American social media/mainstream news bias against conservatives. Does it exist, or is it mass paranoia on the part of conservatives? Discuss.
Note that this is not a debate over whether liberal or conservative values are right; this is merely a debate about whether or not mainstream news outlets and social media are biased against conservatives.
Also note that I mean American news, as I'm not too familiar with the news outlets in other countries.
I think a better question is whether A, Do major news sources in US have a bias? If yes, in what direction is that bias?
You put social media and mainstream news kinda as the same thing up there? Why, to me they are two superdiffrent things, as I never check social media for news myself.
In order to answer the question, we first have to go with major news sources. For example, Washington Post, CNN and Fox News as they are well know.
Fox News has for as long as I can remember, been considered as an untrustworthy news sources that is frequently accused of performing inaccurate reporting and presenting a certain viewpoint that seems to align with a conservative viewpoint. That being said, they have actually criticized Trump several times. In the places I grew up in, Fox News have always been considered as a good example of biased reporting. It's know as a conservative news outlet, no doubt.
WP. Well, after the election they changed their tagline to
Democracy Dies in Darkness. Quite openly anti-trump. That being said, in general they report fair and factual on what events have occurred. I don't think they report biased news. That being said, it's located around DC, hence it's local readers are likely to be Democrats. Possible some slight inherent bias, however you can trust that they report and write in a factual manner.
CNN. Well, they used to be good I think. Now I think they have been accused several times for inaccurate reporting. CNN has taken a turn for a more sensational headlines outlet and quite frankly, on controversial issues they are likely pushing one viewpoint. I would try to avoid citing them, so yeah. Kinda heading towards the Fox News box, but the opposite end.
I am not sure about where this mass paranoia comes from tbh. But then again, I don't live in a conservative place and well, no-one around here saw Trump happening.
In general Social Media algorithms tend to create 'bubbles' where your own opinions gets reflected by what the algorithms shows you. Hence they enforce your own beliefs. Thus, yes they are biased towards whatever you want to think.
Edited 4/3/2018 01:07:10