In today’s world, there are more news outlets than ever; from local stations on the TV to personal news blogs, it seems like they are impossible to avoid. Social media is a huge outlet for people to start their own news segments. Mainstream media like NBC and ABC are very active on Instagram, and NBC even has their own Snapchat Original show, Stay Tuned. The news is everywhere. 

Media in today’s world is becoming more and more biased. FOX and CNN are huge news outlets that are considered biased on a media bias chart. 

It doesn’t help that so many media outlets are active on social media. People only want to look at and interact with something they like and agree with, so eventually, all they see are things they agree with and nothing they don’t. Most people only get their news from one place and don’t diversify what they are looking at. It doesn’t help that many people only follow others with the same views as themselves. The Social Dilemma, a documentary on Netflix, covers this topic really well. Social media was designed to keep people interested, to keep them on the platform so the social media companies can make more money. To do this social media will recommend certain posts to you that are going to keep your attention longer, such as posts from accounts similar to those you follow. This creates something like an echo chamber when it comes to news on social media. 

The United States is becoming more polarized than ever. People are split in almost every issue out there, and biased media isn’t helping. Everyone falls for biased media at some point, so it is important to know how to fact check what you are seeing. Look at a media bias chart and try to get your news from multiple sources. Places like AP or NPR are good center-aligned, original fact reporting stations. Reliable media is becoming more scarce in the United States, so fact check your news station and don’t believe everything you see.