As we continue to debate whether Fox News is a real news outlet or just a part of Republican/conservative propaganda to shape false narratives, we also have to be conscious of the news that comes to us from the other sources: the ones that we might think are credible, but are actually not. If Donald Trump can make highly inaccurate claims that majority of immigrants are rapists, drug dealers and criminals and still become a Republican Presidential Nominee, we know there is a problem. People here, both educated and uneducated, are highly misinformed about their own country and the rest of the world. This level of ignorance can only come from either their own unwillingness to learn about the current affairs or from blindly following the strongly biased news outlets. While the solution to the former can only come from within, the latter can be prevented by following more credible sources.
While "...but we have freedom to choose the more credible media," sounds like a valid argument, it is very far from truth. At present, 90 percent of the media in the United States is controlled by six big corporations consolidated from 50 companies back in 1983. Now General Electric, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS own all the major media outlets like NBC, CNN, FOX, NY Post, and ABC. That means 232 media executives control what 318 million Americans read, watch and listen. And when there are giant corporations, powerful people and money involved, the very ethics of journalism (i.e truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability) are bound to be compromised. (read more: http://billmoyers.com/story/twenty-years-of-media-...)
The fact-bending by mainstream media is not only confined to their coverage of the presidential race, but no one can deny that most of the coverages by the medias at present reflects their heavy bias towards the candidates they have endorsed. While Fox News is doing everything to vilify Hilary Clinton, The New York Times unapologetically continues to endorse and write everything possible to benefit the Clinton campaign. Even the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) emails that got leaked a few weeks ago showed how they used media to undermine Sander's campaign and give Hilary Clinton the upper hand.
In fact, according to the fact checking organizations, nearly 60 percent of the claims made by FOX News, 44 percent of the claims made by MSNBC and 15 percent of the claims made by CNN are mostly false. Since these are the most popular and the major sources of "seemingly valid" news in the United States, it is alarming how easy it is to get influenced by lies or half-truths here. It is not just the conservative medias, but also the more liberal media too that are bending the facts for their own profit. (read more: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2014/...)
So, what can we do? We have to be mindful of what we read, watch and listen to. We have to question what we're told instead of blindly believing everything. Just because something is loud, does not mean it is valid. (If you have ever watched Tomi Lahren shouting at the top of her lungs on the Blaze, you will agree with me.) We have to boycott corporate-backed news, and support political fact checking organizations. We need to follow not just the mainstream medias in the U.S., but also international news medias like BBC and Al Jazeera, and independent news media.
We have to actually have an inclination to learn more about what's going on around us because no matter how much Fox News and other mainstream media tells you, not all Syrian refugees are ISIS in disguise, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton are not the founders of ISIS and they are not going to take away all your guns. There is no such thing as "stealing your jobs" and Netanyahu is not increasing illegal settlements to achieve peace. And mostly, tomato is not a fruit. (Or maybe it is.You need to research yourself.)
