General Michael Collins

In the wake of the phone hacking scandal, more people are becoming aware that the media are not angels descended from heaven to look after the truth. Some of us have had problems with them for a long time, while others prefer to see them as the guardians of whatever ideal it is (democracy, freedom of speech etc.) My Question is, Do you trust the media, and if you will, give a reason for your answer.

General Michael Collins

My personal view is that the media spin news stories and select the "correct" opinions, in order to promote whatever ideal they're after. I only view news stories from very select sources these days.

Rasta

I absolutely trust the media, to be completely biased!

Naomasa298

Depends on the organisation. I trust the likes of the BBC to be relatively unbiased. But I have never regarded the Sun and the News of the World as serious news organisations.

It always amused me that the Sun had a business section.

With newspapers such as the Guardian or the Telegraph, I fully expect them to be biased but enjoy their articles nonetheless, since they at least make their arguments with some attempt at gravitas. The Daily (Hate) Mail on the other hand, I have nothing but absolute contempt for.

Kevinmeath

Thats grand because they are open with their bias every one knows in the UK (or should do!) its the 'Torygraph' amd the ever so liberal Guradian.

I can not stand media sources who are 'fair and balanced' when they are not.

Rasta

Every source needs to be taken with a grain of salt, IMO. It is true that there are better and worse news orginizations, but it's the "trustworthy" ones that you need to be careful about.

Blind faith is always blind faith.

What "trustwothy" usually amounts to is that the individual shares a simular bias to the organization.

Crystal Rainbow

I don't buy newspapers to get an opinion. Opinions are my own, but I wish other people try and figure things out for themselves rather than believe all which is printed in a newspaper.

corndog36

I'm not sure what there is to trust anymore. They just report what each side is saying, some favor the left, others favor the right, but none of them attempt to find the truth of anything, and report that.

Helios

Biggest manipulative tool.

srb7677

Speaking of Britain, when it comes to the printed media, ALL newspapers are politically biased and therefore not wholly reliable as sources of information. However, the broadsheets, papers like the Guardian, Independent, Times and Telegraph, though slanted, are fairly reliable in what they print. But the tabloids - the likes of the Sun, Mirror, Star, Mail and Express - are wholly unreliable, and I wouldn`t believe a word I read in them unless it were verified by a more reliable source. I would never waste my money on buying a tabloid.

Radio is much more balanced, though some of it can also be quite biased at times. Some talk radio statons, for example, have shows hosted by a variety of presenters, each with their own overt political bias, but at least you do get to hear viewpoints that differ from those of the presenters. However, Talksport (which doesn`t actually limit itself to talking sport) is particularly bad at maintaining balance, it`s presenters not infrequently shouting down or cutting off those with whom they disagree. If shouty ignorance is your thing, Talksport is for you.

TV is the most even-handed and reliable source of information in Britain today, especially the BBC, which manages to maintain a high degree of impartiality, though rightwingers seem to convince themselves wholly erroneously that it has a strong left wing bias. It doesn`t. It just lacks a right wing bias so prevalent elsewhere. Sky News and ITN have a noticeable right wing bias at times, for example. But where bias exists in TV news it tends to be quite slight, so pretty much ALL TV news is pretty reliable as a source of information, at least in Britain. Thankfully, we have no Fox News here.