A lot of brouhaha is making its way into the news media of late about how the news media has been showing favoritism to Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. This post on BuzzMachine is an interesting analysis of that, yet the thing I keep noticing about those who are complaining about it are the ones who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
Before moving on, I will disclose that I voted for Barack Obama. (Who I voted for is not relevant to this post, and hopefully you'll see why in a minute.)
Having said that, there are two things I think are interesting here:
- The term "media critics" seems ridiculous to me. Reason being: the ones who play the role of critics are usually the ones who are in the minority of the mainstream voice at the moment. Once the tides shift back, and their own favorites are being hailed as gilded icons, they'll stare aghast at anyone who dares tell them that "the media has a bias."
- There are no truly objective mediums that we consume. This is a good time to note that, as it is now being openly discussed in the mainstream. Normally, this type of chatter is immediately and completely dismissed by all outlets as conspiracy theory and the like.
Perhaps one thing Barack Obama's campaign is exposing to us as a society--whether or not it is intentional--is that we all have prejudices, biases and opinions. Many of them very firmly ingrained within us.
To be able to admit that about ourselves as well as others is a huge step forward in a society that looks to its media for guidance. And to be able to develop and apply critical thinking skills to the media we consume will only serve to improve the quality of the media that we are served.