The debate about the biased nature of some media outlets is driven by one-sided reports and growing dissatisfaction of ordinary people who are aware of "alternative constructions of reality beyond those presented by traditional mass media," Michael Meyen argued.
"Nowadays, there is information on the Internet that reveals to us other things. This sows certain mistrust and also sharpens our perception of omission, bias, which we have in traditional media," the scholar told Sputnik.
Meyen believes that Western countries adhere to the principle of freedom of expression, where everyone can basically say what they think. The problem is, however, that some media omit certain things and perspectives they believe are not "good for society."
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"And that means that certain things that may lead to unwanted effects are being left out," the analyst argued.
According to Meyen, the lack of alternative perspectives that are no longer available to the public leads to a situation where people can't form their point of view properly.
"That seems to me to be the biggest problem right now, that we can basically have an opinion, but are, at the same time, confronted with a relatively identical factual situation," Meyen noted.
The expert also stressed that some media are financed by external parties in order that they publish reports in accordance with a certain narrative.
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"It is well known how many people from Pentagon alone pay to influence media reports, to give journalists a specific perspective. An incredible amount of money is spent in order to become a guaranteed winner in the battle for interpretation sovereignty. And then, relatively poorly equipped editorials struggle to promote their own opinion on the things," Meyen stressed.
According to Meyen, it's important that journalists fulfill their main function of informing people rather than trying to impose something else on them. However, journalistic self-interpretation seems to be gradually changing.
"[…] today, journalists in Germany are no longer concerned with informing, but rather view themselves as actors, as individuals who want to advance something in one direction, which think they is right. And thus they frame certain information in a certain way or omit some information as well," the expert concluded.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the expert and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
