Media and Reality, Continued

In terms of modern media, one must look at a number of sources in order to have any degree of dependability. Today in class we talked about Senator Obama and the allegations that he grew up in a terrorist training camp, which is completely false. There are many things to consider when viewing media--political slant, time of publication, source of data, just to name a few.

Professional historians are taught to look at what is essentially the equivalent of the sociological imagination in order to discover the truth. At many points in history, the men who recorded it were of a certain school of thought or perception and some have outright lied. It is the job of the historian to get the facts straight and disseminate them as such. This idea is similar to what we must do as media viewers. To take in more information about a subject is one way to be more objective about it, and I feel it is in this way we will become an aware society. The further we analyze our gatekeepers and media in general, the more able we will be to sort the fact from the fiction, and just as important, to find the kernel of truth under layers of hearsay.