The Partisan Press: Past and Present

When studying the Partisan Press, it was hard to differentiate how the news used to be to how it is now. Presently, the media is biased like it used to be centuries ago. The only difference is that the partisan press was openly biased and said they were, while news outlets today hide behind the label of non-biased news. 

Granted, the world was a lot different when newspapers were circulated and that was the only one of getting information out. A lot of times, the information presented in the news wasn't even accurate. But, the same can be said for today, as the news rushes to be the first to break important information and don't always check the source or how accurate it is. 

This was seen with the death of Kobe Bryant. TMZ leaked that Bryant had died before his family even found out. At the time, TMZ didn't care that they had not only brought terrible news to the public but also brought that news to a family who had no idea their loved one was dead. To them, all that mattered was that they broke the news first before any other outlet. 

A century ago, being first to break a story wasn't the main concern at the time because of how slow news traveled then. What mattered was telling a story, while also adding an opinion to it. I personally don't mind hearing the opinion of the author, but I also want facts presented first, instead of having facts and opinions mixed together. 

One of my favorite images is this chart of media bias, even though it's a few years old. I definitely think that the chart has shifted, especially with CNN and NBC. They should be more to the left, as well as other news outlets. But, it does give a good overview of where to start your news journey. 

A lot has changed since the Partisan Press era when it comes to technology, politics, and society in general. But, present-day has reverted back to the past by producing news that is more and more biased every day. This wouldn't be an issue if the current news outlets had the courage to state that they were biased. 

The Coronavirus: An Epidemic or a More Extreme Flu

Sitting in my class yesterday, right before I took my midterm, I heard classmates behind me panicking. Granted, I thought they were stressed about the midterm, but after listening closely, they were freaking out because the first case of the coronavirus has hit North Carolina in Wake County.

As a journalist, it's hard not to be frustrated with the panic about coronavirus right now. But, yesterday, I got caught up in the fear of my friends, the campus, and even my family back home. So, I did what I know best, I started researching the virus to understand how stressed I actually needed to be.

I typed "coronavirus" into Google and after reading the news articles that popped up, this was underneath it.


In a section called "Help and Information", Google added this to a normal search to ease panic or help those who don't know all that much about the virus in general. But, it is nice to see that the sources they attached are credible and not from some random blog from an anti-vaxxer mom (which I have seen on my Facebook feed recently). Google links the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.

What I learned from those sources was that I should be watching my hands for thirty seconds (which you should be doing anyway), GermX or anything of that kind does not protect you against the virus, since that is anti-bacterial, not anti-virus.


The CDC explains that the virus is spread "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes," and that you can catch it if you are six feet away from the person who has it.

Symptoms include cough, fever, and shortness of breath. The CDC uses this infographic to describe symptoms. What frustrates me is that this sounds like a sinus infection, or a cold, or even the flu, but this has the possibility of killing me. But, because this virus is "new" to the population, doctors don't know enough about it to identify more symptoms. Essentially, everyone has to hope they don't get any symptoms like this because it could be the coronavirus or your allergies acting up.

As I sat down this morning to start my hair and makeup, I put on my daily news show that I watch on YouTube, and one of the topics of the day was the coronavirus and the fake news that has been spread around it. Watch the first few minutes of this video to learn more about the fake news being spread and the panic it is causing.

As a journalist, it is more vital than ever to only provide facts when it comes to a possible epidemic. Panic has already caused grocery stores and places like Costco to be bought out of toilet paper, milk, bread, and even more food to keep houses stocked IF a quarantine were enforced. The panic will cause more chaos than the actual virus will if journalists don't make it a point to spread the truth instead of false news.