All journalists are biased. I know that because everyone is biased, including you and me. And if you just thought to yourself, “I’m not biased,” you’re probably very biased.
So, even if a journalist thinks they’re sharing a completely neutral take on the news, a degree of their bias will come through regardless of how hard they try to suppress it.
Of course, many journalists, perhaps the majority today, aren’t trying to suppress their bias. On the contrary, their bias is central to everything they write or say to camera.
That may sound like a very negative view, but who owns the media? Yes, of course, very wealthy people.
While the poorest 50% of Americans share just 2.5% of all US wealth between them, the wealthiest 10% of Americans have now hoarded 68.3% of all US wealth. With the wealthiest 1% alone having captured 31.8% of all US wealth, while the top 0.1% have confiscated almost half of that, with 14.5% of all US wealth in their hands.
Those are crazy numbers. Do you think the very wealthy spend fortunes on buying media companies so they can help out the poorest Americans? Of course not. Why would a wealthy American buy a newspaper or TV channel and then have it report news that could endanger their wealth?
The wealthy spend their time inducing politicians to pass laws that work overwhelmingly in their favor, and often against the interests of the majority. They then have their media explain to the poor majority why they should support those laws. The media literally allows the wealthy to change the truth that most people believe.
And if you’re thinking, “Ah but my favorite sources aren’t working for big media that’s owned by the wealthy, so that must mean I can trust them,” easy tiger. Are they really a journalist? Have they ever undergone any form of journalistic training or are they just someone who knows that if they focus on your triggers, you and people like you will view everything they produce and send their share of ad views to the point where their monthly or even weekly income matches yours for the year.
So, if all the media are biased, who can we trust. Well, no-one entirely. Remember, even we’re biased and we’re no strangers to lying to ourselves. I mean, come on, we’ll start the diet next week, this is our last glass and I’ll read the manual later. Really?
The best chance we have of not falling for the lies of one side is to listen to the lies of the other side too. Tap “rate media outlets by bias” into your favorite search engine if you need help finding news sources and let the outrage begin. And there will be outrage. At first, at least, as the stories from the other side trigger you. Do it for a while and you’ll find the stories trigger you less, as your focus turns to how each side will highlight aspects that support their viewpoint, by downplaying or even completely ignoring things that undermine their argument. In some cases, you’ll see one side or the other completely ignoring a story because they don’t like it, while the other side goes all in on it.
In time, the news will trigger you less and the reporters will trigger you more as you start to see how they bend their reporting to manipulate your reactions. And not just the other side, your side too. Because both sides are trying to convince you of the truth that their owners want you to believe.
If you’re furious with your neighbors for being so stupid for falling for the other side’s lies, you don’t have the time to be furious with the wealthy for hoarding more wealth than they need (68.3% of all US wealth for just 10% of Americans, and just 2.5% for the poorest 50%, in case you’ve forgotten).
Let me finish with a quick rule of thumb to pick up on bias. If your news source regularly makes you feel angry at the other side, those reporters are probably making their big bias your big bias.
So, are your journalists more honest than the other side’s journalists?
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