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Brief 1: Bias in Cable News

The War that Everyone Loses: Fox vs CNN.

We live in an interesting time; nearly 70% of Americans get at least some of their news from social media according to The Pew Research Center. Information has never been more available than now. Any query can be answered with a simple search from a device that fits in your pocket. Because of this, the prevalence of news and the means by which it can be found are extended.

Information residing online has always been questioned for credibility. Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world (Similar Web) and contains over ten million pages of articles in dozens of languages. However, Wikipedia is not a trusted source. Wikipedia employs a small, trusted staff of about 300 employees but the website and it's articles can be contributed to and edited by anyone.
via The Independent
Every article has citations and is fact checked by staff and other verified contributors. Every change is noted by Wikipedia and if there are any errors, they are usually corrected in mere moments. When Cody Parkey's Wikipedia page was edited following his missed (blocked) game-winning field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles, all of the changes were corrected minutes after editing and the page's protection level was increased to keep people from editing. Other than the rare 'trolling', why shouldn't we trust Wikipedia? It all comes back to independent contributions. Where is this information coming from and why should we trust it?

You can ask the same question to major cable news medias. Let's take two of the largest news medias in America, Fox and CNN. These two outlets have been 'at odds' for a very long time, each complaining of the other's supposed political bias. Here's an article from Fox complaining about the lack of information on CNN.

Fox and CNN are seemingly at each other's throats every day. Fox is often on the offensive while CNN plays defense. In fact, it's hard to find any articles about Fox on CNN's website. A search of the website will reveal very broad articles that may not even mention Fox, much less attacking them.
This is where problems arise. With arguably the two largest news outlets going at each others throats, where does our news fall? In the middle? How can we be sure that our news is coming first and that it is factual, rather than the news being released faster to outdo the other organization? It's hard to tell, and we would like to believe that that's not the case.

For those that do believe that there is a bias on each network (usually conservative bias on Fox and liberal bias on CNN), what could make matters worse? The two networks working together. Hardcore Fox fanatics and CNN followers garner a certain hatred towards the other network, each blaming one another for something. This becomes much more than bias, leading to prejudice. Because of the 'apparent' fellowship of specific political parties for each network, a stereotype begins to evolve: if you watch Fox, you're a Republican, and if you watch CNN, you're a Democrat.
Now we have a war: Fox vs CNN, Republicans vs Democrat, 'right vs wrong', what are we missing? The public. The public needs information. I can't think of anything more disheartening than watching general news conversation divulging into political dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, political discussion is important, especially when it brings public safety or the future of the country into question, but this shouldn't occur while details of the event are still being revealed. 

Finally, I have one final complaint. Similar to video game journalism, reviews come from multiple personalities. On a website like IGN that has reviews for video games, television shows, and products, consistency is important, but impossible. With over 30 journalists, each with different opinions, the model for consistency doesn't exist. When you read a review, who's opinion are you getting?

I feel the same away about political journalism and journalism in general. On Fox and CNN, who's opinion are you getting? Are you getting the indifferent journalist or the left-wing reporter who has influence over the news script? You can't know, so are you getting an unbiased report, or the report that someone wants you to see?

The cable news war is a war with no victor, or survivors, not even the spectators.

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