News Reporting Shouldn't Guide Your Thinking - News Corp and Its Subsidiaries Isn't News, It's Opinion (Looking at you Sky News Australia)

Sky News Australia filling minutes with
commentary and opinion surrounding the
assassination attempt on Trump.

In the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, I've been looking to YouTube to get more information about the events of that day as they unfolded.

One of the strengths of YouTube is that you get a real mix of news media across the political spectrum. One of it's weaknesses is that, when it comes to news, the algorithm geo-targets your location, so news from your local media outlets get priority. Which means a lot of Sky News Australia clips for me.

Sky News Australia is not a news organization any more than Fox News is in the USA, both of which are either owned or controlled by the same person and his family, Rupert Murdoch (who unfortunately hails from the very city I live in, Adelaide, South Australia).

I don't much care for Sky News Australia. Particularly in this case, where I see Americans commenting on their videos, saying things like, they can't believe they have to go outside their country to get 'honest' reporting on the assassination attempt because their media is 'dishonest' or 'fake'.

Sky News doesn't report news, it comments upon the news with opinion pieces ad nauseum. If you watch Sky, from the moment this attempt happened, you'll see a seemingly endless stream of videos commenting upon everything and anything they can put together to fill their 24 hour cycle with content.

From blaming the unprofessional security detail for allowing the attempt to happen, and how they conducted themselves around Trump in response to the gunfire, to Joe Biden's very delayed and lackluster response, to highlighting 'lefties' (their actual term) posting their disappointment that the gunman missed, or that this was a staged attempt.

News Corp and its subsidiaries, like Sky News, are the reason why modern media outlets are so polarized to either left or right wing opinion rather than just reporting the facts and letting viewers decide for themselves what it all means. 

Journalists, and the news organizations they work for are supposed to be impartial, neither for or against whatever is being reported. At least that's the ideal. But facts don't differentiate you from your competitors. Opinion does. Opinion gives you a demographic, and that demographic wants to hear you agree with their point of view.

Except even that isn't how it works.

Modern news commentary organisations don't just sell what they think you want to hear, they also highlight where you should focus your attention... specifically your outrage.

Both sides of politics have their fanatics. The Daily Show (not a real news organization either BTW) endlessly highlights right wing supporters, who are either die hard fanatics, or the other stereotype of being a few tools short of a whole set.

No sensible person on any side of the political fence, in a democracy, wants to see candidates working under the threat that, at any time, they could die just for publicly doing their job. Or that they don't feel that they can speak freely on their viewpoint for fear of being physically attacked in any way. 

Politicians in a democracy should be able to express their point of view without fear.

Personally, I don't like Donald Trump as President of the USA, or even as a candidate for that matter, but I can agree, he has exercised his democratic right to express his views, popular or otherwise. Honestly he had way more credibility to me when he was filming The Apprentice over his time as US President. It was a great show ("...it was one of the greatest shows!" to paraphrase Trump).

That said, the business of 'opinion news' and 'news commentary,' regardless of political leanings, really needs to take a look at what they're doing to communities with their separatist 'us and them' agendas. Constantly encouraging outrage for every little misstep they perceive this week, or even this hour in those 24 hour news cycles.

The rest of us need to recognize that watching news commentary and opinion does not make these views fact. If your news source is calling people names and generally dumping on any political, social, or minority group more than it is informing you of actual facts, you may want to broaden where you get your news from.

Preferably find a source that isn't guiding how you think, and just reports on the facts, seeking out voices from all sides with no opinion on the views expressed.