If you are having trouble getting motivated to vote this Nov., I would not recommend watching CNN or Fox News. While the Libra in me requires a balance of the civilized and uncivilized, whether it’s music or television, unbiased honesty in political journalism is a requirement that I cannot waver on.
When looking to be educated on what is going on in the muddied world that is politics, little room is left for the frivolous and petty arguing amongst newscasters. At first, I was ignorant in my critiques of Fox News. Like most people, I limited my opinion of Fox to the six-minute YouTube videos of Bill O’Reilly arguing with guests and giving them the infamous newsroom instruction to “cut” their microphone. I had no idea that there were WWE wrestlers in the ring of flawed political journalism. MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews is a prime example of just how leveled conservative and liberal news shows are in pushing their own propaganda. Chris Matthews spent an entire segment on defaming and hurling insults toward the news channel. Little informative dialogue was given on anything worth listening to, and it sounded more like a Mean Girls burn book writing session than a professional news show.
Keith Olbermann is not any better, with his three-minute rant session at the end of his news segments on commentators ranging from O’Reilly to Ann Coulter. While I am not a fan of Coulter’s opinion on any subject matter, it was exhausting and discouraging spending hours watching these liberal news channels only to be reminded that they are a diluted version of Fox. It made me so uninterested in politics that I debated changing my minor because I could not fathom that this is supposed to be our source of information on politics. These commentators spend so much time addressing their personal gripes with the opposing news channel, that they forget what their job even entails – to inform the public of breaking news, not Britney Spears’ meltdown or the melodramatic, two-week coverage of the Batman Colorado shootings.
Rather than covering Iceland overthrowing their government and the riots in Mexico City, CNN, Fox and MSNBC were interviewing the fifth grade classmates of the victims from the Colorado Batman shooting a week after the incident. If not for my mother having subscribed to BBC, I would have never known about the actual breaking news that was occurring in the world. There is something wrong with our culture when the one source of truth and honesty is covered in bias and ego. Are liberal and conservative both toxic? Unfortunately, yes, but seeking out the truth on our own is worth it, even if it might not be to the media.