My Journalism 200 Blog

The news is told today through many outlets. People can decide where they want to get the news whether that be from news programs on TV, social media sites online, the newspapers, or from word of mouth. I believe that every news source has some sort of bias whether it intends to or not. I also believe that it is hard to tell stories without either exaggerating or putting some type of false news in them. An article in the New Scientist suggests that a rumor, “born out of mild suspicion can, by gaining currency, shift public thinking and opinion.” I believe this to be true because although we can be educated on what is true and what is false, the more you hear one side of the story, the more you believe it. For example, today one of my friends told me that terrorists were poisoning perfume and lotion samples in the mail. I was freaked out and sent it along to my other friends and they immediately believed it and also freaked out. Ten minutes later my friend said that it was fake news and a hoax, yet I had 100% believed her at first. Rumors like this are told daily and shared in the news which makes me question the credibility of news sources. I think that validity is the number one factor when it comes to telling a news story. Every news story needs to be backed up with credible evidence in order for it to be a real news story.