The Media is Biased. Do Something About It.

Few things are as annoying as the right’s collective whining about media bias. Yeah, I just went there. Yes, the media is painfully biased. Yes, the majority of press outlets systematically blackout stories and seem to be in collusion with one another in the painting of the national news picture. Yes, it’s unfair and yes, it sucks – hard. 

In my career and in life, simply stating a problem exists is not enough. Saying, “but ZOMG! the mainstream media is so LIBERAL!” is really no different than saying the sky is blue or water is wet. It’s a fact of life, pleasant or not. Yelling facts at people is also not an effective means of inspiring change. As Dustin Stockton wrote, “Telling other people to “wake up” is an admission of your inability to effectively communicate.” I tend to be an action oriented person, so anytime I hear public airing of grievances, my natural response is simply, “what do you plan to do to improve the situation?”   

Conventional wisdom suggests acceptance is the first step towards change. With this, I agree. Digging further into the barrel of self-improvement wisdom is the notion that we must deal with the world as it is before we can be concerned about what it should be. An expert on the subject of change, Alinksy wrote:

I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be — it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be. 

Of this, I also agree.  But back to the media argument. Since we collectively establish approximately 23,982,585,274 times a day (not a scientific statistic) that the media is in fact biased, we are now free to move forward to the changing it part.  While there are various theories and takes on the issue, my formula for change is very simple — do something. 

There are many ways to do something, all of which are subject to interest and time.  And while there are always excuses for not taking action, whining and belly-aching never inspired revolution. It was always action that sparked history’s greatest changes.  

So my plea to you is simple, stop with the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the media and actually DO something to affect change.