with MY interpretation of the world, then the media is not only biased-but engaged in an evil plot to destroy everything that I believe is good.

It takes time and effort to seek out opinions that differ from your own personal biases, and most people are not willing to make that effort or simply don’t have the time. It’s a lot easier to find outlets that support the world view that you already possess, and remain in the “echo chamber”.

 

[Lost_and_Found_1]

Yes a major liberal bias IMO. The “Bush Lied” lie, upsets me the most.

 

[mitex]

I’d like to see the number of folks on CAF who distrust all media unless it’s LifeSiteNews which has the same problem as all news media organizations: it’s biased.

 

[edwest2]

That’s pretty much the philosophy in a nutshell. If the media doesn’t agree with MY interpretation of the world, then the media is not only biased-but engaged in an evil plot to destroy everything that I believe is good.

It takes time and effort to seek out opinions that differ from your own personal biases, and most people are not willing to make that effort or simply don’t have the time. It’s a lot easier to find outlets that support the world view that you already possess, and remain in the “echo chamber”.

Try not to paint with too broad a brush. There are Catholics out there who do the research, get all sides of the story and get that information out there. Truth is truth. And to quote the Reverend Martin Luther king, Jr.: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

The truth remains long after events occur because people were there, they saw what they saw, took photographs or film, and the truth does rise to the top. And even if only some believe and you have done your best, others will build on your work.

The Church is about hope, not despair. Despair is easy, but working to spread the truth is not. That is our mission. We are all missionaries, to whatever degree, to the world around us. To spread the Gospel first, by word and deed, and then the truths that exist in the world such that men will not be deceived.

Hey, you have to start somewhere. Today is the day.

Peace,
Ed

 

[dixieagle]

That’s pretty much the philosophy in a nutshell. If the media doesn’t agree with MY interpretation of the world, then the media is not only biased-but engaged in an evil plot to destroy everything that I believe is good.

It takes time and effort to seek out opinions that differ from your own personal biases, and most people are not willing to make that effort or simply don’t have the time. It’s a lot easier to find outlets that support the world view that you already possess, and remain in the “echo chamber”.

I believe that one must read/view news as presented by a wide variety of sources, some liberal, some conservative and take it all “cum grano salis”.

Biases are a given; while there used to be at least an attempt to come across as objective, it seems that the facade has been dropped. (Walter Cronkite, cited by a previous poster as representing the good old days of straightforward journalism, was actually possessed of quite a liberal bias… read the Cronkite biography by Douglas Brinkley.)

My husband has been a local TV news anchor for more than 35 years and has taught broadcast (now “multi platform”) journalism for decades at a local Catholic college. He is appalled at the decline in the quality of local broadcast journalists; they get younger and younger, have no knowledge of or sense of history, and lack basic writing skills. They also work for next to nothing, as it is the bottom line that is most important to the companies that own the stations. It is abundantly clear that “you get what you pay for”. He is constantly having to edit scripts and catch egregious errors.

The local paper is just as bad; it is now published only 3 days a week, with many fewer reporters and much of the “news” coming out of a larger city 5 hours from here. Misspellings and grammatical errors are rampant and the “news” is several days old by the time much of it gets into print.

A sad state of affairs entirely.

 

[Seeker1961]

I believe that one must read/view news as presented by a wide variety of sources, some liberal, some conservative and take it all “cum grano salis”.

Biases are a given; while there used to be at least an attempt to come across as objective, it seems that the facade has been dropped. (Walter Cronkite, cited by a previous poster as representing the good old days of straightforward journalism, was actually possessed of quite a liberal bias… read the Cronkite biography by Douglas Brinkley.)

My husband has been a local TV news anchor for more than 35 years and has taught broadcast (now “multi platform”) journalism for decades at a local Catholic college. He is appalled at the decline in the quality of local broadcast journalists; they get younger and younger, have no knowledge of or sense of history, and lack basic writing skills. They also work for next to nothing, as it is the bottom line that is most important to the companies that own the stations. It is abundantly clear that “you get what you pay for”. He is constantly having to edit scripts and catch egregious errors.

The local paper is just as bad; it is now published only 3 days a week, with many fewer reporters and much of the “news” coming out of a larger city 5 hours from here. Misspellings and grammatical errors are rampant and the “news” is several days old by the time much of it gets into print.

A sad state of affairs entirely.

I agree. The quality of today’s reporting is abysmal. The “news” has become entertainment, and more emphasis is placed on the attractiveness of the reporters than on any skill in writing or investigation. The grammar used on our local newscast is so bad that it sets your teeth on edge.

It has to be difficult for men like your husband to see where the profession has gone.

 

[lerapt78]

I trust the media when it is discussing light, fluffy, feel-good pieces. Such as “Kitten fell from a 2-story window and survived with only minor injuries.”

When it comes to topics that may influence public opinion however, especially those of a political or socio-cultural nature, I don’t trust it one bit. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen to be right on some instances - I just don’t automatically *trust *that it is.

The internet has made a cynic out of me.

 

[garn9173]

Depends on the source and your views. As a card carrying, flag waving, defender of the 2nd Amendment Republican, there’s no way I would trust anything I see on MSNBC. Local news casts here are fine.