Reflections on Inside the News Media

As a result of taking the seminar Inside the News Media, I have become more critical of the news coverage. I have noticed that, in the past few weeks, I have started to question what I read, see and hear more intensively.

I have never been naive and never one to simply believe everything when it comes to news coverage. However, there are certain sources that I regarded as very trustworthy; sources I would not necessarily question. To me, big names like CNN or the BBC just naturally inherited a certain amount of respectability and trustworthiness. Now, I am more aware of the fact that these sources also have financial interests and cannot be believed unconditionally.

However, it is also important to note that there is a fine line between skepticism and paranoia. I still consider sources like CNN or the BBC to be very trustworthy, but I also take into account that they might not be one hundred percent objective and have personal interests as well. Consequently, I question everything I read and also compare these sources to other sources. Skepticism is fine, but it should always be a healthy skepticism. The media is immensely important and discrediting and automatically distrusting all of them is not only stupid, but also extremely dangerous. You should not believe everything you read. However, this does not mean that you cannot trust anything you read. You simply have to use your brain and fact-check articles and reports.

Furthermore, this seminar made me more aware of just how important freedom of press is. While we did not talk about this in detail in class, I reflected on this (also because of writing previous blog entries) a lot in the past few weeks. Freedom of press is something that is often taken for granted in Germany. It should not be; taking a look at other countries that do not have this privilege makes clear that it is one the most valuable rights that we have and must be protected.