No journalist or work of journalism can truly be free from bias, because people are not. Every single one of us faces different circumstances, hardships, influences and life paths, and those inform every belief we hold and decision we make. I am certainly not the most qualified person to say this, but I hope my forthcoming disclosure of my own biases, and my time as an opinion editor, aspiring journalist and news junkie, will convince you to read with an open mind.

I am a 21-year-old, cisgender, queer woman (I’m sure even the decision to delineate that already brings to mind biases). I also suffer from multiple chronic illnesses and mental health diagnoses, but I also study as an English major, am a student journalist, and am a survivor of sexual assault and advocate.

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

The area I grew up in is predominantly white, upper middle class and fairly small, located in Pennsylvania, somewhere between the Philadelphia and Trenton suburbs. My county is consistently a swing factor in Pennsylvania state and national elections: the town I went to high school in is more conservative, but the town my postal address assigns me to is a liberal, LGBTQIA+ hub for Pennsylvania.

My father is a Republican, Baby Boomer Trump supporter, and my mother is an Independent left-leaning, Baby Boomer/Generation X cusp (for the astrology fans). Despite growing up listening to Fox News exclusively, I have come to politically identify as progressive — to be clear, this was not as a result of consuming only liberal media or being brainwashed by teachers, but precisely because I grew up consuming the opposite.

By no means have I had a difficult life. I have had difficult moments and faced hardships, but I have had the privilege of emotional support and capital means to get through them and manage their consequences every day. I was encouraged and supported to work very hard in high school and get a scholarship to USC, where I have consequently never had to worry about basic necessities.

My financial security allows me to spend time on academics and pursuits like the Daily Trojan and journalism, which is not a very accessible field. As a journalist, my life is reading and watching the news, talking about it, asking questions and being knowledgeable about what I write. My job is to listen, to learn and to share that knowledge — sometimes along with my additional analysis and opinions — with others.

Most journalists and news outlets claim to be beyond the very real biases that come from our life experiences, but I am not. I will not pretend to be. That doesn’t mean that I cannot capably report factually accurate, fair and transparent news. In fact, my life experiences have taught me things that I would never have taken the time to learn about and introduced me to vastly different perspectives from my own, and the most important thing I have learned is empathy.

The work I produce is always grounded in fact and often includes analysis gleaned from what I have learned about the topic, both professionally and personally, and when designated as such, my opinions, informed by experience and empathy. It is my hope for journalists to accept and utilize this approach, and I try to encourage it to all the staff I work with in our opinion section.

Strong journalism requires evidence, credibility and insight, but humanity necessitates bias. Empathy requires bias. And I don’t want to be part of journalism without empathy. This country is incredibly divided, journalism is incredibly divided and my family and peers are incredibly divided. We need empathy to understand one another — without it, we cannot make progress.

Each day I struggle to understand the positions of Republicans, conservatives and “MAGA” Trump supporters and I am angry and frustrated that they deny parts of my identity and things I believe are inherent human rights (or just plain common sense). But that group of people includes the very consumers of news that I aim to impact — and my father —  so I have to try, to do my job — and to be a daughter.

I try to put my money where my mouth is and practice what I preach, learning from my mistakes, whether it be in the communities I inhabit, in personal relationships, or, most importantly to you, in my journalism. I will continue to make mistakes, but I promise to try to get better at learning from them and make fewer — and always publish corrections along the way.

No matter where a journalist lands on the political spectrum, or if they are a hard news reporter, an opinion columnist or a cultural critic, they inherently have biases and opinions. Everything is colored by our biases, even if it doesn’t come from the opinion section: what we choose to write about (when we have the choice and privilege of job security), which backgrounds and voices we choose to include in a story and our choice of language or quotes all depend on the journalist.

An editor or professor could assign the same story to 10 people and receive 10 completely different stories — all fact-based, all news stories without opinion, but 10 different stories nonetheless. And that is a good thing; each person brings their unique experience to the table, whether it is only in the subtlest ways or in an op-ed.

Our democracy should hear our voices — not just the voices of politicians, creatives and businesses whom journalists cover, but also sources journalists rely on for informed analysis or the analysis of journalists themselves whom you trust based on the integrity of their reporting and transparency of their character.

You don’t have to listen to my opinions if you don’t agree with my personal beliefs, or if you just don’t think a 21-year-old college student has anything valuable to say — you’re wrong, though. We all have something valuable to say. But now that you know my experiences and biases, at least you can trust my reporting.

If we as journalists strive to be transparent about our inevitable possession of biases, we can do our job: report the news and help people understand what the hell to do with it. I hope you find someone you do trust to give you accurate information upon which to form your own opinions because we are all going to need it.