Blatant Display of Confirmation Bias

First of all..let me make it clear that I think biased reporting happens in the "mainstream media" too. This is not just a Fox News thing. 

Take a look at this video with clips from the Obama era (dating back to his campaign days) to the present day Trump administration. Has that much changed in 10 years? Has Kim Jong Un slowed down his nuclear program? Has he shown any signs of moderating his rhetoric? Seems like he has only upped the ante and become more of a crazy rogue dictator. 

So take a look at this video compiled by the folks at Now This.  It is a series of clips showing Fox News personalities giving their then and now opinions about presidential meetings with dictators. They  go back and forth between condemnation and praise (depending on whether they are talking about Trump or Obama) The hypocrisy is stunning when it is put side by side like this. 

To explore how our media (both right and left) uses selective exposure to boost ratings and revenue,  this wikipedia article is a good place to start.  Here are the first few paragraphs from the article below....

Selective exposure is a theory within the practice of psychology, often used in media and communication research, that historically refers to individuals' tendency to favor information which reinforces their pre-existing views while avoiding contradictory information. Selective exposure has also been known and defined as "congeniality bias" or "confirmation bias" in various texts throughout the years.[1] 

According to the historical use of the term, people tend to select specific aspects of exposed information which they incorporate into their mindset. These selections are made based on their perspectives, beliefs, attitudes and decisions.[2] People can mentally dissect the information they are exposed to and select favorable evidence, while ignoring the unfavorable. The foundation of this theory is rooted in the cognitive dissonance theory, which asserts that when individuals are confronted with contrasting ideas, certain mental defense mechanisms are activated to produce harmony between new ideas and pre-existing beliefs, which results in cognitive equilibrium. Cognitive equilibrium, which is defined as a state of balance between a person's mental representation of the world and his or her environment, is crucial to understanding selective exposure theory. According to Jean Piaget, when a mismatch occurs, people find it to be "inherently dissatisfying".[3]

"Inherently dissatisfying"? That's certainly an understatement.

My opinion... the best way to get a "fair and balanced" view of what's going on in the world is not to watch any one news source exclusively. Not Fox, not CNN, not MSNBC or any of the major (or minor) news sources. And I pay special attention to left leaning media when they report what might commonly be considered right leaning "talking points." And visa versa. If Fox News is reporting something you might expect to hear on CNN...I listen up. 

When a news source espouses views opposite of their known bias, I figure they must have some facts to back it up. And they must have done their research....