To start your career in the world of politics or finance, you need sources among the media to gather and spread information. First, you have to find TV channels, newspapers or online media platforms that on average, provide you with some reliable and unique information. A good interpretation of the current situation of the financial markets or the political market among voters could give you an advantage to your rivals. You need information to forecast the financial markets in short and long term, as well as for the sake of understanding voters perspective in the upcoming elections. Later in your career you will need media with further goals: you need to be heard to stay in the power, or speculate in the financial market (betting against a currency for instance).
Our need to gather information, analyse and forecast is not only for improving careers, but also it can be used to satisfy the inner need of “knowing what’s going around”. This amateur approach to media mostly has limited people with fewer sources of media that are mostly led or charged by political parties or big financial groups. Take the case of Fox News and CNN in the United States, both of which are connected to the political parties of the Republicans and Democrats ,respectively. By choosing a very limited number of information sources, voters are unconsciously being directed in the elections, which lately has become a major playground for populist politicians such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
But what is the solution if one does not want to be directed by political parties? The best way is to diversify your media sources among the ones that are available and make a sort of basket (the same that is suggested to with your portfolio in the financial markets). Form your portfolio of news based on various media sources, even if it takes you more time daily to analyse the information from unreliable sources. Do not accept or deny any statement without comprehending your (or the reader’s) reasoning.
Siavash Mohades 