Quote Originally Posted by OCDshaver View Post
Unfortunately you can still push one side of the argument without the need to interject opinion. You can steer peoples impressions of an issue to the way you want by using several tactics. If the issue is controversial, you can bring two opposing views onto the show to debate it. On one side you bring an expert on the issue, the other side can be conveniently represented by a moron, leaving the impression with the viewer that one side has a stronger argument. If you want to give the impression that vitamin C is bad for your health, you can bring on ten doctors that swear to it and explain their point of view and ignore any other Dr. who disagrees to create an impression that ALL Drs believe this. As a network, you don't have to take a side. You're just reporting what is. If there is a story that doesn't support a view the network has, they may simply opt not to report on it. Or, for the sake of defending that they do in fact report such stories, they could run them at 2AM, Friday evenings at 7PM, or any other time when viewers are most likely tuned in to something else or tuned out completely. Opinion often sneaks in to the news room by what facts they decide to report and what fact they decide to ignore. When it comes to politics, the network may decide to show one politician's picture that was caught while he/she was making a bad facial expression and show the other candidates picture where they look their best. Opinion can find its way into a broadcast in many ways.
That's what I mean. Belgian news channels don't bring in people to debate things. And they don't slant things in favor of certain politicians or parties. We have half a dozen major parties in Belgium, and half a dozen minors at least. Belonging to / voting for different parties is not considered something that comes between people or which influences hiring decisions. My wife and I vote differently, and my siblings and I vote different as well. that's considered normal in most families. So any news channel will have people in the newsroom who belong to at least half a dozen parties.

The whole for / against mindset is foreign to me, whereas in the US, everything is politicized and polarized.

When I first heard about companies and news networks in the US endorsing a political candidate, I thought they were joking