Matt's News Corner - Beginner's Guide to Media

Beginner's Guide to Media

In the pursuit of truth, when it comes to following news, there is no such thing as an unbiased source. Every writer and news outlet has their own worldview and editorial perspective. It is up to the reader to be able to identify, to the best of their ability, from what position an author is writing and think critically about the argument being made. Critical thinking is more of a challenge when an author's worldview happens to closely coincide with the reader's own. In order to not become entrenched into an certain way of thinking, I believe that it is valuable to expose one's self to multiple perspectives and arguments; many with which you may agree or disagree. What is important is to be able to understand why you take a particular position and to understand what are the underlying values and assumptions to which you subscribe.

This "beginner's guide" is intended for an American audience; however, it could be a good starting place for anyone. Just be aware that there will be a heavier bias toward topics related to American interests. A more advanced news diet would be much more balanced in terms of foreign press, including a range of sources within a given country. I will make some of these available as well; but it will be impossible to cover every conceivable perspective, given our limited amount of time we can devote to information collection. That being said, the selections in this guide reflects my bias toward trying to maintain a balanced, yet critical position. I may not have done the best job I possibly could have; but it is, at the very least, my best, well-intended attempt at doing so. Just because I have included these sources does not mean that I agree with all them. I read all of them; but, in fact, I have found many points in pretty much every one of these sources where I disagree with an author's position, with the possible exception being the pro-science section. Some sources I disagree with quite often.