Why is it important to question information in the media?

It is important to question information in the media because not all information is equal, meaning that it is not all factual, true, or unbiased. News media are big business and they make a lot of money, while priding themselves on the "public's right to know", "freedom of the press", and the "right to speech".

Not all news media are honest and forthright. They report stories in a specific way that:

1. Gains attention

2. Attracts investors/advertisers

3. Affords political advantage.

To do this, they often run with the first version of a story without vetting it thoroughly. Time is money and if they don't print or broadcast it first, someone else will. If they can report "news" first, they get a reputation for being the first to break stories, which in turns gets them a larger audience share, which in turn brings in more money.

News and world events know no timeline, but news stories do. Consequently, few news stories have complete facts, but many facts are learned whenever the event is over and it's no longer news. You rarely get a complete picture from news reporting.

News media also use their very powerful tools to influence opinions, politics, and elections, some more shamelessly than others. Just like people, some media will tell outright lies or make utterly dishonest assumptions to influence people to see things their way.

It becomes each individual's responsiblity to question information reported by the media. We can do this by comparing the story as reported by all media sources, by watching videos and interviews through completely so that things are not taken out of context, by doing our own information gathering from trusted sources, and by continuing to follow a story even when it may no longer be newsworthy.

A lot of misinformation is frequently reported in the early hours/days of an event when not much is known. News media are guilty of trying to fill in blanks with experts and pundits because they are unwilling to wait for real information.

If you don't question the information that comes from the news media, then you can easily be misled.

In spite of all this, many news sources--lots and lots of them--try very hard to report honest and legitimate information. Reporters by and large try to dig down and get to the facts and present both the pros and the cons of stories, as well as the many sides of a story. Finding those reputable media sources is well worth the effort.

Watching the news doesn't necessarily make you well informed; and the converse is also true. Not watching the news doesn't make you uninformed. But you never want to take a position on something just because someone reports it a certain way--you could end up looking like a fool.

This is why it's always a good thing to vet any information you hear or see in the media.