'SPIN' is, simply put, the angle put on any piece of information. Unless a person reads or says verbatim the facts of something, then spin is most certainly taking place. I'm not one for definitions so let me give you this example: Take an example of a factual statement:

'Coalition Forces dropped a bomb over Baghdad from an aircraft at 2:00 am local time.'

Spin 1
'Coalition troops continue to gain momentum in 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' as they target the Iraqi regime in Baghdad where they hope to remove from power Saddam Hussein and liberate the Iraqi people.'
Spin 2
'Coalition forces continue the strikes against Iraq as they pound Baghdad in the cover of night with more bombs as Iraqi civilians brace for more attacks.'

Please note that in this example, I am not offering an opinion on whether either this 'Spin' is good or bad, it is simply my effort to define what spin is.

Of course this is how I view 'Spin' and really, I am quite sure that everyone has their own 'spin' of what 'spin' is, but I think everyone can agree that the media is full of spin, and besides Bill O'Reilly, of course, everyone lives in the Spin Zone. I find the media and politics and everything associated with those things, fascinating and as a Communication major, I have a particular interest in the ways that people communicate and in doing so, the strategy used to persuade, argue, and report their information.

In a now, not so recent 'Newsweek', there was an article on spin in the media:

So as you can see, even though only one 'thing' actually took place (which only G-D knows for sure), these four news outlets have completely different takes on them. In other words they put their own spin on the facts to support their opinions on what happened.

  Is spin bad? Well, yes, in the news especially because for a long time people have relied on the news media to be unbiased in reporting the facts and in theory, allowing us, the viewer, to create our own opinions....but this never happens, ever...So the only way one can get close to knowing the 100% truth is by taking in as many news sources as possible and then drawing a conclusion for yourself, but of course, this doesn't work because by the time we are old enough to watch and comprehend the news, our underlying beliefs have already been shaped and it is hard to look at anything totally objectively.

  That's just the way life is....O'Reilly can claim he has the 'No Spin Zone', and maybe he feels he tries but in the end everything in the news has been 'spun' by the time we, the viewers, learn about it. This page is more or less an attempt by me to try and look as objectively at certain stories in the news and provide what evidence I can to support that. Regardless of what my political beliefs are (and I'll leave that for you to guess, or if you really want to know, you can ask) I try and present stories that one week may seem very conservative sided, and the next very liberal etc..... By doing this I hope to gain the respect of you, the spinzone reader, for my opinions.