Op-Ed: Being the bigger person: Bias in the media

There is a set of procedural political issues that most people are guilty of being hypocritical about. Boring stuff: states rights, government shutdowns, executive authority … Etcetera. We mold our opinions to the week’s issue or scandal. The 2013 shutdown was treasonous, but last week it was principled. Obama just had to deal with an obstructionist Congress, but Trump is abusing democracy with executive actions. States have the right to legalize marijuana but not concealed carry. We come up with meaningless distinctions to justify completely flipping our opinion.

There is one place where the stakes are too high to continue this cycle of hypocrisy, where we have to put aside political goals for the collective common good, where we have to be the bigger person, and that is in the news. We cannot continue to take political potshots at this pillar of America. The free exchange of ideas and an informed electorate are critical to the health of democracy. It’s easy to blame one party, one man, one particular twitter account for this, but to some extent, we are all responsible for the degradation of our media. Luckily, there are things we can do in our daily lives to strengthen and protect these institutions.

I know when I read a negative headline about Trump I am likely to believe it instinctively. Did Trump have an affair with Stormy Daniels? Did he call African nations shitholes? Does the ‘peepee' tape exist? I was convinced from the headlines. The problem is sometimes the headlines I want to believe are false. Take the widely circularized statement that the new tax plan would raise taxes on most people. It was a talking point said by many Democratic members of Congress, and it was completely false. I am against that bill, but the Washington Post tracked down and debunked that myth.

However, if a story portrays Trump and his administration in a positive light, I am immediately skeptical. It can’t be that Trump actually has been beneficial for the economy, it's really Obama or Janet Yellen who deserve credit for the economic growth over the past year. It can’t be that Trump actually sympathized with the grieving families he brought to the State of the Union, it must have just been a sly political move. My initial response to any article has nothing to do with how much evidence there is behind it, or even how reputable the people publishing it are. I believe the stuff I want to believe. And you probably do too.

The first step to solving this is for readers to be critical and to recognize their bias. It’s easy just to read the news that confirms our worldview. We read something and go “I knew it!, I always suspected that Trump _____.” What is harder is to engage with the facts that don't support your story. To recognize if you want what you are reading to be true and to work against your bias. To read Fox News, the Weekly Standard or even Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire. Not everything you disagree with is fake news. I know I have become more secure in my opinions and a better advocate by engaging with the best possible arguments against them.

The second step is for the media. We need a greater distinction between news and editorial. This would be more impactful with Fox News and MSNBC, but we should start in our backyard with the Daily. The Tufts Daily is biased. Just last week we had an article with 16 quotes from members of anti-Israel activist groups and one quote from Friends of Israel. The article on Trump’s State of the Union was actually a second article about what the Democrats were doing. Every single investigative report has had a liberal bend. The Daily is unequivocally biased to the left.

Bias can sell papers, but this is an opportunity for the Daily to be the bigger person. To put aside using the news to convince people of an opinion and to try and be objective. I am aware this is a futile task; it is impossible to fully divorce our opinions from something we write. However, that isn't an excuse to give up. Just because it's unlikely to end poverty entirely doesn't mean we don't donate to charity. To the Daily’s credit, the first step is allowing critical op-eds like this one. But more must be done. The news should challenge the community to deal with factual realities, not just confirm our biases and lock us in an echo chamber. A lot of the great work the Daily has done should be relabeled as opinion pieces.

The same logic applies to free speech in general. We could choose to silence those we disagree with in the name of laudable short-term goals. To deny funding or organize a heckler's veto. But in the end, the real loser is democracy. The reason I am so passionate about free speech is that most of the opinions and values that I hold dear were once on the periphery. Believing in gender, marriage and racial equality used to be the positions that were being silenced. If we want society to continue to evolve, to continue to become a more moral place, we have to let unrestricted free speech exist.

As President Obama once said, “We need to go forward, but progress isn’t always a straight line or a smooth path.” It’s not as simple is whatever is on the left is correct. Progressives once advocated for Prohibition, prominent organizations like the League of Women Voters lobbied for policies that we would find repugnant today. Republicans were the anti-slavery party. The world is too complicated for the simple answers that partisan politics provide us.

In short, listen to and challenge everything. Especially the stuff you want to believe.

P.S. If it seems like I'm only being critical of Democrats and the left here, that's because statistically, you are the majority of people reading this. But the same advice is just as true for Republicans; reading the Huffington Post won't kill you.

P.P.S. Shameless plug for CIVIC, where every Monday at eight we talk with people we disagree with and broaden our world views. On March 3, CIVIC is hosting an all-day policy challenge in conjunction with the Tisch College for Civic Life about campus free speech. We will be working on some case studies and presenting a draft of community standards and rules to the general counsel of Tufts. Look out for more information.