The Online Rant

Sometimes I get so frustrated with our media and the stuff that makes headlines. Take for example, the big Zune controversy that hit the news last week. It seems that someone saw the President elect Obama in the gym listening to music on a Zune. That’s right, a Zune rather than an iPod.

Which is somehow hugely newsworthy. The Tubes were ablaze with speculation and rumors about why he might have used a Zune rather than an iPod. And like the comic above implies, there were huge arguments about what this meant to his moral character. And it really was just silly.  And yet somehow it was a big deal in the eyes of Americans. So much so, that his administration made an official statement that he, Obama, does not own a Zune. 

What is wrong with our country? How is it that whether Obama uses a Zune or an iPod has become more important than what his positions and plans are on issues like Abortion, the War, or the Economy?

Techdirt has an interesting article on the changing face of media today. It seems that more and more people worldwide, particularly younger people, actually prefer to get their news from admittedly biased outlets.

That is, they don’t try to get their news from the main stream news outlets. They get their news from blogs and editorials. People actually prefer to read a story that contains the opinions and analysis of the reporter. They prefer it to reading stories or watching news that is just the facts. And more news outlets are taking note of that. Changing their reporting style to fit what their readers want.

Is this a bad thing, or a good thing? Is it good that people want biased news,or analysis of news over straight reporting? Well, I think it can be both bad and good. But mostly I think it’s a good thing.

If you only ever get your news from people who share the same biases and viewpoints you do, you will have a very distorted view of the world. Even if the facts in the stories are all truthful, reading the viewpoints of only one side will not give you a real picture of what is happening. Facts can be easily downplayed or enhanced in an editorial format. So that is bad.

But is that really any different from getting all your news from the normal reporting outlets(Main stream news networks)? I would say not. All news reflects the opinions and biases of the person reporting. The only difference is that in an editorial or analysis format, the bias or opinion is not hidden beneath a vernier of objectivity. In an editorial or analysis piece, you don’t have to try to guess the bias of the reporter.

I think that is really what is happening these days. Most people recognize these days that no matter how much a major news outlet claims to be objective, it isn’t. So they would rather get their news from someone who isn’t in effect, lying to them. They would rather get it from someone who tells them straight out which side they are reporting the story from. I know I do.

Getting your news that way isn’t really a problem, as long as you are careful to read opinions from all sides. That is the great thing about the Internet. You don’t have to look hard to get news from many different points of view.