Misinformation.

The biggest and most influential example I can think of where I experienced a cognitive bias was during these past presidential elections. I wanted to be involved because I was finally old enough to vote. I would turn on the news to try to catch on to what was going on. I had heard of Hillary Clinton, of course, and President Obama and John McCain, but I didn't know who I liked quite yet, although I was certain not John McCain, and what I found influenced me for a brief period of time. I saw how the news was portraying Hillary Clinton, and began to think about her as a crazy woman, trying to be a man. Well, my best friend at the time liked her, and told me this. She didn't tell me why and I didn't ask. So I looked her up and read about all of her stances and figured out for myself where she stands in the political spectrum. I ended up liking her the most. The media tried to discredit her because of her tought exterior, while leaving out her righteous goals and viewpoints. After this I never really rely on the news to give me valuable information. As for the department of information, that scares me more than what we have right now. I could say that  I trust the government and the media maybe equally. I may be a freak for that but I can't help it. The first thing I thought of was propaganda. How the government would steer its news in a way to make America look awesome, what we're doing nationally would of course look good, why would the government made well known it's international mistakes? And if it comes from the government most people wil trust it because they think it's official "government information". We all just have to search for the truth outselves and not depend on others to do it for us. There is no better way to understand something than to see it with our own eyes and then see others perspectives, which is where the news can come in. Then we can possibly shape a more well rounded point of view.