There is a method to my madness that explains why my daily activity of checking the news takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. As a political science student, it's important to me that I know what's going on in the world - in politics, economics, the United States, etc. The media and the news networks are a great contributor to the partisan divide in America, especially in terms of politics. Humans are creatures of habit, and if you talk to anyone that religiously watches or reads the news, they're likely to tell you that there's one outlet that they prefer over another, whether this is because of the writers, anchors, format, etc.

Over the course of the 2016 Presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly put the network of CNN on blast for being "anti-Trump" and abrasively left leaning. There is a new rhetoric that has come as a result of this past election: "fake news." While Trump's reproach of CNN might be correct, it still holds the potential to be untrue. Since the American people rely on news networks and new papers as their source of information, it's imperative that we seek full, unbiased understanding of events.

It is true that there is no completely unbiased news outlet - it is impractical to expect there to be. Well-known networks such as CNN and Fox News are divergent in their portrayal and approach to giving information to the public. Journalism and news is, often, a race against time - it's important to these networks to be able to get the information out first. It is impossible to help that writers will find it difficult to stay nonpartisan about their stories. This is why it's important to check different news outlets for your information. On occasion, information can be misrepresented when fact meets opinion, and thus the media influences a particular way of thinking. The only way these news networks can be wrong is if the facts are incorrect or part of the story is left out in some way. This can, unfortunately, happen.

Whether you are more conservative or liberal in your views, it benefits you as the reader and analyst, to get both sides of the story. You may find information you had been missing.

For your reference, here's a comprehensive list of news networks and where they fall on the political spectrum.