[TTBRAHWTMG]

The global conflicts are the MOST difficult areas for the responsible conduct I'm describing. Language barriers, cultural barriers, etc. all come into play. Sheer distances and danger make it impossible for personal verification. But there are things you CAN do. Your comment regarding Al Jazeera might have been tongue in cheek, but you can balance some of your western reporting by comparing the two, and expecting that reality is somewhere between.

You can also review varying english speaking countries reporting on an issue and try to filter out tendencies as best you can. How Canada, U.S., England, and Australia, (just as examples) report on events are all different, and are skewed by culture, societal fabric and composition, prevailing political tendencies, etc. The more you compare these varying reports, and glean the commonalities and differences between them, the more you will recognize the bias of each and be more effective at filtering it out.

Secondly, getting to know members of the local community of the same or similar culture as the region you are interested in, and listening to their take on things can have a dramatic impact on your own opinions. The more openly you listen, the more you build trust, the more honest the opinions you hear from these individuals become. The more you educate yourself about their history, their religion, etc. the better the framework for reviewing their opinions and the more you are able to recognize THEIR bias. The more you test opinions, other's and your own, through debate and discussion, the more informed your own opinions become.

We ALL experience personal bias, it is inevitable and unavoidable...but the more we can fight our own individual bias and attempt to build our OWN opinion based on as many facts as you can obtain...the better off we all are...and I would argue, while not without bias, the more responsible is that personal opinion that has been formed.

PS...While there is WAY more western reporting available regarding the middle east, this is to be expected (British and U.S. soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq; many NATO countries have soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and several NATO countries actually have soldiers fighting and dying there). Having said that, there IS plenty of reporting being done on Africa these days. For those individuals that are so inclined, there are mountains of reporting available on the conditions and conflicts on that continent. There is not as much being DONE in these countries because not enough individuals care.