Another piece about Liberal bias in the news

[Gaebolg]

Our results show a very significant liberal bias. All of the news outlets except Fox News’ Special Report received a score to the left of the average member of Congress. Moreover, by one of our measures all but three of these media outlets (Special Report, the Drudge Report, and ABC’s World News Tonight) were closer to the average Democrat in Congress than to the median member of the House of Representatives. One of our measures found that the Drudge Report is the most centrist of all media outlets in our sample. Our other measure found that Fox News’ Special Report is the most centrist. These findings refer strictly to the news stories of the outlets. That is, we omitted editorials, book reviews, and letters to the editor from our sample.

A measure of liberal bias

This is a report conducted by professors from UCLA and the University of Chicago.

 

[dilloduck]

Originally posted by Gaebolg
A measure of liberal bias

This is a report conducted by professors from UCLA and the University of Chicago.

Are republicans responsible for turning this around and are they able? Just a question I ask myself often. Is the media so tightly knit that no one from the right can use it to promote thier agenda?

 

[Gaebolg]

I believe it's more because a majority of reporters are liberals. There was a survey about a month ago that revealed that fact. I believe that the only way it will turn around, by that I mean become more centrist, is for more centrist reporters to be hired or for more conservative reporters to be hired to balance it out. Other than that the news editors may have to actually *gasp* be intellectually honest in their job and make reporters redo the news pieces that are more op-ed than news or that focus on only one side of the story and make the coverage more balanced.

I wouldn't want the coverage to reverse and become all conservative because that wouldn't solve the problem, the problem is that the news is more focused on pushing an agenda than on delivering facts, becoming puppets and propaganda machines. Maybe I am just naive to think that my news organizations should present facts to me, so that I can make an informed decision, rather than trying to brainwash me with opinion and speculation parading as fact.

It's gotten to the point now where I have to read the same story in five different papers, at least two being conservative, in order to get a truly accurate representation of what actually occurs in the news. Where I sit down and say "Hmmm...they ALL agree on these two points, those are probably true."

 

[dilloduck]

I have to do the same------do you think the owners of the media companies ultimately tell the editors what kind of spin to put on the news?

 

[musicman]

Twenty years ago, the percentage of Americans who got their news from the Big Three networks was right around 80. That number is now closer to 40. You have to allow for other factors than just bias, of course, but a 50% nosedive cannot be ignored. If these clowns don't do something about their content pretty soon, they face the real danger of preaching themselves into irrelevance.

Which, of course, is fine with me. Maybe good old, simple market forces will take care of this bullshit!

 

[dilloduck]

IN other words, the owners need to be hurt so bad financially that they will change thier ways?

 

[Gaebolg]

It would be speculation on my part but I would say that there probably isn't a concious effort, in the sense that there are high level meetings with company executives saying "We have to put a spin on this". I think that it's probably closer to the fact that editors are reporters that were promoted, they are liberal, the reporters are liberal and they think they are reporting the news, there is no oversight. They are probably unaware in most cases that they are injecting opinion and speculation into news stories. I believe that the companies that own the news organizations really don't give a flying flip as long as circulation stays up, profits stay up and they aren't brought into some PR nightmare. Maybe it is more nefarious and they are trying to brainwash the country, I don't know but either way....it's irritating.

 

[musicman]

Gaebolg - Bernard Goldberg, the author of "Bias" holds with your viewpoint. He doesn't believe that anyone is sitting in an office, saying, " How are we going to slant the news today?" Rather ( no pun intended ), these people lead cloistered lives. They only see people who share their worldview. They are completely out of touch with ordinary Americans, and our concerns. Their primary sin is arrogance. They KNOW better than we.

 

[dilloduck]

Originally posted by musicman
Gaebolg - Bernard Goldberg, the author of "Bias" holds with your viewpoint. He doesn't believe that anyone is sitting in an office, saying, " How are we going to slant the news today?" Rather ( no pun intended ), these people lead cloistered lives. They only see people who share their worldview. They are completely out of touch with ordinary Americans, and our concerns. Their primary sin is arrogance. They KNOW better than we.

Then back to my post-----I guess the right just doesn't play the game as well and therefore shouldn't bitch about the slant. They should learn how to play the game better

 

[musicman]

Originally posted by dilloduck
Then back to my post-----I guess the right just doesn't play the game as well and therefore shouldn't bitch about the slant. They should learn how to play the game better

Well, " the slant " and " the game " are just euphemisms for, " lying ". I don't think the right's problem is that they need to lie better. They simply need to raise the awareness of the sleepy-eyed sheep out there in TV land.

BTW, as you may have surmised, I'm not in 100% agreement with Gaebolg or Bernard Goldberg. I think the " slanting " IS sinister and deliberate.

 

[dilloduck]

Originally posted by musicman
Well, " the slant " and " the game " are just euphemisms for, " lying ". I don't think the right's problem is that they need to lie better. They simply need to raise the awareness of the sleepy-eyed sheep out there in TV land.

BTW, as you may have surmised, I'm not in 100% agreement with Gaebolg or Bernard Goldberg. I think the " slanting " IS sinister and deliberate.

I think it is too!----The problem is that the sleepy eyed sheep ARE in TV land and that's how they get thier info. The right simply can't reach them with the truth unless they gain control of the media. They just don't seem to understand this.

 

[musicman]

Originally posted by dilloduck
I think it is too!----The problem is that the sleepy eyed sheep ARE in TV land and that's how they get thier info. The right simply can't reach them with the truth unless they gain control of the media. They just don't seem to understand this.

So true. I'd have to say that conservatives have made great strides in recent years. But, hell, they didn't have anywhere to GO but up!

And your'e right. It ain't enough.