My Take | Censored or not, news is always biased

Two of my favourite towering intellects spoke with each other last month: linguist-philosopher Noam Chomsky and comedian-podcaster Russell Brand. They discussed fake news and how the Western mainstream news media manipulates information consumption. This led to the by now controversial statement from Chomsky that censorship in the United States today is worse than that of the former Soviet Union.

Chomsky fans are, of course, used to hearing such pronouncements from the prophet of MIT. Indeed, with his long untrimmed white hair and heavy beard nowadays, he looks a lot like the Hollywood version of Moses. The US mainstream media used to ignore Chomsky. Now, for some reason, he is back in fashion. Newsweek even ran a whole “fact check” article to rebut Chomsky’s claim.

Both Brand and Chomsky have always been critical of the mainstream news media. I am too, but am a lot more forgiving. Perhaps it’s because I am in the same business; but then so is Brand. Or rather I am just as biased, only in the opposite direction. As I always say, if you can be pro-American, why can’t I be pro-China? But that’s not what I want to argue about today.

Let me lay my cards down at the outset. For the record, I don’t think Chomsky is right. It’s interesting he didn’t say the United States today is more censored than Russia. That comparison would have been more relevant.

But let’s dive a little deeper. For me, news is always already biased, even when it is supposed to be purely factual. That’s by its very nature. “Important” news, that is, developments or happenings in the “real” world that will have an impact on you and your family and their well-being, will reach you one way or another – you will always know in time – even if you don’t read Google news aggregations or subscribe to online or cable TV channels.