This decade we have seen the rise of something different with the Fox News cable network. It was not the first, but it does it best. It does what I call “emo news” – emotionally invested news where the viewers’ beliefs are never challenged directly by the newscasts, and objectivity is often thrown out the window.

We’ve had this sort of show for years. Usually, it’s a given that they’re not official newscasts, but a single person ranting on about events in the news. Even David Letterman and Jay Leno do a humorous form of this every night for a few minutes. Though usually conservative, the liberal side of “emo news” is coming into its own with Air America Radio, but this won’t lend balance to anything.

The problem is most of the Fox News viewers will not listen to Air America Radio, and vice versa. Unless the people in question are already well informed in regard to both sides of the political fence, another source of “emo-news” source like Air America will only cater to the portion of the population who feels their political views are not being catered to by the current media.

Back in the day there was something called “equal time,” where political commentators from both left and right got time on the same newscasts. Stations had to provide more than one point of view and both sides of the argument got a credible representative.

Unfortunately with Fox News, the left usually doesn’t get a voice, and “debates” on shows like The O’Reilly Factor frequently degenerate into one side being shouted down by another. And left-of-center sources often maintain the same attitude of malice toward the government, almost by default. Although this may work great when discussing the Bush administration, it doesn’t make for an objective or informative newscast. It ignores circumstances and true motives and encourages the worst kind of world view – the idea that morality only exists in black and white, with no gray area. A world of strict good and evil makes for great storytelling, but is far removed from reality.

The problem is no political view is ever 100 percent correct or compatible with the truth. The news should challenge viewers’ ideas and perceptions when necessary, not just feed their prejudices.

The problem arises when emo news does what is most profitable – provide the viewer with what they feel is vital news, and convince them they don’t need other sources. This makes for great capitalism as the viewer is satisfied – they can feel good whenever they hear about the resounding victories of “their side,” and never hear anything that contradicts what they feel is right. Given the national nature of news the individual will never find contradictions to what the news reports unless they’re involved in politics directly. News can easily contradict reality but the reverse almost never happens where people see it. The average person has no means to independently verify the news.

So when will responsible news become the norm again? Probably when the contradictions between newscast and reality become so large that there is a backlash by those who are betrayed by it.

Paul Saleeba is a columnist for The Daily Cougar at the University of Houston. Appeared on U-Wire.