There has always been much discussion about the Media. Typically rants about bias to the left or right, over coverage of scandals and longing for better news coverage. Well here I sit as part of the media (albeit a very small one) and it has given me some insight into today’s media.
As always we must keep in mind that media outlets are all businesses. As such they attempt to take account of the desires of their market. And looking at the popularity of shows I believe that most hit the mark. An unfortunate side affect (in my ‘opinion’) is that outlets tend to mix and even emphasize opinion over information. You see opinion is far more interesting since it is where conflict exist. Of course the more acrimonious the conflict the better! And information tends to be boring, just sets of facts. But we desperately need facts to make intelligent decisions about those interesting conflicting opinions…
Of course as I point this out, note that Shake’s Place by design contains largely opinion. Though it does include differing opinions, hopefully in constructive dialogue. As much as possible I have included factual information. Be warned that even though I will include all information that I know is important, it will be the information that led me to a given opinion in the first place. Just a note to realize that even when an opinion based article conscientiously includes facts it is wise to seek out information that would support a contrary viewpoint.
So what is the solution? First we can all pay attention and understand when we are hearing opinion. Then go out and find the information we need to really test those opinions, testing both ones we agree and disagree with. If enough people are looking for information new outlets will come into existence to fill this need. In the end it doesn’t matter how much “garbage” is out there if it easy to find the good stuff.
A Madman has spoken…