Many people feel that much of the news media is biased. Media organizations are continually criticized for providing citizens with a comforting ideology instead of the truth. For example, when Donald Trump was president, left-leaning media organizations like MSNBC focused heavily on Trump’s alleged connections to Russia. One of MSNBC’s popular television personalities, Rachel Maddow, regularly relayed various theories about how Trump worked with Russia to win the 2016 election. A two-year investigation lead by Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia.

During the 2020 presidential election, Fox News, the right-leaning platform, was condemned by Trump supporters for not lending credence to their claims of election fraud. Trump and his movement were upset with the network for departing from their narrative. Fox News tended to counter the theory that the election was rigged by Democrats.

However, it’s possible to contend that Fox News is biased in other ways. Sean Hannity, one of Fox’s popular personalities, has taken part in Trump rallies. The close affiliation might make one question Hannity’s impartiality. TV personalities on left-aligned media platforms also have conflicts of interest with politicians that they’re supposed to cover. The CNN personality Chris Cuomo is brothers with Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York. The familial ties appear to have made the CNN host reluctant to report on the former governor’s scandals.

The consequences of biased media can be far-reaching. The alliance between certain political parties and select media platforms arguably subverts the purpose of the media, which is to hold people in power accountable for what they do and say.