My thoughts on media bias have also been affected by a conversation I had with a guy I know, who served in Iraq. I was surprised to find that he felt we were doing more good than harm in Iraq; he felt our presence there was important and that the media skewed the truth. I was completely surprised because all I had heard up to this point was negative comments about the conflict. I still don't feel that I know enough about the situation to have an opinion (basically because I don't trust the media), but the more I hear from grass-roots level participants in the Iraq war, the more I realize how misconceived my notions are from the media.

A media bias causes an uninformed reaction from the citizens, which in light of the information they are given seems rational. Many times, however, the average citizen does not do enough research on his or her own to know the opposite face of the debate cube. Even a citizen who researches a topic may not be completely informed if not all of the information in the debate is available. This makes it seem like the battle of well-rounded information is impossible to win; however, if the media does what they are supposed to do, present all sides of the story no matter how much the individuals who report the story agree with one side or the other, at least information would be available for individuals to have a glimpse of the other side of the story.