Is biased news the new thing?

Hannah Miller
hm491514@ohio.edu

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Since day one in my first journalism course at Ohio University, and even before that, the idea of unbiased writing has been enforced every day in every one of my classes. Is it really news if the journalist is spinning it to reinforce their own views? Is it really news if you are forced to check every fact for fear of not receiving accurate information?

This is not a jab at people who share their own opinions, this country runs on the thoughts and ideas of individuals. But there is a time and place for opinions and the front page story of a well-known publication is not that place.

Now it's no a secret that there are certain news outlets that swing more to the right and others that swing left. When asked, if they think CNN or Fox News is more conservative, it is common for people to understand that Fox clearly wins that race.

So why is the media leaning away from straight to the point media? Media hasn't always been unbiased. In an article on The Christian Science Monitor, professor Mitchel Stevens, "suggests that America news organizations, abandoning a 'pretense to objectivity,' could be returning to their 'loud boisterous, and combative' ways of the past." According to the article, the 18th and 19th centuries were quite full of biased publications.

Although I understand that it can be hard to keep opinions out of articles, I still think it is worth a shot. Spinning an article may look good at first, but it can have serious backlash if it get's out of hand. People don't take fake news lightly and it pays to tell the truth.

The 2016 election was a time where there were many articles spun and many facts fabricated. Jennifer Rubin wrote an article for The Washington Post that discussed how the media is finally shutting down the spinning of articles on then, president-elect Trump. The problem is they cracked down on this too late and that delay in the "uncritical 24-7 coverage helped Trump snag the election."

When people are unsure whether to believe the news or not, it causes arguments not just between themselves personally, but also between news outlets. Tina Nguyen wrote about conservative outlets spinning news to look more appealing for the republican president. Her feelings about how the situation was handled are very evident and she speaks about other news outlets that are at a disbelief with the state of the news.

Although biased news is not a new thing, does not mean it needs to continue. In a day and age with fake news floating around every corner, it's helpful to be able to quickly discern the facts.