While, I did not shed a single tear, I was impressed with his speech. More specifically, I was impressed with his orating skills, not the content. His delivery was smooth, articulate, and led me to predict that he would at least be a viable candidate for the Democratic ticket.
As we discussed in class, it is important to understand how bias, especially of the political variety, can influence the way news is covered and disseminated. We must also be aware of our own bias when reporting and analyzing the news, as we can subconsciously allow our viewpoints to skew our work and judgment.
This really comes into play around elections. With the political media creating so much hype around every move made by a candidate, it is common to become wary of one news outlet or another. This can be good, as is it nearly impossible for a source to be completely objective.
Skepticism towards the political media can also have a negative influence, too. It is true that some outlets may tend to lean one way or another, but their news should not be immediately or completely discredited. When I was in Washington, I did press work for the senator and consumed news from over 20 sources on a daily basis. While I had my preconceived opinions of news outlets, some of which turned out to be true, I was also surprised to find how similar much of the information was.
Journalists, despite their opinions, can only bend a story so far from the truth before it become farce. The bulk of the bias comes out in how the story is covered-- which facts are used and which are left out. Space and time limitations make it difficult for all sides and facts of a story to be included, although the journalist has the ethical responsibility to represent all sides as fairly as possible. This makes it important to "shop around" while getting news and get multiple sources for each story. Hearing multiple angles of a story enables consumers to get a more balanced account of what happened. Hopefully they will then be able to combat their own bias and make a fair analysis of the news.
It is important to understand bias and how it can influence both the dissemination and reception of news. As journalists, we have the challenge of not letting our personal opinions tarnish our attempts to objectively report the truth or lead our analysis astray.
As for making false sweeping generalizations in the classroom, I'll let that slide. Just know that when we're out there in the professional world, we'll be expected to be as fair as possible.
Those who defect will answer to Vice President Palin.
2 comments:
Well said. I'll try not to defect.
I have been supporting Obama for president for about two years; well before he announced his intentions to run for candidacy. That being said, I wanted to comment on that kid in lecture.
Even I cringed when I heard what he said, and I'm biased in his favor. But not even I could make a statement that so generalizes our college student demographic, and was shocked that he would propose, out loud in class, to confirm such a stereotype.
I hate to sound like damn hippie, but I suggest that instead of perpetuating stereotypes by making assumptions about people, we should try to respect the diverse opinions of our peers in the classroom - not everyone between the ages of 20 and 25 is a bleeding heart liberal, and even those of us who are don't want to hear about it in lecture.
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