ON BIAS

I took a few journalism classes in college; I do not profess to be an expert in the field of news reporting. But lately, I've been more and more frustrated with stories I've read and seen.

For example, a Facebook friend posted a link to an article about a recommendation made by President Obama to increase vaccination coverage. Intrigued, I clicked through to read the article and discovered a very slanted piece of writing opposed to the program. While I understand an individual's concerns about the program (sort of), the tone of the piece was absurdly biased.

To me, if an article exists as news, it should be free of bias. I understand the need for a hook to draw the audience in, but shouldn't something like that be saved for political commentary shows in which the commentary on the news is the focus, rather than the news itself?

I'll admit, it's entirely possible that because the article was slanted against Obama (opposing my personal opinion) that I noticed it. Perhaps the bias in articles slanted against President Bush (matching my personal opinion) went unnoticed by me, or simply served as "news" validation of my opinion. I have no problem admitting that. I'm just frustrated by the fact not only does America seem to allow "either-or" sides on issues and politics, that the reporting of said issues would fall so uselessly on one extreme or the other.

Plus I hate articles that compare me to comic strip characters.