The 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton highlighted the existence of “fake news” and the need for voters to find “real news” in order to keep themselves educated with unbiased sources. Both sides of the political spectrum argue the other has “biased” news sources that influence Americans with their propaganda. This is driven by the increasing number of cable news outlets as well as websites that support one view more than the other. For a long time, many have scoffed at the idea of a liberal bias within the mainstream media. It is during times like these when it is important for Americans to realize facts versus fiction in their news, and also to be able to find unbiased news.
Republicans and the conservatives that make up their party have long complained about the bias of the mainstream media. News organizations such as ABC News, NBC News, MSNBC, CNN, PBS and others have all been accused by conservatives of liberal bias that does a poor job of representing their policies and beliefs.
It is blatantly evident that these outlets are biased, favoring the Democratic party and opposing Republicans. For example, ABC chief anchor and political correspondent George Stephanopoulos, host of Good Morning America and This Week, was, in fact, Bill Clinton’s Director of Communications and Senior Advisor when Clinton occupied the West Wing. It is important to note that this man donated a total of $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation from 2012-2014, but failed to disclose this information to anybody. How about Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd? Todd is married to a Democratic operative who helped John Kerry run for president in 2004, and an organization that Kristian Todd created donated nearly $2 million to Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. Somehow, receiving your morning news from these men isn’t considered biased, and Americans need to be more aware of the people who present their “unbiased” news to them.
While outlets like ABC and NBC do have a sickening left-wing bias, conservative outlets like Fox News – the most watched cable news channel in the country- have shown that a right-wing bias can also be popular among viewers. Although most news tends to have a specific bias that targets a specific group of people, it is still important for the American citizen to find unbiased sources that give them real news that don’t have an agenda.
When looking for unbiased news sources, it is important to research which outlets are the most trusted by each ideological group. A study conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center shows that the most trusted outlets for news include The Wall Street Journal, which is more trusted than distrusted across every part of the political spectrum. The Journal is known for their army of fact-checkers that check their news stories for incorrect information. The Economist, BBC and USA Today are all close, but among voters who are consistently conservative, these sources are more distrusted than trusted.
In the search of unbiased news, there are certain things you can do that will help your chances. For example, checking the sources on your go-to news outlet will give you an idea of how biased that source is. Avoid finding news from sources that are on social media, use click bait, poor grammar or do not reference what their source is. These sources should be highly distrusted by their audience and should not be considered real news. Ignoring sources that have been highly criticized by one side is important, as is disregarding news from political commentators who aren’t journalists such as Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity.
In this day and age, it is of the highest importance to be able to locate news sources that lack a specific bias – conservative or liberal. While journalism today should be highly ethical, people’s thoughts and opinions have been tarnished by agenda-driven news sources that only report facts that help their cause. Ignoring these sources and finding unbiased sources such as The Wall Street Journal that are trusted by both liberals and conservatives is crucial to Americans.
