Your Conclusion vs. The Media's Conclusion

The current evolution of news from print to on-line is simply the latest in the evolution of media. The original forms of media were announcements and official decrees from the ruler, which were read aloud in town squares by the town crier. With the proliferation of print newspapers and an increase in the literacy rate, that changed because people were able to read what the message was and were not required to listen to the town crier. Besides the unemployment of the town crier, there were serious ramifications. For example, Martin Luther's "95 Thesis" were written in the vernacular and were nailed to the door of the local church, a public place. People were able to read his grievances on their own, instead of being told what they were by someone else. Since people read and processed the raw data on their own, without the analysis of another person, they arrived at their own conclusions (so many people arriving at the same conclusion caused the spread of protestantism).

Today, it is possible for people to view a live stream of something as it is happening. The individual is then able to process the information on his own and arrive at his own conclusion without the outside influence of the media. This may lead to a profusion of conclusions about the same topic, something that is less likely to occur if people are reading an analysis of the event in the media. However, it may bring autonomy back to the people and allows us (people) to think for ourselves and use our own minds to figure out what is happening.

Try this experiment to see if you would rather arrive at your conclusion because of your own analysis of the event or through reading someone else's analysis of the event and adopting their conclusion. Watch a sporting event with the TV on mute. At the end of the game decide on your own who was the best player, what was the best play, what was notable about the game etc... and compare that to a writeup about the game that is found somewhere. After comparing, you can decide if you liked doing your own analysis or reading someone else's analysis. Many times, arriving at your own conclusions rather than adopting someone else's, removes the politics and the political bias from the media.