Biased media  

Studying in Journalism school is no easy feat. I just realized that pursuing my master's degree in the said field requires a lot of critical thinking, sound judgment, and a clear mind when it comes to examining the different platforms used today. One "B" that we should never be is biased.

I have encountered this term many times in my career, often people come up to us chanting these words. On a rare occasion of the 2016 election, we were told by a presidential candidate's supporter that we will die once their bet becomes president. We didn't though as I am still blessed to be writing this piece, but I do feel like real journalism's flame is reduced to a flicker, almost dead.

In the age of social media, everything posted suddenly becomes credible without fact-checking. Once presented with amazing effects on its content, coupled with a strong resounding voice in the background and asserting music, people believe it to be true. What they don't know is that this has been the true essence of being biased all along. When we do discourse analysis on specific mediums, we take a look at the context where we trace back to the producer of the material as well as its background.

When the owner of a media outlet has shady ties with the current administration plus a proclaimed church leader who prayed over specific aspiring leaders, then that must be a red flag. You need to brace yourself for content that would be aligned to their leader's beliefs and values with the hopes of using their platform to further advance their bet. In a sense, it is a big time blocktime.

I truly feel bad for news outlets that toiled day and night to get their credibility on board. It is not easy to build one's reputation of being accurate, balanced, and fair. The perception of the people could easily be fooled by again, one single viral social media post which is very unfair.

To note these insights, I realized that the battle is not just about our choice when it comes to the next set of leaders for our country but even to the right news platforms that we are supporting. Do we give our viewing time to an outlet whose principles do not align with ours? That's the beauty of democracy, we are free to choose yet we must be wise enough to determine which ones are truly biased. We go beyond what we see and hear, but take time to scrutinize the back ends of these rooms.

As a part-time journalist who is feeling the effects of a leadership that silently downplays media reports, it is quite traumatic yet fulfilling to be able to survive. The next administration will also dictate how press freedom will likely be practiced in our country for the next six years. Will we see a more free press or one that licks their source for stories? Our fate also lies in the voters' hands.