barretthunter:
The official line from either a government or a commercial giant (like the Murdoch empire) ...
...come into contact with a wide range of views proportionate to the number of contacts, because the internet is so responsive to personal choice, you can simply reinforce your prejudices a thousand times.
With the advent of one-viewpoint "news" outlets such as
Fox News and
Al Jazeera plus popular/powerful one-viewpoint media commentators/entertainers such as
Rush Limbaugh, one unfortunately need not use the Internet to have his/her prejudices reinforced a thousand times over. These outlets are happy to perform that service 24/7.
In the past, all news organizations at least made an attempt at objectivity. Objectivity was seen as part of the professional ethics of the reporter. Opinion was once only allowed in clearly labeled editorial pieces. Today, opinion is seamlessly integrated with the "news". All pretense of objectivity seems to be gone. at least, this is true here in the USA. I hope it's not so in the rest of the world.
What ever happened to critical reading & thinking? Has that died? It is no longer taught in school? Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking (or if they bother to think at all).
Mind you, it's perfectly OK to be politically conservative, or to follow any religion you choose; but that doesn't remove one's need to see all sides of an issue or to sample other viewpoints.
Guy