I recently came across a website called Media Bias Fact Check, which claims to rate the right/left bias of various media outlets and determine their level of trustworthiness. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think journalistic bias is a big problem, especially in the mainstream media (CNN, MSNBC, and such). However, there is a problem with that site that I think needs to be addressed.
The site seems to think that the more biased a website is, in either direction, the more untrustworthy it is. That would be true, if and only if both the left and right sides of the political spectrum were equally untrustworthy. That is not necessarily the case. Leftist ideology tends to be based on feelings and opinions, while the right takes on a more practical, real-world approach to policy.
Look at it this way: if you have a group of people that think the sky is blue, and a group that thinks it’s red, which one is correct? The Blue Skyers of course. Now imagine we have a website that reports on both groups, but seems to be biased in favor of believing the Red Skyers. That would be bias that results in untrustworthy information, because the Red Skyers are wrong. If, however, the website leans towards believing the Blue Skyers, their information would be more trustworthy because of their “bias.”
And that’s where the problem of media bias lies. In order to actually be objective, you can’t be completely neutral, unless both sides are equally wrong. Neutrality involves taking a position directly between the two sides so as not to favor one over the other. But if you are to be objective, you have to report the facts. If the facts happen to line up with one side’s ideology, so be it. To the ignorant, you may appear to be biased in favor of that side, but that’s simply a side effect of true being truly objective.
The Left Debunked 