To be a committed participant is to be able and willing to engage in open debate and argument.
To engage in open debate and argument is to have a keen understanding of not only your own take on the issue but those opposing yours.
To have a keen understanding of both the black and white of an issue in debate is to, in reality, think somewhere in the gray zone that is lost in the media's form of debate.
Therefore, my question to you is this: as a committed participant in society, do the pundits on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc hold any value or weight of importance? If so, how should we effectively sort through the information being fed to us by these traditional media outlets? If they do not have value or importance to you, where do you get information from all angles in order to truly be equipped for real discussion and debate?
'Tis a frustrating quandary.
Participate by sharing your thoughts in the comments section, if you feel so inclined.
Just testing
11 years ago
I share your frustrations.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes that many people go to the news outlet that feeds/supports their viewpoint so they can buff up their talking points.
It's hard to find a truly neutral source and I have little patience for hysterical punditry of any stripe.
Sadly, most news delivered on the TV,radio and RSS feeders is so compressed for time and space, that this challenges even the most neutral of news outlets to provide a comprehensive and balanced story.
Public radio and TV news probably do the best, but some allege bias there as well. Does anybody know who does this really well?
to me the frustration is that with all the airtime available on cable news, there are very few 'honest' pundits out there. That isn't to say those without a 'bias' but rather those who are willing to listen and not just talk, consider evidence not emotions, and consider changing their mind in the face of what they hear.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a better way to think of it is to push back on the 'bias' argument. The question shouldn't be where is the pundit coming from, but is the topic at hand getting a fair hearing.
it's too bad that most if not all of the high profile 'pundits' aren't interested in producing a fair hearing- they're interested in generating high emotions.
For me there is not one media that is right. Pundits, in my opinion are often the pawns of a larger piece of the puzzle. They often sensationalize and overamp their points in order to gain better ratings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that to effectively gain a decent understanding of current affairs, one must take their search outside the realm of just television. You really have to survey the scene...look at cnn, look at msnbc, look at fox (as hard as it sounds), and then check out other media sources such as the latimes, nytimes, star tribune, bbc and even the opinion pages. Then from there you can even branch out to new media outlets such as NPR, Slate.com, Huffington Post, etc.
I guess the main thing that one has to do is suck up all the information like a sponge, see how each pundits point of view differs. And from this, you come to your own conclusion.
You cant blindly follow what you hear on TV. This will often lead to a one-sided provincial mindset which is unhealthy for the betterment of your self.
So I guess I feel that a truly committed participant really has to branch out and be open to all types of ideas. Then through this search, they will be able to better illustrate their points and have a broader foundation to draw their arguments from.