WHY AND HOW THE NEWS BECAME POLITICAL
Many in this thread have made the case that the news is biased because humans are inherently biased, which is true. But I don’t think we should accept this reasoning or give up the expectation of achieving unbiased news.
The purpose of reporting the news is to educate the public about what is happening in the world around them. If this is your goal, as it should be for news agencies, then it is possible to lay aside personal biases and report in an informative manner that covers all sides and angles of a story. There’s an entire writing style dedicated to this called informative writing. However, this type of reporting is “boring” and doesn’t push sales.
The reason many news agencies have become biased is because the current sales models which are based around viral clicks and shares. The more inflammatory pieces attract more attention, so that influences editors to push only “exciting” stories that tug at people’s emotions.
We can move away from this model as a conscientious public and search for only evidence-based news. If we don’t accept the idea that people are hopeless at being rational and can be open-minded, then we can start to educate ourselves and others by forming strong opinions that address multiple aspects of an issue.
In this way, we can grow ourselves and improve our surroundings by expecting more out of the media and challenging others to strengthen their own position.
