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Technology makes the instantaneous and virtually ubiquitous observation of world events possible, but evidence of bias in the news media can make you wonder whether you can believe what you see and hear. World news is being transmitted by a global media through a prism of sometimes deliberate and sometimes inadvertent bias.

The most timely and blatant example of bias in the media continues to be the coverage of President Obama, which began in earnest during his presidential campaign and has gathered momentum ever since. The mainstream media's favoritism for Barack Obama during the general election was even more egregious than that alleged by the Hillary Clinton campaign during the democratic primary. Studies show that candidate Obama received more media coverage overall than other candidates and much less negative press than his opponents. The media's extraordinary deference to the president often makes us wonder if the media is acting more as an eager extension of his public relations team than as a group of supposedly impartial journalists. They appear to be advocating rather than reporting on the president's activities.

Members of the media would have us believe that the appearance of bias is a figment of our imaginations, but do not publicize the fact that more than a third of them identify themselves as liberal compared to less than ten percent who claim a conservative orientation. The media also does not readily admit that most journalists tend to vote emphatically democratic, and have done so for decades. Most interesting, however, is that although they fail to see bias in themselves, more than two-thirds of reporters, editors, producers, and executives of mainstream media outlets readily agree that Fox News is decidedly conservative. Are we really supposed to believe that the media's obvious orientation toward liberal ideas and democratic candidates has no bearing on its objectivity? You may draw your own conclusions.

In addition to the obvious lopsided political orientation of the media generally, mounting commercial pressures in journalism are also causing many media sources to succumb to sensationalism in order to capture market share, attain popularity in ratings and ultimately to make profits. Is it any wonder that we question the integrity of our news media?

Bias takes many forms. Facts may be distorted in news stories or may be conveniently omitted. Newsworthy stories may be completely excluded from newspapers or TV programs or buried so

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