Opinion: Major media news bias will be their downfall

On June 13, 2023, three of the headlines on MSNBC homepage read "Trump is a real and present danger to U.S. secrets, security and democracy" by Mehdi Hasan, Lisa Rubin's lackluster report on Trump's arraignment in Miami and a headline also by Mehdi Hasan that read "DeSantis' Covid record is even worse than you think." These headlines are not only sensationalist and misleading, but also indicative of a deeper problem: the major media news bias against conservatives.

Media bias against conservatives is not a new phenomenon, but it has become more pronounced and pervasive in recent years. According to a study by AllSides, a website that rates media bias, most of the major media news outlets in the U.S. lean left or are left-biased, while only a few lean right or are right-biased. This means that most of the news that Americans consume is filtered through a liberal lens that often distorts, omits or ignores facts and perspectives that are favorable to conservatives or critical of liberals.

Media bias against conservatives is not only unfair, but also harmful to democracy and society. It undermines the trust and confidence that people have in the news media as a source of accurate and reliable information. It also creates a polarized and divided public that is unable to engage in civil and constructive dialogue across political differences. It also fuels resentment and anger among conservatives who feel marginalized and demonized by the media.

One might wonder why the major media news outlets are so biased against conservatives. There are several possible explanations, such as the ideological leanings of journalists, the corporate interests of media owners, the market incentives of catering to liberal audiences, or the social pressures of conforming to the dominant narrative. However, none of these factors can fully account for the extent and intensity of the bias that we observe today.

Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that the major media news outlets are not run by humans anymore, but by robots. Robots that are programmed to generate sensationalist and partisan headlines that attract clicks and views. Robots that are incapable of empathy, nuance or balance. Robots that are indifferent to the truth or the consequences of their actions.

Robots might one day completely take over the major media because they are cheaper and more efficient than humans. They can produce more content faster and with less errors. They can also adapt to changing trends and preferences more easily. They can also avoid lawsuits and scandals that might tarnish their reputation.

However, robots cannot replace humans when it comes to journalism. Journalism is not just about reporting facts, but also about interpreting them, contextualizing them, analyzing them and presenting them in a way that informs, educates and engages the public. Journalism is not just about telling stories, but also about uncovering them, verifying them, challenging them and holding them accountable. Journalism is not just about serving the interests of the powerful, but also about representing the voices of the marginalized, the oppressed and the silenced.

Journalism is a human endeavor that requires human qualities such as curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, courage and compassion. These qualities cannot be replicated by robots, no matter how advanced they are. That is why we need human journalists who can provide us with honest, fair and balanced news coverage that respects our intelligence and dignity as citizens.

We also need human readers who can discern between fact and opinion, between evidence and speculation, between journalism and propaganda. We need human readers who can seek out diverse sources of information, question their own assumptions and biases, and engage with others who have different views with respect and civility.

We need human readers who can think for themselves.

Our opinion:

It is our opinion that the soulless, toneless and homogeneous views of major media outlets will easily be replaced by robots, while only the humans who do real journalism will survive the AI revolution. We believe that many ordinary writing jobs are doomed to be automated by artificial intelligence that can mimic human language without understanding its meaning or context. We hope that our readers will appreciate our efforts to provide them with original, insightful and engaging articles that reflect our human values and vision.

Additional reading:

• Media bias against conservatives is real, and part of the reason no one trusts the news now by Evan Siegfried (NBC News)
• Media Bias Chart by AllSides
• The American mainstream news media may be more biased than we think by Matthew Levendusky (LSE USAPP Blog)
• There is no liberal media bias in which news stories political journalists choose to cover by David Doherty, Conor M. Dowling and Michael G. Miller (Science Advances)