Dihydrogen Monoxied or hydric acid is a lethal substance that is constantly surrounding us. It has been found that inhalation of small amounts of the vapor can lead to death and long periods of exposure to its solid form can lead to tissue damage. It corrodes and oxidizes metal and causes short circuits when exposed to electrical systems. It’s found in biopsies of precancerous tumors and has been linked to hurricanes that have killed hundreds. This dangerous and poisonous substance can also be referred to as something much more common: water.
Now we all know that water is harmless and although these claims are undoubtedly true, here is no way that we would be scared of such a common substance. But imagine we hadn’t known that Dihydrogent Monoxide was water. Suppose that all our knowledge of this instance came only from the information earlier. You probably wouldn’t be so relaxed; instead you would probably want to find out ways to avoid this horrendous molecule. Now think about this in a much broader sense. The media does this all the time to its viewers. Like the swine flu, I remember going on a plane to China and upon arriving, even before we could get off the plane, the temperature of every single passenger was taken. If a higher than normal temperature was detected, that passenger and the passengers sitting three rows ahead and behind that person would be quarantined for two weeks. Even after we got off the plan, all the employees wore cotton masks so as to avoid contamination. The illness was blown way out of proportion by the media. It was shown on every news channel how to avoid the new influenza and the fatalities were broadcasted all around the world. People were scared to death of this new flu that had seemed so dangerous and fatal.
The truth is that the fatality rate of the swine flu is less than .1% of those infected. That’s 1 person out of 1000 who are infected. The mortality rate of normal influenza can be higher than .5% yet we don’t worry about getting the normal flu. Although symptoms way be worse than normal influenza the media made the swine flu a much bigger deal than it needed to be. This is just an example of how the information given by the media, although true, are deceiving.
The media shows bias in many areas especially in politics. It is knows that news sources express more of a liberal view because of their audience.
"If viewers spent an equal amount of time watching Fox's 'Special Report' as ABC's 'World News' and NBC's 'Nightly News,' then they would receive a nearly perfectly balanced version of the news," says Milyo, an associate professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
If a viewer must watch three difference news channels in order to get a balances and neutral version of the news, then what does that say about the news by themselves? It shows that clearly not a single news channel is clearly neutral. This can be due to the fact that reporters have their own opinions or that they are changing the coverage to attract rating and viewers. If this is the case can we truly trust the media? Can we base our own opinions and views on the possibly skewed information given to us? More and more people have begun to use news not as a source of information, but instead as a desire to reinforce their pre-existing views. More and more we have seen news channels acting as a source of entertainment airing what would be publically appealing rather than informing the public. And because the media today is so involved in the economics and the politics of the country that it is reporting, instead of standing at a distance, many would argue that this causes a conflict of interest that supplies half truths instead of and accurate account of events.
While the media undoubtedly has provided the nation with a source that can inform them of event all around the world, one should be more careful of what we hear and see to what is the truth. In the current era the media has power to control what we know and therefore what we think. So the next time you watch the news, not only consider the information that is given to you but also keep an open mind as to other influences that could bias not only the news but also your own opinions.
works cited:
http://www.transparencynow.com/mediacrit.htm
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6700354n
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
"Freakonomics" documentary
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