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Other sides of the story
If you listen to some talk programs on AM radio, you hear a lot of strident criticism that American media is too left-wing in its news coverage. On the other hand, a completely contradictory view resonates from pundits from the left: the same media merely represents the business interests of the holding companies that own outlets, and thus slants to the right in harmony with those interests.
Since completely objective journalism in the profit-driven media industry does not exist, it can be confusing to determine media bias, particularly during such emotionally heightened times as these.
Additionally, points of view from non-American sources are necessary to offer us perspectives other than just those from the U.S., especially on world issues. It is interesting that despite the strong Web presence of major American media conglomerates such as CNN and MSNBC, the most frequently searched for term on the Lycos search engine two weeks ago was Al-jazeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/, the Qatar-based news network.
If you are looking for an up-to-the-minute news fix from several different world perspectives, go to the Google search engine site http://www.google.com and click on "News" in the upper right corner of the page. This automated service culls articles from about 4,500 sources and groups them according to relevance. Since there is no human intervention in the selection process, no political viewpoint or ideology prevails in the collation of articles. The page is continuously updated and rearranged; if you reconnect 10 minutes from now, you will see completely new stories as they are reported.
The UB community can access the World News Connection http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/wnc.html, a service compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The database is a compendium of translated international news broadcasts and articles from a variety of news agencies. It is possible to browse through current events by clicking on "WNC Latest Headlines" and selecting a particular area of the world. Or, you instead may choose "Region/Topic Searching" and combine one or more geographical regions with one or more broad topics (e.g., social issues, military affairs, terrorism and criminal activity) with optional limiting by date. Searching the database by free text also is possible, as is a more structured search using field limiters and Boolean operators. For example, you can find sources reflecting other nations' reactions to a proposed U.S. boycott of French wines.
The Guardian Unlimited World News Guide http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldnewsguide/0,11376,620727,00.html offers links to news services and government agencies throughout the world. You either can point and click to a world map or from a list near the bottom of the page to choose the country you wish to access. Sources are in English, French or Spanish, without translation. Some audio files of broadcasts also are available. The UB librarians also have assembled other links to newspapers around the world; by clicking on International Newspapers On The Internet http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/Collections/docs/inewspapers.html you can access the World News Connection, as well as six other international news media sites.
There are several watchdog agencies that monitor and question the media. One of the most prominent is Fairness and Accuracy in Media, or FAIR http://www.fair.org/. It seeks to identify media bias and distortion, and uncover the marginalization of minority or dissenting viewpoints. This site is worth browsing for its analyses of various aspects of the networks' war coverage. ReclaimTheMedia.org http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/ seeks to promote more localized, diversified, community-minded media production, and closely scrutinize and hold accountable the news industry. This Seattle-based alliance offers thought-provoking articles, a calendar of upcoming events and links to similarly minded organizations. The Iraq Crisis Web site created by Karen Spencer http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/law/guides_handouts/Iraq.html lists additional news and media analysis sites.
Understanding media requires a great deal of close observation, comparative analysis and critical thinking. The Center for Media Literacy offers tips and resources on How to Teach Media Literacy http://www.medialit.org/focus/tea_home.html for educators, researchers, students and parents seeking to look beyond the images and uncover truths behind what is dropped at our doorsteps or flickered on our screens.
—Nina Cascio and Rick McRae, University Libraries