Throughout this week in AIS, we have talked about where we get our news from, and if those sources have any biases. This brought up the burning question, "What is real?" If news sources each have their own biases and ways of telling the story, then is there really any way of knowing the true story?
I decided to do a little experimenting on my own. I went on to two news sources, and looked at stories that were almost the exact same on Fox News and MSNBC. To summarize, these articles both talk about protests in Afghanistan over the proposed burning of the Quran by Pastor Terry Jones.
While the two articles essentially said the same thing, the Fox News article had one major difference. It referenced 9/11, saying that it "triggered the war in Afghanistan." As we discussed in class, this is strictly an opinion. The MSNBC article had no reference to 9/11 at all. No one can truly know what was President George W. Bush's reasoning for going into Afghanistan, and this shows that Fox has its own opinions. In addition, the Fox News article put in much more examples of anti-America feelings in Afghanistan than the MSNBC article did. Does this show Fox's current views on America?
This could bring up a major problem. Personally, I do not have the motivation to search multiple news sources in order to find every view of an issue; I usually just look at one or two. Many other people do this same thing, which leads to people to not fully understand an issue. Thus, conflicts start due to a lack of understanding both sides of an issue.
All in all, if news sources provide not only different viewpoints, but different biases, are people being shaped by their sources?
I believe that because different news sites have different biases, the American citizen is less likely to form their own opinion on the news given. According to your example, people reading Fox News would be much more inclined to believe that 9/11 started the war in Afghanistan, whereas if the same person were to read the MSNBC article about the same event, they would be more inclined to believe a different idea. Without access to the raw facts, people formulate opinions that are not their own.
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