The slow death of "news" in America

With Rivals Ahead, Doubts for CNN’s Middle Road

It started with Fox and now has spread to MSNBC. The "news" channels with the best ratings (and therefore the best ability to attract advertisers, remain profitable, and therefore stay in business) are hardly what most objective observers would call unbiased sources of news and factual information. Fox has become the news channel for the right, MSNBC for the left. Now instead of being presented the facts and making up your own mind, you can have someone tell you what to think! HOORAY!

The problem with this is that it further divides our country and encourages people to avoid critical thought and seeing another person's viewpoint. It stokes anger and intolerance. If our democracy is truly going to succeed it needs an unbiased press, which we are quickly moving away from (especially in prime-time cable news).

So next time you go to switch on the news, ask yourself if you want to encourage the death-by-the-market of unbiased news by patronizing news sources that tell you what you want to hear or are more in line with your views. Encouraging biased journalism and press is a strike against our democracy.