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blinkinski t1_j965nql wrote

Weren't news media always biased? I think, I remember reading such remarks in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and that book is 140 years old. And I wouldn't vouch for all countries and every year in the history, but the further we go back in time, the more censored and biased media we see. At least that's what I know from history professors.

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geetarzrkool t1_j966x7p wrote

Yes, there were always "Muck Rackers" and "Yellow Journalists", but you also had hundreds more outlets at every level with a truly "diverse" array of ownership and viewpoints.

The money was also much smaller and the tech didn't exist to physically control so many outlets at once. There were also laws in place, here in the US, that limited media ownership in a given region, but that was overturned by the 1996 Telecom Act, which "deregulated" media ownership and allowed for the creation of the uber-double-mega-media Corps we have today.

The same Fox that "produces" their "stories" for the "News" is the same Fox that produces stories for their movies, is the same Fox that own dozens and dozens of major, online magazines. "local news" channels, and other press outlets that you would never think are connected, but are all owned by the same few folks at the end of the day.

Of course, simply saying "Welp, it's always been done, so what can you do?" is no argument at all either. After all, "Two wrongs don't make a right.", amirite?

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blinkinski t1_j96c98f wrote

But any form of regulation is, arguably, the censorship. Is it not? So no, I'm not saying that nothing should be done. I actually think that today media is free as never before, and thanks to the internet everyone can be one. But being biased is a human nature. I can feel it myself, that it is impossible for me to stay unbiased in every topic. And could it be that most people want information to be biased, and to hear only things they like? Maybe not always, but mostly.

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