News: Is It Fair and Balanced?

Essay by onvinhtanUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, November 2004

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News, according to dictionary.com, is "information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television." What do we really get from the news today? The news, whether it be written or visual, has been criticized for its biases and lack of objectivity. Although still providing information on happenings worldwide, sometimes opinions on the issue are also conveyed in the report. Recently, a major attack, which will be taking place in Falluja, Iraq soon has been all over the news, ranging from Fox News to The New York Times. Fox news has been known for its unprecedented conservative bias and favoring of the right. Through their coverage of events in Iraq that bias is obvious, providing us only footage that supports our troops and our mission. Written news, such as The Mercury News and The New York Times, is generally more objective than right wing visual news by providing the viewer a more complete coverage of the war.

The Mercury News and The New York Times allow the reader to make up their own minds regarding what they feel about the war (although a little guided by the word choice of the authors), while Fox news leads the viewer to feel the same way (the right winged point of view) they do about the war.

The first article that I chose from The New York Times on October the 28th describes as mentioned in its title on front page of the paper, "Provincial Capital Near Falluja Is Rapidly Slipping into Chaos." An image of marines pointing guns at Iraqis strewn on the floor can be seen on the front page. Within the article, two more photographs are shown depicting Marines and their guns in Iraq. These images convey to the reader a feeling of...