The Biased Deficiencies of the American Media

by Mark Arellano

As important news events break around the world, the mass media of the international circuit of journalists and broadcasts scoop up the latest information to report. The American broadcast networks provide the latest news for the American public to consume and take into account as the truth. What many people do not see is the one-sided, biased opinions expressed by the American media. Whether it be CNN or the local six o’clock news, there are severe deficiencies in the American media today.

The way our opinionated networks view, scan, and present half-truths, it is sad that what they produce can be called news. In such varied news topics from the War in Iraq to flu epidemic symptoms in Europe, American news media only produce what they believe the public needs to see. A truly reliable source that presents both sides to a story are the French networks, specifically TF1, which is the major news broadcaster in France.

In France, the news airs only twice a day, first at one in the afternoon, and the second at eight in the evening. The half-hour news shows in the United States are nonexistent in France, and do not take up time with falsehoods and trivial fodder like CSNBC or CNN do with such shows as Hardball with Hannity and Colmes. The attempts made to portray world events correctly are indeed noble efforts, but all they do is showcase one-sided, half-stories that go in accordance with the government. If politics is not content, then a story cannot be presented.

Stations like TF1 and France 3 have forty minute news shows that lead-in with teasers for the topics of the broadcast, followed by a brief commentary on the current topic by the anchor, and a good ten to fifteen minute report on a topic with a wide range of perspectives in the story. For instance, when discussing the current flu dilemma in France, TF1 interviews a wide range from top pediatricians to the Secretary of Health of France. American channels air several minute segments but provide only mundane information and interviews with people who have little relevance to the topics.

The War in Iraq is an enormous debate that has made the United States look like criminal bullies out to kill people. This is not the case, but what is frightening is how CNN and others only focus on how well Bush is doing, or how right our decision was to invade Iraq. Many other countries see us as bullies. The downfall of American news is that we never look at the opposite side of the story.

Part of the reason that France disagrees with us regarding the War on Terror is the fact that a good number of the French immigrant population is Arab. With so many prominent Arab figures and entrepreneurs migrating to France, an agreement with an invasion in Iraq would upset the local population of Arabs in France. The United States does not see all footage that is devoted against the Iraqi invasion in other countries. Through Al-Jeezera, France gets exclusive news footage of the Arab world that would never be aired on American television. Such footage airs due to the large Arabic population in France.

Though the American news corporations could use some improvement, the US broadcasting companies and the ways they conduct their professionalism are not entirely flawed. Many interesting points and counterviews make the serious political thinker ponder. There is still a long way to go for the American media.