On a ridiculously consistent basis, we early 21st century Americans have information thrown at us like cheap butterscotch candy is doled out at a parade. Especially within the news media, now more than ever, political and sociological information or analysis is often presented with an ideological slant.
It’s safe to say that not all information is created equal.
The modern establishment of the televised news media, especially in America, has become a veritable rainbow of ideologues, pundits, commentators, pollsters and the few remaining actual journalists.
Many want to tell you the news as it is and many others still wish to tell you the news according to them.
With an impending election that is perhaps the most important of our lives, we cannot afford to be told what to think by someone whose strongest credentials are that they just so happen to be sitting at a desk in front of a camera.
So, if you’re serious about becoming informed, and, dare I say, intelligently informed, first and foremost avoid the 24-hour news channels.
CNN, Fox News, MSNBC all generally don’t have enough actual news to fill their time slots. So, they allow an alarmingly large amount of people, who may or may not deserve to add their two cents, to drone on for hours. For example, Lou Dobbs’ endless crusade against illegal immigrants is proof enough that he’s about as committed to honest reporting as Dick Cheney is to being sociable.
Also, the three big news channels often present an ideological slant to their reporting, with CNN, Fox and MSNBC being center-left, right, and left-wing, respectively, as based on “talking points” or relative coverage of issues and events important to either political party.
While the actual information of the events of the day may be presented, much more time is devoted to analysis of these events (by commentators and pundits). During this election, all one has to do is watch any one of these channels and see which candidate they positively mention the most and which they criticize the most.
For those of us who want our news delivered in a more informative way, we need to look elsewhere.
The national news of the major networks of NBC, CBS and ABC are generally of a centrist political nature, but their half-hour time slots prevent them from going into much detail with any particular topic. Additionally, their focus tends to be on a very American-centric point of view (and understandably so); however, this prevents viewers from becoming better informed about international events.
So, where can one actually get hard-hitting, comprehensive, and ideologically equal news or commentary on television?
“The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” on PBS, is an outstanding news program. A full hour long, it presents a myriad of issues, ranging from national to international, in depth and with qualified commentators. Any political party or ideology represented by an individual will always have the opposing — or critical — side represented as well.
Additionally, for social commentary of a more professional, balanced nature, two other PBS programs stand out: “Charlie Rose” and “Tavis Smiley.”
These two shows often have a range of guests, from celebrities to entrepreneurs to social workers and offer interviews of some of the most influential figures of our times.
That said, I warn potential viewers that both hosts allow their guests to speak their case, so their commentary will no doubt favor their view of a particular issue if no counter-point guest is available.
If you’re an American committed to finding the facts and making decisions based on rational arguments, look no further than your television.
While political or sociological programming has taken a sharp ideological turn in the past two decades, there still are real journalists out there, waiting to tell you the news as it is, not as they see it.
Alex is watching The News Hour, but can be reached by e-mail at
alexander.petrusek@asu.edu.
