WASHINGTON — Mainstream media outlets are routinely the target of criticism by people claiming their content is politically slanted to a conservative or liberal viewpoint. George Washington University junior Siddarth Rahalkar-Sasane is part of an emerging media group that wants to change that, by establishing a platform that presents all the relevant sides of a story.
The organization he is working with – 'Left, Middle, Right' – presents an issue by having three writers tackle three sides of that issue.
"We publish these articles with one from the left, one from the middle and one from the right," Sasane said. "And we publish that all together in what we call an article set."
One of the goals of the site, according to Sasane, is to allow people to digest viewpoints they haven't previously been exposed to before their opinions galvanize completely.
"The whole point of politics is disagreeing your way to a solution," Sasane said. "If you're never exposed to what you don't like, what you disagree with, how will you ever understand it? And if you don't understand it, you see what we see today with name calling and personal attacks."
Sasane said he typically sees that older readers are typically more immobile with their political positions and that's a large reason why his group is targeting college students and young professionals.
"We see a willingness to engage that we want to capitalize on, where the door hasn't entirely shut yet to discourse and debate," he said.
'Left-Middle-Right' has a network of 60 universities and more than 110 student organizations to draw on for its writers. In fact, most of those writers are not journalism or political science students. Sasane is actually a double major in finance and international affairs.
"I think young people are often written off with their political opinions as undeveloped or not fine-tuned," Sasane said.
Sasane and his platform are hoping to educate and empower the next generation of critical thinkers. You can access the group's site HERE.
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