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The media played right into the hands of the far right, giving President Donald Trump and his supporters a reason to accuse media outlets of fake news.
Journalism has been tainted by politics, unfortunately to the point where either side’s immediate impulse to news is driven by biased ideals and narrow minded political attacks. It’s fair to believe that the left dominates the majority of the news media in the United States the same way it’s fair to believe that the quality of news coverage has decreased.
Americans see examples of this everywhere; missing details, confirmation biases and the strict exclusion of conservative perspectives. The recent coverage regarding the incident between the MAGA hat wearing Catholic school boys and the Native American group at the Lincoln Memorial served as an example of corrupted journalism.
When media outlets cherry pick facts, only show biased opinions or lead with a headline in order to facilitate a profit or increase site visits it all leads to biased journalism and has detrimental effects on Americans, as well as our own democracy. Reporters tend to approach newsworthy events with their political steadfastness influencing their observations and, as a result, their writing influences their readers into believing inaccurate depictions of the real world.
The danger in this is it’s constantly around us.
We, the Viewpoints Editorial Board, believe that journalism should be objective. It’s the journalist’s job to collect every conceivable detail regarding a newsworthy incident. The publication of biased news has carried, on occasion, irreversible consequences.
The incident at the Lincoln Memorial was a loss for journalists and media outlets whose political ideals intervened with their roles in society: to inform the public and eradicate ignorance To hold those who hurt the common man accountable should remian a priority among journalists.
