Imagine all you have ever known are
shadows dancing across the wall in front of you. Imagine that you are chained
to a wall, forced to watch these shadows all day every day. You have never seen
the sun. These shadows are all you know, and to you, they are reality. Then
imagine one day a neighbor of yours is released from his chains and leaves the
cave, which he has spent his entire existence in until this point. Some time later, he comes
back, and tells you there is an entirely different world right outside a door
behind you, and all you have known is wrong, and that the world is really a
very different place. Would you believe him? Or would you stay bound, watching
the shadows on the wall because that is what you know as reality. This is
essentially the "Allegory of the Cave," an extended metaphor by Plato
that draws out attention to how we perceive and consider what is reality. Plato
establishes we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate
truths.
Now most of us would believe that
we are somewhat above these shadows, that we know the truth. We are educated,
getting a collegiate experience and searching for the truths in our area of
focus and see somewhat through the fog. Now try to imagine a different scenario,
one that is a lot closer to home. Imagine sitting on the couch, no chains forcing you down, watching a middle-aged man, a news anchor on your preferred news
channel, talk about a National crisis, and the person next to you, watching
with you, says something like “That’s a load of bull.” And perhaps they go as
far as to suggest the government made it up to cover some scandal. Now most of
us would want to know more, and ask this person next to us what they mean. Would we believe them? Are
we able to differentiate the difference between fact and fiction in the news?
Or are we stuck watching the reflections of truth on the screens of our TV
screens.
Pew Research has surveyed more than two decades of the
public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories and has found that is now
at all time low. Only 29% of
Americans say that news institutes “generally get the facts straight, while 63%
say that news stories are often inaccurate.” Likewise, about a quarter (26%) now say that “News organizations
are careful that their reporting is not politically biased,” compared with 60%
who say, “News organizations are politically biased,” which is a 15% increase
from 1985. Nearly three-quarters believe
news organizations tend to favor one side in dealing with political and social
issues, while just 18% say they deal fairly with all sides.
So while the majority of the public believes that TV news
reporting gets their information wrong, and are not careful about reporting fair
and unbiased information, why do we still rely on them for our news information
and not push for more accurate coverage? Or are we too involved in the shadows
to really care?
Photo of FOX news anchor: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&biw=1320&bih=754&tbm=isch&tbnid=FKqb6Eb3hkVO8M:&imgrefurl=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/11/01/a_reporters_perspective/%3Fpage%3Dfull&docid=1n8VVkfqn6EaYM&imgurl=http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/10/30/1225417966_8495/539w.jpg&w=539&h=303&ei=EzW0UK6pGoH5ygHv5YCADA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=350&sig=109781831346978620682&page=2&tbnh=138&tbnw=261&start=28&ndsp=38&ved=1t:429,r:29,s:0,i:244&tx=69&ty=79
Statistics on viewer opinions regarding news accuracy as well as line graph pictured: http://www.people-press.org/2009/09/13/press-accuracy-rating-hits-two-decade-low/
Interesting posts Lucy! I found your political cartoon very amusing, and you bring up some very good questions for the evidence you presented. I think we follow the news because we know the news is at least partially true. Instead of being fully submerged in the cave of darkness, we can at least learn some about reality from them. Also, I do believe that news channels are biased. I most noticed this in the election coverage this year where the reactions of the news anchors when Obama won varied drastically from each channel. However, we follow this biased news because of our own opinions. People want to hear news and ideas that are the closest to their own, so they will watch the biased news channel that most closely reflects these views. It could be that it makes us feel like our reality or perspectives are closer to the truth by having news channels, which are supposed to provide knowledge, be biased towards our own ideas.
ReplyDeleteI would like to start out by saying that I may be in the minority of the population that believes a majority of the stories I hear on the news. Some of the breaking news is reiterated through multiple news stations. I find it hard to believe that all of these news stations are reporting wrong information, and I just do not really see any reason to air false information. On the other hand, I do agree with the political biases that may be incorporated. I think the main reason that we do not challenge the new anchors and channels is that there is no other real source to turn to, as news reports are the main source of information for the majority of the population.
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