My Trust In the Media

I have some trust in the media, but do not fully trust everything I see, especially right away. If I hear something from the media, I will go to other sources to see how true the story is, but also to get other perspectives because as the saying goes, “there are two sides to every coin”. There is usually more than one side to a story, which is why it is good to get all the facts before making an opinion or the opinion can be biased. I especially check other sources when I find a story skeptical or want to see other opinions and perspectives. By doing this, I can form my own opinion without worry of facts not being true or my opinion being biased.

The type of reporting I trust the most is field reporters and the journalists. When I get a story from a field reporter, I can usually see what is happening in the scene around them, which can help me form my opinion. It also helps back up the truth to their story. For example, if there was a field reporter at the Notre Dame Cathedral when the fire occurred almost a year ago, or even after the fire was put out, I would be able to see that there really was a fire either from flames, smoke, or damaged to the building. However, I would not trust the cause of the fire until it was verified by another source or was quoted from a expert like a firefighter who investigated the cause. I also put some of my trust in journalists (of big companies like CNN or NYtimes) because they usually include images of what they are talking about as well as quotes from experts or witnesses to verify the truth of their story and help the readers see what happened from another person’s perspective. For both field reporters and journalists, there is usually some other source I can go to to verify the story and facts. For example, if CNN has a reporter at the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, Fox News will probably have one to (or some other news company). From the journalist’s perspective, if one article is written about the fire, there is bound to be another article written somewhere, and if not, then an article will be written soon, especially about big events like the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. Both of these ways of reporting use quantitative data and qualitative. The quantitative data is some of the facts given through the report like how long the fire lasted, how much damage there was, how long it will take to rebuild (which can be talked about with field reporters and written about in articles with journalists). The qualitative data is being able to see the scene with field reporters and with journalists, it is quotes and images.