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Keller @ Large: Media Bias Concerns

BOSTON (CBS) -- Do you think a biased news media has too much influence over the outcome of elections?

Join the club. According to a new Rasmussen survey of likely voters nationwide, two-thirds of them say the media has too much power over who wins and who loses.

Less than a quarter expect the reporting to be unbiased, and an appalling 75 percent see the media as more intent on generating controversy than informing voters where the candidates stand.

This is very bad news for those of us in the media who believe in keeping voters informed and try to avoid taking sides. And it's especially scary because these negative perceptions of what we do will inevitably cut into our audience.

No audience, no ratings. No ratings, no paychecks.

We'd better listen to what these unhappy customers are saying. We need to respond by providing useful, unbiased information, focusing on helping voters wade through all the disinformation and spin by fact-checking speeches and ads, and dialing back our obsession with the horse race that too often winds up seeming like an attempt to influence the outcome.

But the voters also have work to do. If all you want is affirmation of your own biases, and become upset when presented with facts that run counter to them, we can't help you. If you don't differentiate between ideological propaganda masquerading as news coverage and outlets that really do try to play it straight, that disincentivizes the type of coverage you say you want.

Seeking the truth is a tough job--our job, yes, but also yours. And if we don't hang together on this, we will hang separately.

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