First Name:
Allison
Last Name:
Mitchell
Major Department:
Communication: Electronic Media
Thesis Director:
Janice Pope
Date of Thesis:
May 2011
"Our job is only to hold up the mirror—to tell and show the public what has happened. Then it is the job of the people to decide whether they have faith in their leaders or governments." Walter Cronkite was one of America's top reporters and radio news announcers. Over the years, news has taken on many different forms—soft news, entertainment news, and news commentary programs, to name a few—but which forms of news can really be relied upon? Some people use only one news source, which may be the biggest problem with how our country interprets current events, because every source of news can easily manipulate the information it is delivering, without the audience being able to recognize that manipulation. Merriam-Webster defines "bias" as "an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment." It can be argued that all news is biased in some shape or form, whether the audience realizes it or not. This paper is an explanation of why this is true, and how the audience can learn from it.