Is there such a thing as news anymore?

The trick is .... there never WAS non-biased news. Newspapers came into being to push the agendas of their owners, actual information was a side-benefit. There was a brief window where news organizations made a point of trying to appear unbiased - but that was about appearance, not reality. Check into the actual history of some of the great names of "just the facts" news - Murrow, Kronkite, Rather, to name just a few and you will quickly discover that their coverage was far from "fair & balanced." They ("big media", for lack of a better, less loaded term) were just the big boys on the block and had monolithic control over the message and image.

Remember, something as simple as WHICH story gets ink or time on the newscast, or where in the paper/show it goes can skew its "importance." in the eyes of readers, even with factual "reporting." This is before getting into whether they are "terrorists", "militants", "freedom fighters", or "youths."

The closest you can come now (or ever) to "unbiased" is to get information from multiple sources with different agendas, and hope to find the truth somewhere in the middle.

The only differences are:
1. Now we know it
and
2. Fewer pretend to be neutral (which I actually prefer).

I don't even watch the national news on TV anymore. If I find hear of a story and find it interesting, I'll research it myself. If something happens, I don't need some bobble-head puppet relaying it to me.

News, we don't need no stinking news. We have reality TV now so who needs the one way, hyper-intensified, over-produced, hijacked versions of the truth we are force fed on a daily basis.

LTC (Join to see), I think that COL Vincent Stoneking and CPT Richard Riley have a good handle on it.

I find the most difficult part of 'getting the news' is finding the time to research what I want to know about. Making an attempt to "stay current" is a time investment on a daily basis. You and several others are accurate in that if you ONLY subscribe to one or a few sources of NEWS then more than likely you're getting a slanted perspective.

I do what you also do - I search a story subject line and look at multiple sources to try and get a reasonable perspective. Taking bits and pieces from many different sites actually gives you a somewhat well rounded story ... while not 100 percent accurate it is certainly more realistic than anything mass media will feed you. To think or believe that one source gets it right all the time is foolish to say the least.

You also run into trying to filter 'opinion' from actual fact. Just because you see something in print does not mean it is factual ... so you end up digging to find the facts related to what you are trying to learn about.

Thanks LTC (Join to see) for the discussion!

LTC (Join to see) Sir it seems all the news channels have become partisan. I enjoy National news, but find it challenging to watch the bash and blame hour, consequently, typically, I watch BBC America for news.

I enjoy Fox News but always know there is an agenda. I recognize the agenda with CNN and MSNBC also.

I believe that to a great extent, journalism is dead in our country. Local news, in my area, is still good at covering local stories, but on a national level, it seems that there is always an agenda behind every story, regardless of what media outlet you are following at the time. The population seems more interested in sensationalism than the truth, and the media is more than willing to oblige. Our only option is to follow a specific story on multiple outlets and try to deduce the truth for ourselves.

in the US the best informed citizens almost always been found to be PBS viewers of I think it is Newshour. The thing you will notice is that real news is boring. The 24 hour non stop cycle of cable news does lend to sensationalism. I personally believe that it is not possible for their to be completely unbiased news, but what I want is 100% truth in reporting. I think we all could benefit from looking at the other side's point of view, but if the other side is pumping blatant untruths, then it is not looking at the issue from another side.

I read a recent survey from a fact check group that said Fox is the most accurate at a whopping 24%. That's sad. There is no real main stream news source you can trust. Oh, the "Colbert Report" is one of the least accurate. I guess that's why it's on a comedy station.

I take the news with a grain of salt. I can tell if it's biased. Sometimes I research, and/or comment on FACEBOOK on my wall. It's called Dan's Soap Box, where I rant, and race.