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Micro Debate: Can a news source ever be unbiased?

Some of you may remember the Microdebating forum from a few years ago... if not, then welcome to a new debating style here on TSR, and one with a twist.

Every Monday a new topic will be put up for debate, and your challenge is to get involved in the discussion, but only using up to 140 characters in each post, this post aside. Multiple posts are allowed, but no more than 2 posts in a row per person, please.

This week's topic is related to news sources, and whether they can ever be truly unbiased. So feel free to voice your opinion here, and get involved in the debate! Do you think news sources can be unbiased? Why/why not?

Note: You can also suggest topics for later weeks if you like, just tag me into a post with your suggestion :biggrin:
Unbiased sources are biased towards being unbiased, therefore true none-bias is impossible

rekt
Only to a certain extent, such as reporting the bare facts of what's been observed, but even that is not so easy as they like to add their own nuances or twists by rephrasing or using different words to lead it into a certain narrative. I've always thought anything that is done by people will never be unbiased as it is part of our nature to pick a side, to follow one ideal over others, to choose our own path, blabla.
Our psychology is never non-partial. We can always try to be, and what we say and write might be objective, but our thoughts will always remain subjective. News stories can be non-biased. But rarely are.
Original post by TreeFellOnMe
Only to a certain extent, such as reporting the bare facts of what's been observed, but even that is not so easy as they like to add their own nuances or twists by rephrasing or using different words to lead it into a certain narrative. I've always thought anything that is done by people will never be unbiased as it is part of our nature to pick a side, to follow one ideal over others, to choose our own path, blabla.


Even an AI is likely to reflect the biases of its developers.
Original post by JVoorhees
Even an AI is likely to reflect the biases of its developers.


Bias in AI is actually such an interesting topic. I might have to start a Micro Debate on that sometime too! :tongue:
Not really, everyone has an agenda
It is very rare in today's UK news sources to see unbiased pieces, especially in regards to politics.

However I suppose it is possible for a news source to be unbiased, if they simply lay out the facts of what has happened, without any loaded or emotional language. That's all news should be: facts.
I guess if it did not publish anything it is sitting on the fence and is unbiased. (Due to the fact they are not choosing any opinion or side.) But I guess that is cheating because it is not really a newspaper without publishing stories and stuff.
Yes
No. It can be nearly unbiased, but never completely - humans simply don't have the capacity
No
No, but they can come pretty close. It's also sad how trump and his supporters have hijacked the term "fake news", originally intended to mean "news" that HELPED trump win, and call everything they disagree with as fake news.

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