Today's lesson in media manipulation and failing to tell the entire story because of political agendas.
The Central Bucks School District in PA recently installed their new Board members. Coverage comes from the local Philadelphia FOX affiliate, Channel 29.
Read the story. While it seems to be "balanced", it's not.
As covered by other Philly area media, the nuanced and actually newsworthy part of the story is how the new School Board President was sworn into office. Instead of just using a Bible or any other "standard" item, she took her oath on a stack of books that have been frequently banned from schools by members with a political agenda.
The “Philadelphia Inquirer” story for the same news event focused on that particular facet of the story. (Link not provided as the story is behind a paywall). A pre-event story about the banning of books in the system is covered here by local affiliate WHYY.
The swearing in of a School Board is minor news. The symbolic gesture of the new President is the story. However, because it smacks in the face of certain politics, and thus would not be endearing to the demographic which favors certain broadcast news national and regional coverage, FOX 29 decided not to cover this newsworthy main point of the story.
While not propaganda in the truest sense of the word, the omission of this part of the story shows a decided editorial bias by FOX 29. They decided here, due to certain audience demographics, to not serve the entire viewership and omit a salient part of the story.
Whether Right or Left, the job of local news, or at least it used to be, is to cover the entire story without favor. FOX 29 decided not to anger a certain facet of their audience. Granted, they are not the only outlet doing this, as plenty of opposite leaning local news outlets also hide and shuffle the real news in order to not upset the biased portion of their viewers.
This is why it is imperative that you, everyone, get your news from numerous sources. Never rely on one outlet. Do your research. Read from other sources and then balance out the real news from the nonsense.
Stop blaming "the media" for their mess we're in, and start taking responsibility. Hold these outlets accountable. Shy away from those who shade the news, keeping in mind my lessons on the difference between reporting the news and opinion shows.
There is no shock about the lack of total coverage in this instance emanating from a certain local news outlet. But don't think for a moment they are the only guilty parties. Here, in a broader sense, there is no “Left” or “Right”. There is only “Right” and “Wrong”.
You are the line between what is real news and what is bias and propaganda. Stop blaming someone else.
Take your responsibility and own it.
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