Ah, the media, what a hot button issue.

Unfortunately, in our current atmosphere, at least in the USA, it's become a business of access more than anything else. Just about every network attempts to appease both sides so that they can get the inside scoop before the others. There's been competitions amongst the "Big 3", CBS, NBC and ABC, to see who can break a news story first and oftentimes it means attempting to find their way into a location before the other. Generally, this leads more to sensationalism and generalizations instead of real news as well as sound bites instead of actual news stories.

The TV itself as a medium can be directly contributed to this, as it's essentially programmed us to want information fast and easy to understand. More often than not, "Debate" shows on Fox, CNN and the like boil into shout-fests because apparently the train of thought is that the louder one yells, the more important their point is, or the more truthful they become, when in reality, actual news often has two sides and doesn't need to be completely cut up to make nice little half minute pieces on the nightly news.

Our culture as well, has made us very polarized about politics, with all forms of commercials, campaigning and the like that attempt to show how wrong each side is, when in reality, they're just two sides of the same argument: Politics is all about compromise, how many people can you please at once in order to gain. Sure, every once in a while, you'll have someone on an idealistic or self-rightieous crusade, but they often are candles in the wind, they shine for a moment and are then blown out because they are either too left or right for the general population.

This in a nutshell is what boggles my mind about this current Presidential election:

Kerry and Edwards are being attacked for being too "Liberal". Yet, wouldn't that mean that they are favoring socialism and anarchy? At the same time, Bush and Cheney are being plugged as too "Conservative", yet wouldn't THAT mean they are attempting a dictatorship? In reality, neither are really THAT extreme in real terms of the political spectrum. In my opinion, the differences between Kerry and Bush really aren't that wide, but we are manipulated to think it's huge.

Problem with media is that it can be easily used to fuel wrong or misinformed information, which in turn can completely misinform the public who watch it. Yet, how can we make sure the media gives balanced news when the news itself is becoming leftist or rightist based upon campaign managers, and TV execs?

More than anything else, I feel the best way to be informed is to watch multiple perspectives on something, be it news, sports, whatever. Then, you can sort of filter out all the biases by either side and be left with what is real and truthful. As Unne and others said, check sources that attempt to be impartial, as most TV news IS, whether we like it or not on some form of agenda because they need money as well. So, they will show the news from a perspective their target audiences want to hear it from.

Take care all.