by RNH Nello

Created on: March 24, 2009

That al Jazeera is available within the United States, albeit primarily through the inner-net, is the reality. In the United States nearly any source of news is available through some medium although sometimes you might have to search a little for that source.

As a general assumption, a more varied perspective of the news is better than a single or narrowed perspective of the news, however, as with most things there are some qualifications.

Most news media, possibly all news media, have a bias. A bias derived from any number of incentives. It could be the owner of the media, or the perspective of the news anchors, or governmental control, or a cultural focus. It is likely a good idea to take the basic position that the news you receive from any sources is slanted, maybe just a little, or maybe to the point of being propaganda. In any case, determining that slant is the responsibility of the individual receiving the news.

Of course if it were that straight foreword its likely all people would select the same news media source, but they don't and therein is the rub. Each person comes from a specific culture, possibly they were raised in more than one culture. Even those who come from a common cultural background there can be different perspectives such as rural verses urban. In addition, such things as one's ethnic antecedents, religion, education, economic position, community associations, and so much more define the individual's perspectives. Therefore people differ as to personal opinion of the most reliable and credible source of news. If this were not true, then how could people sincerely prefer cultural communities which differ on something as basic as how to define individual freedom?

People can become quite intense in their preferences and this is reflected in their news viewing habits. It is clear that many people want the news they watch to more or less reflect their personal values of life. That is, positive stories of events they value and negative stories on events they find alien. In many countries this doesn't present a problem because the culture is primarily supportive of a singular cultural interpretation and their news more or less reflects that perspective. In a culture such as the United States this does present a problem because the availability of all perspectives is a desired cultural value, even when the news presented is anti (even indirectly) of that basic cultural value. It is a basic cultural belief that the individual should have access

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