I am an avid news junky. I like both hard news and opinion commentary and can tell the difference between the two. Though the lines can become blurred it is not hard to tell which is which. Anyone with a smidgen of common sense can tell the difference. Notice that I said common sense and not intelligence. There is a big difference between the two.
I like listening to nationally syndicated shows like Rush, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingram and Rusty Humphries. Locally, I like Chris Stigall, Darla Jay and the Shannon and Parks show. These shows are commentary and rely on news headlines to set the topic of their shows. They do not present their shows as hard news, nor do they put themselves forward as journalists (though most have been involved in journalism at one time or another).
This brings me to the crux of this post. Polls were done on a variety of subjects during this last election cycle. One poll that I found interesting dealt with people in their 20's and 30's. Many said that they received their news from Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show", Bill Maher, and even David Letterman (which is variety/comedy/interview). The sad part is that many of those polled did not realize that these programs are opinion commentary shows as well and do not portend of hard news. Still, that is where many receive their "hard news" which dramatically skews their perception of reality. The problem lies in the fact that these people use this type of information as a basis of making decisions in the political realm. In so doing, they allow themselves to be swayed in a certain direction without fully investigating and finding the complete facts.
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