6 ms·

I think it is a new phenomenon. The old news networks at least made an effort to present both sides of most issues. These new filtered feeds just confirm what y

I think it is a new phenomenon. The old news networks at least made an effort to present both sides of most issues. These new filtered feeds just confirm what you already want to believe.

bogomipz 10y ago
I agree. I think when people state that "well there's always been an editorial bias in news media", its a bit disingenuous. If you take the newspaper as an example, even with a bias you are still presented with the entirety of articles for that edition.
andyjdavis 10y ago
>The old news networks at least made an effort to present both sides of most issues I am not sure whether they did that because they wanted to present both sides or if they just wanted to provide confirmation for what everyone wants to believe and they lacked the ability to segment their audience. If both sides of an argument watches the one news program that news program is incentivized to provide fodder for both sides to avoid losing part of their audience.
- qu4z-2 10y ago
  Does it really matter what their motivations were if they did it, though? They now have the ability to target ads/content, and they use it. The fact that they would've before if they could doesn't really change that they didn't and now they do.
  - andyjdavis 10y ago
    I suspect it does matter what their motivations were, at least a little. It is about not distorting the truth Vs distorting the truth in two opposite ways that hopefully cancel out. It is still distortion.
nradov 10y ago
The old news networks made an effort to present two sides of an issue that were both within the mainstream. They seldom presented any of the many other "sides" that were further toward the extremes. And for some issues the media essentially invented the sides themselves just so that they could frame the story in terms of some sort of "controversy".
verbify 10y ago
Do you think the Fox News or the British Daily Mail makes an attempt at presenting both sides of the issue? These are traditional networks (tv, newspapers). People always had filtered content available to them.

I think it is a new phenomenon. The old news networks at least made an effort to present both sides of most issues. These new filtered feeds just confirm what you already want to believe.

bogomipz 10y ago

I agree. I think when people state that "well there's always been an editorial bias in news media", its a bit disingenuous. If you take the newspaper as an example, even with a bias you are still presented with the entirety of articles for that edition.

andyjdavis 10y ago

>The old news networks at least made an effort to present both sides of most issues I am not sure whether they did that because they wanted to present both sides or if they just wanted to provide confirmation for what everyone wants to believe and they lacked the ability to segment their audience. If both sides of an argument watches the one news program that news program is incentivized to provide fodder for both sides to avoid losing part of their audience.

qu4z-2 10y ago
Does it really matter what their motivations were if they did it, though? They now have the ability to target ads/content, and they use it. The fact that they would've before if they could doesn't really change that they didn't and now they do.
- andyjdavis 10y ago
  I suspect it does matter what their motivations were, at least a little. It is about not distorting the truth Vs distorting the truth in two opposite ways that hopefully cancel out. It is still distortion.

nradov 10y ago

The old news networks made an effort to present two sides of an issue that were both within the mainstream. They seldom presented any of the many other "sides" that were further toward the extremes. And for some issues the media essentially invented the sides themselves just so that they could frame the story in terms of some sort of "controversy".

verbify 10y ago

Do you think the Fox News or the British Daily Mail makes an attempt at presenting both sides of the issue? These are traditional networks (tv, newspapers). People always had filtered content available to them.