Here's why you can never trust the U.S. news media again?

Question

Media no longer has any intention of presenting both sides of a story.

More than a century ago, way back in 1906, Mark Twain said, “There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe — only two — the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.”
For the rest of the 20th century, the AP was America’s — even the world’s — most unbiased news source. If the agency quoted a top House Democrat saying one thing, they’d quote a top Republican a few paragraphs down saying just the opposite. For every point, there was a counterpoint.
That’s how the world is. Of course there are “facts,” but many can be interpreted in myriad ways. The AP, like a lot of news agencies at the time, simply sought to lay out the two sides — or sometimes 12 sides — and let the reader decide.
All that changed in the 21st century. The Internet was beginning to bloom and afternoon newspapers across the U.S. — often a city’s conservative alternative to the liberal morning paper — began to wither and die. The AP, which provides content to news outlets, soon found that its clients wanted more liberal content (and were willing to pay handsomely for it).
I remember in the early ’00s, a top AP reporter covering the White House told me that the news service would no longer present the two sides as if they were equal. Citing climate change, the reporter said one side is “settled science,” which means that any other side doesn’t hold water.

? · Answer

The key point here is "no longer present the two sides as if they were equal." The AP still presents the opinions of both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, as they are equally divided. But when 98% of the world's scientists recognize global warming, quoting one and then quoting an anti-change scientists as if they represented equal numbers of scientists is not "balanced". That's like saying that putting a 2 year old on one side of a teeter-totter and Shaquille O'Neal on the other is "balanced".

Nemo S · Answer

He has a point, water is wet (to Us)  Drop a ball it falls to the ground (Gravity) so a settled scientific fact no debate is needed and when you have a settled argument in the scientific sense then you can go onto the next unanswered question and keep searching for the answer until it is settled so on and so forth...

this is NOT the DARK AGES but there are plenty that want everyone to go back to that and honestly I am NOT interested because the REAL journey is just beginning not ending that is of course IF we don't destroy ourselves first and we are well on the way to that end...

N.Shadows

Anonymous · Answer

The liberal media terrorist Org, needs to be broken up.

Trump was right, again.

skeptik · Answer

The news media has no requirement to report "both sides" of a factual story.  In reality, when one of the "sides" is objectively false, pretending it should have equal footing is a disservice to the truth.

The AP never did what you claim.
They have always recognized that not everything is a matter of opinion, and have reported accordingly.

? · Answer

Why do you think I and others were warning people about the end of our democracy and country (as we know it)?   There is no honor, no integrity, no respect anymore.  
Can’t trust the news to be fair, , can’t trust politicians to be fair, can’t trust elections to be fair, can’t trust people to be honorable or follow the law. Why is that?  What caused that?    This country is doomed.

El Famoso · Answer

You have a right to your own opinion. This doesn't make it fact.

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Here's why you can never trust the U.S. news media again?

6 Answers