"From the Bottom Up"

Today in class we talked about stories that talk from the point of view of the teller, instead of someone else telling them. I feel like this kind of story-telling it supposed to come off as more reliable because it's  from the person who it happened to, but in the context of the stories it seems like it could also be used as a manipulative thing. We talked a lot about how these stories seemed like they may have been edited into sounding more upbeat than the history suggests was actually the case. I'm curious to know if any one else thinks that writers and editors try to use this "authentic" "first-person account" type of story telling as a way of trying to cover up the biased opinions being presented?