Friday, July 24, 2009

In News We Trust

Like me, I am sure each one of you has a favorite source for reading, listening or watching the happening around us. We are so hooked on to it that we tend to turn to this source instinctively and over a period of time we begin to trust what we read, hear and see via this media.

Do most of us ever give it a thought if we can trust everything that is being fed to us? Recently while watching a program on one of my favorite television channels some views mentioned by the presenter were a little shocking to me. From then on, I have been critically evaluating them and my feeling is that though they are quite fair in most of what they showcase, there are some places where they are clearly biased. As I continued to view them critically, I am slowly becoming more aware of their inherent bias which they themselves may have chosen to turn a blind eye to.

We live in a connected world and the flow of information is constant. While one may argue that we have access to multiple sources of information and hence the effect of these biases may be minimal, I would like to disagree by saying that these biases are powerful because we become addicted to these sources and forget that there is a need to evaluate it critically.

There is this particular television channel that I have been watching for a long time now. In their quest to be “holier than thou” they seem to be pushing the envelope constantly. This is happening to such an extent that I am now wondering if I should tune off from them completely but like any other addict I still keep going back to them. Their view points on fundamentalism or coverage of their expert “Pseudo – fundamentalists” is appallingly one sided. Their ruthlessness in attempting to influence public opinion on under-trial court cases makes me wonder if they have crossed the boundaries of ethical journalism. Off late some of their promos for the debate shows themselves are heavily biased.

Maybe they were always biased and the gullible viewer in me did not care too much about it. Now that I am aware I am expressing my view with a simple hope that some of you may begin to critically evaluate your favored source of news. Beware of one thing though…. My views may be biased too!

1 comment:

  1. I know which channel you have in mind but without caring to go into whether what you say is 'right' or 'wrong', isn't it like that with everyone? Not just the media, but also individuals. Each person has an opinion (based on knowledge, hearsay, someone else's opinion or just gut-feeling) on everything. And what that person perceives / responds / communicates is bsed largely on the preconceived opinion / idea.

    Suggest your blog to Dr. Jeevan

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