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"News Gathering 101"

When most people think of politics, the tendency is to re-enact the infamous scene from "Home Alone," slapping their open mouths and running around the room, screaming in horror; but the purpose of this article is to take the headache out of getting informed and about forming your own opinion on the world around you.

When deciding to get informed on a particular issue, technology dictates that you rush to a computer and "Google" whatever it is you're looking for, but common sense doesn't tell you to become a scientist and pick the information apart. Whether your search leads you to the New York Times or the Christian Science Monitor, you are likely to encounter articles that are slanted to fit the writer's own beliefsdon't get scared; it's O.K.

The second-greatest result of Gutenberg's printing press, aside from spreading literacy, wasn't the Bible, but the newspaper. In the United States, newspapers were the vehicle in expressing public opinion of political issues, eventually contributing to America's victory in the Revolutionary War, which granted its independence from Great Britain. The U.S. Constitution guaranteed the right to a free press in the First Amendment. Until the creation of radio, followed by the television and the Internet, newspapers were the only source of political commentary that was available to the mass public. Not only do newspapers have their history in presenting an educated opinion, but it is the sole reason for their emergence.

Only after journalism standards and ethics created a commonplace of objective reporting, has the public's trust of the media lessened and the birth of political bias has become a scapegoat to fueling opposing views that run rampant in American politics. There are many different reasons for biases in the newsroom. For instance, advertising pressures can have an impact on a medium's content, appearance, audience or the journalists who write the articles themselves.

A popular scapegoat for media biases is CBS anchorman Dan Rather, who is responsible for the notorious "memo slip," and who recently served as the key speaker in a Democratic Party fundraiser. Rather claimed he didn't know it was a Democratic fundraiser, even though his daughter, an environmental activist in Austin, Texas, is running for mayor and who was also responsible for the event itself. It is my call to all journalists to come clean and accept that we are all entitled to our rights to form political opinions, journalist or not.

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