Opinions abound but most are not sound

BY LIZ MOORE, Ranger Reporter:

Trying to read or watch the news to learn what is happening in the world should not mean you are subjected to opinion. The news is supposed to be all about the facts–objective facts, so that members of the general public know about the situation and can form their own opinions.

What is crazy is that some people do not know the difference between fact and opinion, especially when it comes to the news.

Fact: I have brown eyes.

Opinion: I’d look better with blonde hair.

Most anybody can tell that there is a difference between a fact and an opinion, but when I turn on the TV to watch the news, I get opinionated facts. While yes, I get to hear what the facts are, I usually also get the reporter’s opinion overshadowing the facts, or only get the facts that support the reporter’s opinion.

A good example of how the news can hide the facts behind opinions is an interview I just watched on the news. A reporter was interviewing Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and when the reporter asked her a question, she hid the answer in between statements that overshadowed it, and at some points weren’t even relevant.

I had a hard time realizing that she actually answered the question because she was talking about a million other things on top of it. And that sometimes happens when reporters are reporting the news.

That is not what the news is supposed to be. We’re not dealing with alternative facts here, we are dealing with real, actual facts.

I should be able to hear all of the facts surrounding a story. If a man was involved in a high-speed car chase with the police, and crashed into a barrier 30 minutes later, I should hear why he ran, what he crashed into, even what kind of car he was driving and how many police were chasing him.

Unfortunately, I will also get to hear that the reporters thought he was stupid, maybe they will even call him a thug, but more than likely they will leave out some part of the story, so that I do not get to hear all of the facts. I get to hear what they decided to talk about, and what they think about it.

The worst part, however, is that because the news has become so opinionated, it is hard to find someone who has formed his or her own opinion. If the news station they prefer to watch has an opinion on something, that is usually the opinion of the viewer as well. It is almost like mob mentality.

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