Media Bias: One or the other

[Gurdari]

Seems most here think the media has a liberal slant, the dissenting opinions think it has a right-wing slant. Nobody thinks it's balanced? Ever?

Does anyone know of any publication/channel/network on Earth that does its job right?

 

[Hagbard Celine]

Seems most here think the media has a liberal slant, the dissenting opinions think it has a right-wing slant. Nobody thinks it's balanced? Ever?

Does anyone know of any publication/channel/network on Earth that does its job right?

I think it has both and that depends a lot of the time. Most stories are not biased--except for Fox News. Oops, I mean Faux News. CNN is objective for the most part as is CBS. NYT obviously leans to the liberal side, but they scoop everyone all the time. That's good reporting no matter who's side you're on--and they're not out to destroy the US. That idea is stupid. How would they report the way they do without the First Amendment? Reuters and Associated Press are objective. Think about it, how could thousands of reporters stationed all over the planet cohesively conspire to "always write liberal stories." The idea of the "vast liberal media conspiracy" is a joke.

 

[Gurdari]

Remember when Bush was running as VP and he was leasing property he owned and the contract stated it couldn't be leased to any non-whites?

Me either, but why didn't the 'liberal' media dive into that story? Actually, maybe they did... but the liberal media tends to be B/W pubs made by small groups of volunteers! I just learned about that lil story a few months ago...

Look at how Nicaraugua was portrayed, even Vietnam, liberal...not.

 

[Kagom]

Remember when Bush was running as VP and he was leasing property he owned and the contract stated it couldn't be leased to any non-whites?

I don't remember that, but Snopes proved that to be full of it!

 

[William Joyce]

Does anyone know of any publication/channel/network on Earth that does its job right?

Well now that's a challenge, and it's got me thinking. The AP and the BBC used to count, no more. Sometimes the bias comes not from what IS covered, but what ISN'T.

Bias is so inherent in media that maybe the only right way to go at it is to admit your politics from the outset.

 

[mattskramer]

For the most part, each person carries different biases. They stand at different points on a yardstick and each person considers himself balanced. Yet, if they stand on the right edge, most things that they see look like they have a left-wing bias. Those on the left see things as having a right-wing bias.

Additionally, people will select items that support their nurtured and preconceived biases – often giving them more weight than they deserve. Those events that run contrary to people’s biases are ignored or are minimized or acre considered. Find an article that you consider to have a left-wing biases and I’ll find an article that has a right wing bias – at least in my opinion. It is an old and tiresome game.

 

[Gurdari]

Of course all people have bias, but I think systemic bias, deliberately trickling down from advertisers, board of directors, to media ownership and to editors... that is what shapes the idealistic reporters who might wish to find truth, into a state of self-censorship based on the expectation of being edited into non-threatening, status quo supporting, corporate approved 'news'. whew.

I think many reporters learn what gets them in trouble, and what doesn't at an early part in their career. Certain words, descriptions are off limits, certain angles of a story, certain situations (a strike, environmental law, capitalism actually hurting people, etc) are spun so as not to alarm the herd into critical thought. Or of course, bullshit celeb stories instead of news...OMG, Anna Nicole died! I forget what I was talking about, did you see her dress?

 

[Gurdari]

Find an article that you consider to have a left-wing biases and I’ll find an article that has a right wing bias – at least in my opinion. It is an old and tiresome game.

Show me any left-wing bias (show me the unsupported, biased element too) and I'll see if I can prove it isn't, and tat is still right-wing approved refined news. I need my paranoia pills first, but please... show me what you got.
(a friendly exercise if you like)

 

[Gurdari]

"Extremes to the right and left of any political dispute are always wrong."
—Dwight D. Eisenhower

This sounds great, but also sounds unquantifiable. A position can't be disregarded just because it seems extreme. A fringe extremist calling the earth round a thousand years ago wasn't wrong... modertaes hoping to compromise on the slavery debate weren't right...