‘Fake News’ and
‘Alternative Facts’ aren’t new phenomena. For millennia human societies have
crafted stories and narratives in response to agendas: both powerful and weak.
Recounting the facts of a medieval battle in a factual and objective way,
wouldn’t be overly favorable for recruiting new soldiers, if they were fully
aware of the barbarous and murderous action that actually took place on the
battle field. Propaganda has accompanied human civilizations from time
immemorial, but some have argued, now, we are living in an ‘Post-Truth’ era,
where certain facts and realities are less valuable, subjugated to the second
division, in favor of a reality that fits our own view of the world whether
that be founded in truth or not. Often this reinforcement and validation of
personal views occurs through opinion articles, twitter posts, online
petitions, YouTube videos. It is not intentional or an active decision, but
merely a side-effect of social media’s ability to present content similar to
what you have been viewing or ‘liked’. This ranges from innocuous adverts for
non-stick frying pans and sports clothing to a Facebook newsfeed dominated by
articles and opinions all with the same political bent.
It is not just
social media that colours our view of the world leaving the other side of the
story unexamined, traditional print media and broadcasters do the same. In a
recent survey conducted by the University of Missouri participants ranked news
and current affairs organisations according to how much they trusted them. The
results were unsurprising with the Economist, BBC, PBS and Guardian heading up
the most trusted with Brietbart, FOX and Buzzfeed scoring poorly on the
trustworthy-o-meter. However, even these high scoring media outlets, whilst
regularly presenting stories in impartial forms, make it difficult and time
consuming as a reader to clearly identify and locate all aspects of an argument
presented.
This is
unacceptable from every angle. A society that no longer values facts as the
central and main component of an argument, issue or problem presents a huge
range of dangers for everyone. We are all familiar with the tale of the ‘boy
who cried wolf’: being able to
distinguish when is something real or merely pretending to be true to attract
attention for its own end, is a formidable challenge and yet a great
opportunity. Challenging as we are unsure who to trust and believe, but an
opportunity to remain skeptical and gain expose to a wide range of sources
increasing our odds in unpacking and locating the truth. It is this challenge
that the launch of 2Sides of the Story attempts to address.
2Sides of the Story
is a unique current affairs and news blog. Covering Politics, Science, Business
and Technology, on every issue that is covered it will provide both sides, in
an impartial and objective way in an exciting easy to read layout. Here’s the
best bit. Two vertical columns will house each contrasting side of the news
item, including clear bullet point summaries, making it easy for you get
informed, get the full story and enable YOU to decide on every issue. You can
comment, share articles, and subscribe to the blog to receive new post updates.
Everything we write is motivated by the desire to inform our readers in an impartial,
objective and fair way. We want to provide you with the facts from all sides, empowering
you to choose. If ever we fall short in this goal, we will highlight the error
and remedy it.
Just as there are more than two sides to every
person, the same is true of every story. 2Sides of the Story allows you to get
informed, get the full story and enables you to decide.
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