Humans crave information, which is why the media is heavily relied upon. Without the media, news would travel at a much slower rate, leaving the population clueless as to what is going on in the world around them. The problem with media today is that it tends to be biased, meaning certain media networks have a particular tendency or inclination towards someone or something. Certain networks are considered more biased than others, leaving the population to decide what they would prefer to watch. Often times, the media is accused of being the most unfair while reporting news associated with politics, especially during presidential elections.

People often wonder why bias within the media exists and why it is so hard to avoid. Different news outlets or media networks seek different information. For example, a famous athlete may be accused for failing a drug test. A news reporter may want to find out the facts, and a sports reporter might be trying to find out how the team will be impacted. Each reporter is doing their job, but because they are telling the story to different audiences, they try to make their reports appeal to those audiences.(...) Another main reason why bias tends to exist in the media is due to editorials. These are opinionated sections of the newspaper that allows for biased opinions. Newspapers allow the general public to submit their opinions to be published. The book The News Never Stops states, "They state the newspaper's official opinion on important issues, such as who they think should win an upcoming election.

Although most news networks are accused of being biased, not every station has a bad reputation. There are some networks that work hard to keep their news fair. PBS is one example of a news station that tries to report fairly and accurately since it is a public broadcasting station. They try to keep their viewers watching each and every day which is why they want to be as fair as possible. Another example of a un-biased news network is CNN. They tend to receive higher ratings because more people tend to tune in and watch it for unbiased news. Debate.com describes C-Span as being "nothing more than an un-edited window into government proceedings". They then go on to say, "There's really no room for bias."

More often than not, there are more biased media networks than un-biased networks. Fox News is a prime example of a biased news station. This network is accused of being biased towards conservative causes and politicians. (..) The Democratic National Committee chairman called Fox a "right wing propaganda machine."(..) Being that Mitt Romney is a conservative republican, people accused Fox of showing more support for him throughout the election. On the other hand, MSNBC is a station that is accused of being biased towards the liberals and the democrats. Unlike Fox, the public believed that MSNBC favored President Obama during the election. A new Pew study finds that MSNBC is far more biased than Fox News(..) Many people argue that one is far more biased than the other, depending on their own personal opinions, but in reality they both tend to be equally biased.

Another reason bias is seen on certain media stations is because the reporters working for these stations are using Twitter to express their own opinions. Twitter is a great way to send out information, but it is risky to do so because it can create a very biased atmosphere. The public associates certain reporters with certain stations, and when that reporter makes a biased remark on a social media site, citizens may accuse the news station as being biased as well. (...)

There are many examples of biased news reports during the 2012 Presidential Election. There are a number of reports against President Obama . According to breibart.com, a campaign ad falsely accused Obama of eliminating the work requirement for welfare. Also, certain networks make people believe that Obama is a socialist and that his supporters favor socialism as well. There are also many reports that tend to be favor the president. A USA today headline stated, "Economists See Less Pain in 2013" and the article that followed went on to talk about that happening if the president was to be re-elected. A poll conducted by CBS included more democrats than republicans leading to skewed results. This tactic was used to boost the Obama campaign (...)

Senator Mitt Romney also faced biased reports during this election. There were just as many reports against him as there was against Obama. Several outlets showed a selectively edited video clip of Mitt Romney. Breitbart.com states, "Romney’s 47% answer was cut off before completed, and is not picked up on the Part 2 audio video." Many networks accuse Mitt Romney of being in favor of the wealthy and the rich in America. Therefore, America's middle class tends to be in favor of Obama due to the fact that the media makes them believe that Mitt Romney doesn't favor them. There are also reports that favor Mitt Romney. Fox News decided to broadcast one of Mitt Romney's speeches, but didn't broadcast Obama's speech that had taken place later that day. (..) Even after Romney had lost the election, continued to favor Romney. They blamed his loss to the biased "fact-checkers". Fox News attacked the "fact-checkers" for "debunking many of Romney's falsehoods." (...)

Political news has brought about media bias since the time John Adams and Thomas Jefferson ran for president in 1796. It is almost impossible to avoid this situation since everyone has their own opinions. President Obama and Senator Mitt Romney faced the same type of bias that had existed within every single election in America. Both candidates had to deal with bias that was either for or against them, and were lucky if they faced none at all. Everyone news network in America had stories about the election during the campaign. After each presidential debate, the news channels covered the event the very next morning. Bias occurred when reporters decided who they thought won the debates. Not having to deal with bias would be ideal during an election, but it is too impossible to avoid. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions according the Constitution, which allows for freedom of the press.

As can be seen, it is evident that the media is very biased. There may be some networks that can be very fair, but the majority of all media networks are unfair when they report news such as Fox News and MSNBC. Even when the reporters working for those stations are not on the air, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are outlets in which reporters can express their true feeling about someone or something. This makes it very easy for the general public to accuse certain reporters and networks as being unfair and biased. One can see a great deal of bias in the media when it comes to reporting political news. President Obama and Senator Mitt Romney faced a great deal of media bias, for or against them. Both candidates had networks reporting things that could either benefit or hurt them. Either way, it is clear that our society produces news that is often unfair and biased.