See no, hear no...

A friend of mine brought up a an interesting topic recently regarding the National bias in news reporting. I had sent him some transcripts of BBC World Service articles, and he commented that they appeared surprisingly neutral in comparison to home based news, UK. Surprisingly, people seem to think that just because they live in a democracy, and freedom of speech is a cornerstone of that, that therefore everything they hear in the media reported news in like gospel, or as others might say like Tablets of Stone. We say that there is no censorship of the news in Western Democracies, look at Charlie Hebdo. Russian citizens are currently being fed dollops of state orchestrated propaganda to justify Putin's actions. The result, is that this all they hear, nothing else. They are brain washed into believing the West is evil, and is out to ruin Russia by subversive means. Confront the average Russian in the street and he will likely regurgitate the state line, he cant do anything else, he doesn't know anything else, their media is not reporting anything else. Explain the situation to him, that he has been brain washed by spoon fed state propaganda, and he will retort how do we in the West know that the converse is not true, and that our media is not manipulating our thoughts. Its a hard argument to counter, and you will probably try by stating that our press is free, and also reports issues that are critical to our governments. He will persist that this is subtle manoeuvring to make plausible that greater lies that our media projects. In your stomach you feel that this is wrong, but it is difficult to counter without getting into a protracted debate for which you don't have the stomach. Mentioning stomachs there is a small gnawing feeling in yours that western media, although not state censored displays considerable bias in what 'they think' the public should hear.

Hence your noticing that the BBC World service is taking a different slant on the news than possibly that portrayed to homeland UK. But we already know from decades ago that media vassals are bias, this was why I had mentioned that the contrast in left politically motivated National news to conservative orientated ones. They may direct the reader to a different conclusion than the same story reported elsewhere. There is noticeable National biases in News reporting. I view much American CNN TV news reporting, simply because the BBC World TV news seems to be directed into a sedative effect upon its audience. But I do switch between the two, for comparisons, and well enough German to catch their news broadcasts, and also these days I read news from Greece in English. The differences in National perspectives can be quite startling, forget news is news, fact is fact, its not only the spin that's put on the news but the silent censorship by omission. It is difficult to get an unbiased view of the world when one only has access to a single media source. I remember as a tot, my father saying to me the wisest words anyone has ever said to me 'never believe anything you read in the newspapers', in todays language media. The next thing an enquiring mind asks is 'if you can't believe the media, what can you believe?' But that's a whole other philosophical debate!