Position Paper 1: Political Pundits

 

Political Pundits: 

In the world today it can be difficult to differentiate real from fake news. How can we trust the media outlets without them being personally biased. Coming from someone who isn't necessarily a diligent news watcher I realize that figuring out a reliable source for your news can be difficult. I struggle with figuring out what to trust and what is just something to grab your attention. Predictions are something that I feel are not reliable. The same people that try to convince you that certain politicians are terrible for the position of president are the same ones giving you election predictions. A political pundit is basically someone taking their own opinion and shaping our mainstream media. Networks like Fox and CNN are at the frontline of the world of political pundits. 

CNN is known to heavily favor the Democratic side of politics. When looking at their predictions for anything they tend to slander the Republicans. We are supposed to be trusting these news sources to be a reliable outlet for information. How can we do that we each network puts their own personal twist on the information? A prime example of this is how the Democrats believe President Trump deliberately misled Americans about how severe Coronavirus was in the beginning. After interview tapes were recently released to the public in an interview with Bob Woodward Trump discusses early dealings with the virus and each party has a say in it. A direct quote from one of many CNN articles on the issue stated "Confronting another political crisis caused by his own words and actions, Trump sought to both assign blame elsewhere for the deadly pandemic and share responsibility for the revelation he made in February that the virus was deadly and transmitted through the air." In another article discussing Woodward's newest book titled 'Rage.' the trend continued of the constant negativity and doubt of how President Trump has handled COVID-19. Where he discussed he knew how deadly this new airborne virus could potentially be but this was long before the first confirmed death here in the United States. The interview continues as Woodward confronts him for lying/downplaying the virus and President Trump stated it was ultimately not to create a panic. Woodward's book discusses how Trump acting quicker with right protocols could have prevented many more deaths. "If instead of playing down what he knew, Trump had acted decisively in early February with a strict shutdown and a consistent message wear masks, social distance and wash hands, experts believe that thousands of American lives could have been saved." I was curious if everyone else understood how biased CNN and Fox are and the New York Post delivered. Journalist David Harsanyi wrote an article back in January titled 'CNN's Bias is Now Beyond Laughable' and I can't help but agree. The article discusses how Senators like Martha McSally are pestered by CNN reporters and they simply shrug them off as a 'liberal hack.' How can we even begin to decipher the world of predictions with bias so apparent in our media? 

 

When discussing bias in the world of politics you can't bring up CNN and not bring up Fox news as well. Fox is known for favoring the Republican party and beating down the Democrats. Their agenda is the polar opposite of CNN's as they favor President Trump. They typically report on Trump's activity in a positive light and bash candidate Joe Biden. An example of this was the recent accusations made that presidential candidate Joe Biden used a teleprompter to answer questions regarding the campaign. 

When trying to decipher how we can trust large news platforms likes CNN and Fox that line can be blurred between fact or truth. Each network favors one party or the other making every news story heavily biased towards one or other. Making the world we live in one full of political pundits.