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05-23-2024, 12:44 AM
Not trying to necro-post here, but I feel this is a very important topic today and going forward. The MSM in the USA and Europe is, for the most part, morally bankrupt. Beyond this, most other news agencies are champions of the countries in which they are based, or the cultures where they are based. Finding truly 'objective' journalism today is nearly impossible. And, to this end, I think it is critically important to keep subjects such as this one in front of people constantly. Plus, the right answer today will likely not be the right answer tomorrow (i.e. it is a constantly changing landscape). As an admitted conservative, I cannot watch websites like FOXnews, Breitbart or similar. In fact, I cannot recommend a single source for objective news. However, I have found a solution which seems to work fairly well for sorting out what is going on. It goes something like this...
Rather than tirelessly trying to find a website which is truly neutral / objective, instead do the exact opposite; go to the most extreme examples of spin doctoring there is on BOTH sides of an issue. From this, you can usually sort out the real story, or at least extract out the relevant points to form an objective analysis. So, for example, if I'm trying to get to the bottom of a US political issue, I might start by looking at CNN / MSNBC / NPR (etc) to get one side, and then looking up the same subject on FOX / Newsmax / Breightbart (etc.) to get the other side. For the UK, you can pick the usual suspects on both sides of an issue. I know all of these sources will be highly biased, but I also know which direction they will be slanted, so if I analyze all of these to find neutral ground...it's probably pretty close to the "real" story.
Similar process for international news, but with different sources. Interestingly, Al Jazeera can sometimes be balanced IF the issue is not a strong Middle East cultural one, but you can also use the polarized opposing sources like I described for the US and Europe, but instead use sites like RT for one side, and regional news sources for the other side, and then balance the two (or four, etc).
Propaganda and spin is King today, more so than ever before. It's not just about an agenda, it's also about BIG money. Propaganda and spin are nothing new, but in today's times the level of bias in just about all mainstream news is highly biased one way or the other. Social media is also a big contributor to news bias these days. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent in understanding what is really happening in the world around us today. All of our lives depend on it.
Rather than tirelessly trying to find a website which is truly neutral / objective, instead do the exact opposite; go to the most extreme examples of spin doctoring there is on BOTH sides of an issue. From this, you can usually sort out the real story, or at least extract out the relevant points to form an objective analysis. So, for example, if I'm trying to get to the bottom of a US political issue, I might start by looking at CNN / MSNBC / NPR (etc) to get one side, and then looking up the same subject on FOX / Newsmax / Breightbart (etc.) to get the other side. For the UK, you can pick the usual suspects on both sides of an issue. I know all of these sources will be highly biased, but I also know which direction they will be slanted, so if I analyze all of these to find neutral ground...it's probably pretty close to the "real" story.
Similar process for international news, but with different sources. Interestingly, Al Jazeera can sometimes be balanced IF the issue is not a strong Middle East cultural one, but you can also use the polarized opposing sources like I described for the US and Europe, but instead use sites like RT for one side, and regional news sources for the other side, and then balance the two (or four, etc).
Propaganda and spin is King today, more so than ever before. It's not just about an agenda, it's also about BIG money. Propaganda and spin are nothing new, but in today's times the level of bias in just about all mainstream news is highly biased one way or the other. Social media is also a big contributor to news bias these days. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent in understanding what is really happening in the world around us today. All of our lives depend on it.
