News Sources

There is a lot of huff going on about what news channel to watch. MSNBC is known for being liberal together with many other channels such as CNN, while Fox News is assumed to be conservative.

I am not sure that it is entirely accurate to categorize news sources like this. I definitely do agree that MSNBC is liberal since they have confirmed it themselves. Also, the commentators may seem to be more to the left than in other networks.

I have watched Fox News since many years back, and it has always appeared to me that they are reasonably objective. They do have shows with people like Bill O’ Reilly and David Asman with moderate conservative views, which may be seen as being biased. My experience is that Bill O’ Reilly usually is bashing liberals, as well as conservatives, with his opinion of right and wrong.

Watching Fox News in New York can be challenging, and many people form an opinion of others who watch it. I have experienced people coming up to me while I am looking at the Fox News website asking me, “You know it is a conservative news network right?”

I honestly to not believe that there is anything such as a truly objective news source. Someone’s opinion will be reflected in a way, whether it is from sponsorship or news anchors. I believe it is up to each individual to watch news from different networks and form their own opinion.

I noticed that, especially Swedes, believe American news media is biased. That is because the country itself demonstrates a perfect society and everything in Sweden is objective. I hope you can see the sarcasm.

I studied media in Sweden for three years at a very liberal school. One great thing that I learned was that as in most countries, the majority of journalists in Sweden are very liberal.

I am not sure if I discussed the news networks in Sweden during the presidential election in the United States. I found the Swedish media to be far more biased than the major American networks.

Sweden is a socialistic country and Obama was therefore the candidate to support. However, news media constantly illustrated Obama in his best shoes and with no negative comments. Most Swedes did not know who McCain or Palin was. When the networks talked about Obama’s opposition, they portrayed them as crooks or extremists.

It is easy to form an opinion. However, I believe people should watch at least two different news channels and try to see if they differ in any way. Sometimes, I like to watch the network I do not agree with because it shows me the news from an angel I am not used to.