The Events that are Left in the Dark | Alpha Abulikemu | TEDxKeystone Academy BJ
The speaker argues that media biases create an everlasting cycle of misinformation and polarization, rooted in confirmation bias and the financial dependency of news outlets on investors. To counter this, one must diversify media sources to corroborate information and form genuinely informed opinions, recognizing that every individual action, no matter how small, contributes to the collective social reality.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker attended a summer school in the US in the summer of 2023.
- Topic presented in class was *"biases in representation in the media."*
- Comparative example used: A classmate presented on two election candidates, noting that one candidate was heavily ravaged by the media, while the other was less affected, leading to the speaker initially believing the classmate's premise before realizing the core issue was systemic bias in reporting.
## Theses & Positions
- Biases exist in nearly everything, including the tone, style, and preferences of news media.
- There are two main reasons why people internalize media bias: confirmation bias and the lack of truly independent media.
- Confirmation bias causes individuals to seek out information that reinforces their existing worldview rather than challenging it.
- The dependency of news outlets on investors and donors means they cannot be truly independent, forcing them to print content appealing to their financial backers.
- Opinions and ideologies are like emotions and must be controlled so they do not prevent one from considering opposing views.
- Understanding what is happening is crucial because every individual action, "although infinitely small," contributes to society.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Confirmation Bias** — The tendency to seek out, favor, and interpret information that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.
- **Everlasting cycle of misinformation and polarization** — The cycle where biased media attracts a biased audience, which in turn incentivizes the media to print more content that aligns with that existing bias.
- **Ideologies and Opinions** — Must be controlled to prevent radicalization and the inability to consider opposing views.
- **Abolitionist / Martin Luther King** — Used as historical examples of people who were considered extremists in their time but were fundamentally right.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Bias Perpetuation Cycle:** Bias in Media $\rightarrow$ Media lack of Independence $\rightarrow$ Bias in News Outlet $\rightarrow$ Attracts Biased Audience $\rightarrow$ Confirmation Bias $\rightarrow$ Incentivizes Media to print liked content $\rightarrow$ Increased Media and Audience Bias.
- **Corroboration:** The process of understanding the truth by looking at multiple news outlets' analyses of the same subject and correlating the information.
- **Informed Opinion Formation:** Using corroborated, understood information to form an opinion, rather than letting stories remain "in the dark."
## Numbers & Data
- Political alignment data: **CNN** is presented as mainly a left-leaning outlet, and **Fox News** is presented as mainly a right-leaning outlet.
- Trust data (PE Research Center, depicted in charts):
- **Liberals/Democrats (Leftists):** **70%** of people surveyed trust CNN.
- **Conservatives/Republicans (Spiders):** Over **75%** of people surveyed trust Fox News.
- Historical Context: The ability to view slavery evolutionism as radical at one time versus recognizing the rights of freed slaves as correct now.
## Examples & Cases
- **CNN vs. Fox News Trust:** Correlation shown between political leaning of news outlet and its target audience's trust levels.
- **Election Candidate Comparison:** Illustrating how one candidate was heavily criticized by the media for a single promise break, while another received favorable coverage, irrespective of the actual severity of the error.
- **Abolitionism:** Martin Luther King Jr. and the Abolitionists were historically viewed as extremists when their cause was progressive.
- **Climate Change Example:** The refusal of 100 people to believe in climate change represents 100 people who cannot help fight the crisis.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Chart 1:** Depicts media biases (CNN/left, Fox/right).
- **Chart 2:** Depicts public trust in media outlets by political ideology (provided by PE Research Center).
- **Wikipedia:** Mentioned as the only potential source of pure independent media, though the speaker notes it is unreliable according to teachers.
## References Cited
- **PE Research Center:** Source for the data comparing media trust across political ideologies.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker explicitly warns that *not* understanding what's happening is dangerous, even if the individual action seems "infinitely small."
- The speaker cautions that the provided charts "does not document accuracy of course."
- The speaker stresses that forming an opinion based solely on ideology, rather than evidence, is dangerous.
## Methodology
- Comparing historical periods (e.g., slavery abolition) to demonstrate how societal viewpoints shift regarding what constitutes "radical" or "extreme."
- Using empirical data (trust surveys) to illustrate correlation between political leaning and media consumption.
- Advocating for the methodology of **diversifying media sources** to achieve corroboration.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- To form an accurate opinion, one must diversify media sources and corroborate information across multiple outlets.
- People must actively control their ideologies and emotions to prevent them from dictating what they believe.
- The central takeaway is the necessity of knowing "what's happening" to ensure one's actions contribute positively to society.
## Implications & Consequences
- Continuing to operate within biased information cycles leads directly to increased radicalization.
- Failing to understand the scope of problems, such as climate change, means losing the collective capacity to address them.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"There are two main reasons why this happens and together they perpetuate an everlasting cycle of misinformation and polarization."*
- *"Confirmation bias... means that you would like to look at things that reinforces your worldview rather than things that challenges it."*
- *"CNN is mainly a leftest news outlet and fast news is mainly a rightest news outlet."*
- *"you can correlate corroborate these information together and then you get what you can understand as real"*
- *"when you understand what's happening... and to know what is the right thing to do in this context which you form your own opinions based on your understanding of this world"*
- *"your actions matter... your people that goes together into one society and make actions"*