When news sources that we see as reliable become mouthpieces for those with an abundance of political power and wealth, it’s difficult for the average citizen to know the truth.

An example of this is the Democratic primary debate hosted by CNN that featured a confrontation between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Warren claimed that Sanders said in 2018 a woman could never become president. 

However, Sanders has encouraged her to run for the election in 2016, and has been an avid supporter of women’s rights. 

Despite denying the claim, Sanders wasn’t asked if he said that, which begs the question: Why?

Immediately after Sanders’s denial, CNN debate moderator Abby Philip asked Warren what she thought “when Senator Sanders told [her] a woman could not win the election?”

CNN’s slanted question toward Sanders makes the unbased assertion that he made such a claim. Their decision to carry forward when Sanders’s denial didn’t match CNN’s biases reflects the influence of political agendas over objective news.

In fact, CNN has frequently been criticized by right-leaning politicians for having a consistent liberal bias.  CNN President Jeffrey Adam Zucker has even expressed interest in running for government positions on the Democratic ticket. 

The Society of Professional Journalists has a code of ethics that every journalist must abide by in their profession. The first and most basic principle is to “seek truth and report it.” This includes “never deliberately distort[ing] facts or context.”

Now, independent voters and even left-winged voters have criticized CNN for its partisan reporting. CNN has been moved from “center”, or neutral, to “lean left” since 2018, according to Allsides, a website that reviews media through an objective lens. 

 Allsides doesn’t factor in opinions pieces when rating journalistic publications. It’s only an outlet’s news coverage that is taken into consideration. 

This means that CNN’s recent reporting has been done through a skewed perspective, an approach that directly violates the journalistic code of ethics.

We live in an era where “fake news” runs rampant throughout our daily lives. Every article must be met with a critical eye in order to discern between real events and political bias. 

News stations have become akin to Hollywood, where they gain attention by exaggerating events in order to create melodrama, or simply fabricate events out of thin air, which was evident in the Warren vs. Sanders debate.