Good journalism is almost always biased...

I think you meant to say good journalism isn't biased. If it is biased, it is breaking the ethics code of professional journalists - something professional journalists abhor.

Bias allows the passion of the writer to show through and illuminate the article.

You are confusing advocacy with professional journalism. The most basic tenet of journalism is balanced news.

The most basic of tools unless you want to be fired:

Never single source an article - multiple souces do guard against inadvertant bias. Three sources should be used at minimum.

Use of accurate quotes in context: "she said" is entirely different than saying, I the writer said.
Good journalists let the person they are interviewing tell the story.


Provide balanced coverage - If you will notice, some news articles end with a note that a person or agency did not return calls or refused to comment. In journalism, the is called transparency. That is how you, "the reader" know that the practice of ethical journalism involves giving everyone an opportunity to comment.

What is not bias:

Just because you don't happen to agree with what sources in the article said doesn't make the media biased. The whole point of journalism to provide the information necessary for "stake holders" usually the public to make their own choices.

Objecting to a viewpoint expressed of a source in an article has a great deal to do with "reader bias" and nothing to do with balanced presentation.

News isn't the business of entertainment. Our job is to provide enough information gathered from many different kinds of sources and present it to the consumer. Lack of critical thinking skills on the part of the reader cannot be attributed to the source of the information.


The problem begins ...one view portrayed in mass media, as it currently is in the US.

What one view would that be? Accusing a large diverse group addressing many different situations, and presenting the viewpoints of both sides of having "one" view is nonsensical.

Support for an independent press? Do you know of any? The press is not an abstract thought floating ownerless in space. Someone always "owns" it.

UK papers have the similar issues. But, they are generally upfront about their "bias."

Censorship and propaganda happen when governments, industry, political groups act to supress factual data. Are you aware that since the Bush administration came into power that thousands of publically available documents have been classified and hidden? Do you know what the freedom of information act is? And are you aware that it exists because journalists fought tooth and nail for it and large newspapers retain lawyers who take violators to court for legal enforcement.

Were you even aware that good journalists have been guarding the public back for decades?

You may have heard it called the "Sunshine Law" because it is designed to keep public secrecy to a minimum by bringing ethical violations and fraud into the light.

Advancing knowledge and "truth," a rather relative concept, requires critical thinking skills. Anyone can spout unsubstantiated speculation. That's not a rigorous search for knowledge.

I know this will sound boring, but do your homework. As a professional journalist I do, because it is my ethical obligation to uphold the right of free speech.

Not just the one you want to hear. If you want that there are pseudo news sites such as the Fox Network that only report the ideas that support their agenda. That is censorship and propaganda.

If you wish to expand your knowledge basis you may wish to start here:

http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp

http://www.poynter.org/subject.asp?id=32

http://foi.missouri.edu/

Best of luck in your search for truth and knowledge.