Technology is growing rapidly and is one of the most used things in our generation. It’s great right? No, not really. We are so influenced by it that now things that aren’t even real are put on the media and we believe it. People’s opinions are used to influence people on the media too. Some of you may be thinking oh great, some older person that hates technology is complaining again. Well no, I’m fourteen. Well then why are you so worried about it, it isn’t that big of a deal, just take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Actually it is a great big deal, with a high of 69% saying that news outlet owners attempting to influence the way stories are reported is a major problem. People should not have to take everything they hear with a suspicion of it being untrue, and news, the thing that was made to be true and full of facts, should not be made into a battlefield of opinions. Everyone is being affected by this, even me.

I have lived in a Republican family my entire life. Does this mean that I am full blown republican? No. Does that mean I am full blown Democratic? No. I have my own thoughts on government and laws, and me trying to explain them is one of the most difficult things to do since some are based on republican views. When I am at school, we will learn about government and laws. I will see something or hear something that someone says that I don’t agree with and makes me angry, and makes me want to say my view on the subject. Almost 90% of my classes throughout school were Democratic. Do I have a problem with this? No. I do have a problem with it when they make having a Republican view is a bad thing. In 8th grade my social studies teacher who will remain unnamed, was full blown Democratic from which I could definitely tell, as she always made us watch CNN and constantly spoke Democratic views on hating Donald Trump and how police are bad. Do all Democrats think this? Not at all, but the way she explained things one sidedly and alluding at bad things toward Republicans definitely showed that she was not Republican. Sometimes she would speak of police in bad ways. This makes me heated, as my mom is a police officer in Charlotte. It often annoys me, and I am afraid to speak of my opinion because my teacher would definitely start arguing with me, and her being so influential and the media we had to watch being so influential, I feared that the class would treat me differently due to my views. In one of the past grades, either 6th or 7th I heard people calling someone a Donald Trump lover. Why was it said as an insult? Maybe it’s because almost everything you see on the news is ten million headings reading bad things about Donald Trump and not a single positive one. Why should a view be a burden? This is not fair to those that want to speak their views and explain their thoughts.

People are afraid to speak of their views. I have seen this fear in others. Just this year I was talking at my table and we were talking about government. I said how I am republican and how I am afraid of saying anything about it due to people hating Republicans due to a media full of opinions. My friend said how they felt the same, and when telling others in another class they revealed the same thing. The same thing can go to people swarmed with Republican views and them being Democratic. When my friends said how they were republican too, one of them hadn’t spoke. When we asked them what their views were they said Democratic, and they looked nervous saying it. See how others and I are being affected by this issue? What is it because of? People watching these news channels that are full of opinions. It may be because of other reasons, but it is definitely a contributor.

That’s not all! We can’t even get any useful information anymore! Almost all news is today is just celebrity drama, violence, crimes, and amusement. This is another problem with the news, and yep, you guessed it; it is a very big problem. A whopping eighty seven percent of people in America say that there is too much celebrity news. See why? People should be able to get news that is relevant. Now don’t get me wrong, crimes and violence can be important, telling you where things happened and warn you not to go somewhere. News about celebrities and Omg, this person just broke up with them is not relevant to people. If people want to hear about that stuff than just read a newspaper on it or watch a drama show.

I have seen this in my life when watching the news. When I see the news in the morning or in the afternoon I see things about the weather, politics, and crimes. This is good and I am really informed by this. For example, I can watch the news and see the weather today and be like Hey, it may snow tomorrow, I hope that we have no school tomorrow! I am okay with this stuff, but when I see that they start to talk about celebrities and how something happened to them I just get bored and want to actually learn something valuable than waste ten minutes of my life learning that some celebrity had a baby. They also may talk about how some show just released on Netflix, which isn’t that relevant. I think it’s okay that they show things like this, as long as it’s not half of the news. CNN has forty-four percent news about celebrities, crime, entertainment, trivial, and scandal. CNN is a very big news channel, and people do not want to see this stuff. I think putting less non pertinent news would make people happier, and even help news channels get more viewers being a win-win situation.

Now you have seen why the media truly is skewed and corrupted. These opinionated news stories are ruining us and the media, and these irrelevant news stories are too. I hope you listening to me babble for these ten minutes that you read really showed you the problem and inspired you to do something.

Sources
Aron, Craig N/A. “Making Coverage Count.” Dream of a Nation, N/A, 0AD, N/A, dreamofanation.org/img/Free-Press.pdf.

Jones, Jeffrey M., and Zacc Ritter. “Americans See More News Bias; Most Can't Name Neutral Source.” Gallup.com, Gallup, 4 Sept. 2019, news.gallup.com/poll/225755/americans-news-bias-name-neutral-source.aspx.