Collegiate Times

In a period of time when America needs journalists to act as the proverbial Fourth Estate more than ever, cable news channels have instead become parasites on political discourse. 

Politicians are more partisan than they have been at any other time in the last 100 years. The divide between the upper and lower class is growing by the day. And court cases take the spotlight over important international issues.

American politics have become a spectator sport with cable news outlets sensationalizing opinions instead of reporting facts.

The news should inform. If it can inform and entertain, that’s great, but the focus of a news show should always be informing its viewers.

News shows have devolved into “round tables” or “great American panels,” which simply spout off opinions.

These shows, featured prominently on cable news networks, are not news. It is a group of people reacting to a story, sometimes for the entire length of the program, and suggesting how viewers should think and feel about a particular story.

Host pairs who maintain opposite political opinions, like Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow, put together shows lacking in substance and only appeal to those who agree woith the hosts’ opinions.

The whole idea of having an opinion-based show dishonors the whole network because it reveals bias, the cancer of journalistic integrity.

Cable news programs should not tell viewers how they should feel about policies; rather, they should explain them fairly so their audience has a complete understanding of those policies.

Cable news organizations also tailor themselves to suit a political agenda.

Look at Fox News. Back in February, in the wake of positive job numbers and a record high in the stock market, the Republican Party issued talking points to pundits. One Fox News pundit actually read the memo issued by the Republican Party out loud on air, revealing the close ties between Fox News and the Republican Party.

News shows should not be a vessel for political parties to use and abuse; they should be sanctuaries for facts and non-partisan analysis.

Most of what is featured on cable news is propaganda. What is not propaganda is mind-numbing.

CNN, which was one of the most respected names in news 20 years ago, is airing posts from Twitter and asking users what stories they want to hear reported.

While the pressure for ratings is understandable, the lack of substance is frustrating. Cable news networks should focus less on social media and more on reporting the truth.

Instead of reminding viewers to follow them on Twitter, news networks should focus on finding facts and informing. If they put forth that content, people will want to follow them.

Maybe politics has always been sensationalized, but with the advent of the internet and 24-hour cable news, it has just become more pronounced.

The pace has changed, campaign cycles have gotten out of hand, important issues are ignored in favor of flashy scandals, and the facts seem to be lost in the process.

It has gotten so bad that to know what is truly going on in the world, you will have to read or tune in to your local newscast 

Even if you avoid watching these national syndicates, they still pose a problem because these networks are incredibly influential.

Almost everyone has heard about the Trayvon Martin shooting, Iran getting a nuclear weapon, or the comments about Mitt Romney’s wife never working a day in her life because these are the events news channels love to
cover.

When a complex issue arises, each network spouts off only two solutions: a liberal one and a conservative one. But not every issue has two solutions. In fact, there are almost always more than two solutions to everything. 

These shows make opinion almost indistinguishable from fact. They try to make the people who disagree with them seem evil. When people on the opposite side of the political spectrum are interpreted as evil, compromise becomes nearly impossible.

An America without compromise is a terrible place because it prevents people from actually solving problems. Complex issues need more than two proposed solutions, and compromise is critical to making changes.

Critical thinking is becoming a scarcer and scarcer resource, and cable news is doing nothing but helping it become extinct.

The quality of cable news in this country is abhorrent — to understand anything, you’ll have to do the research yourself. Otherwise, if
you listen to what is on cable news, you’ll only be fed opinions and selective facts rather than the entire
truth. 

A version of this article appeared in the Apr 18 issue of the Collegiate Times.