Television news should be expected to present both sides of an issue.

Television news should be expected to present both sides of an issue.

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Freedom of the press and speech are given rights in our society. The freedom of the press plays an integral part of a democracy. Media is a very important part of society and is often a portal of awareness for citizens to know what is happening around them. Of all the forms of the media, television seems to be the most widespread and influential. Daily, citizens watch some form of news to be updated of events around the world. In particular, news reporters and journalists serve as a witness to informing citizens of government activity and any other events. Citizens, in turn, can act on these reports by selecting who should represent them in the government and pressuring lawmakers to make certain decisions. Ideally, reporters should strive to be objective as possible when presenting news; that is, they should present various points of view on a certain event. That way, readers will have a chance to process a balanced perspective of an issue.

First consider, when television news should expect both sides of an issue. In today’s society health crises affect us on a constant basis notably: embryonic stem cells, mad cow disease. Stem cells have been a topic of hot debate among various religious groups and politicians mainly because the embryonic stem cells have caused ethical controversies of taking away human life. There were years of debate in the Bush administration of whether to fund stem cell research because of the ethical issues. However, shortly after this issue aired on the media an alterative was proposed in 2009, AFS or amniotic fluid stem cells were discovered which were less controversial because cells were extracted from the fluid surrounding the embryo and had equally pluripotent cells as embryonic stem cells. In both cases the media discussed the pros and cons of each scenario such as: ability to generate other tissue in case of injury, fast reproduction time, pluripotency- transform to other tissue types and ethical implications of killing embryos for cells. Another issue is the problem with mad cow disease in the US and Canada. Mad cow disease is still a major threat to the food market because virulent prions enter the gut of the cow and release its progeny as a virus to infect the cow and the meat. So the media discussed the mechanism of the mad cow disease and steps to take to prevent being infected. One of these steps was to not eat beef until it was directed by the FDA to do so and to read labels carefully for expiration dates. Since the television news showed both sides of the stem cell and mad cow disease issues, people are now more aware.

On the other hand, there are times when the television news should not show both sides of the issue. For example, in the case of popular media, body image has been omnipresent. The idea of a skinny and slim body being superior over the stereotypical “fat” body has been over-emphasized. This issue has been affecting women and men equally over the past few decades. However the television only show the “skinny” images because gender based stereotypes and social norms have been already established that only one body type is correct and everything else is abnormal. Another example, is illegal immigration in the United States. Illegal immigrants have been shunned upon because it robs opportunities from lawful residents in the US. However, many people argue that illegal immigrants are coming to the US for a second chance in their life by offering services to do “dirty work” that normally people in the US would not do. The television news often show the first scenario of stealing American jobs rather than the personal situation of the illegal immigrant and reasons behind their actions. Therefore it is evident that the television news is sometimes biased.

In all, television news is expected to show both sides of an issue. However this may or may not occur due to specific circumstances. When an issue affects everyone such as a natural disaster or health crisis the tv news show both sides of the issue. However if an issue was concerned with popular media or a controversial issue such as illegal immigration then the preconceived and bias stereotype prevails.