Right Wing Media Bias

Dear all fellow ATSers,

How many of you believe that the media coverage in the US has a liberal/left wing bias?

Cheers

BHR

The only news I watch on tv is CNN, but I think the ATSNN is great for posting things you don't see in mainstream media. IMO, CNN has both left and right wing commentators. Clearly Lou Dobbs is liberal, but Anderson Cooper is clearly conservative. Others are somewhat balanced, it depends on who your watching.

Dear all,

No one else with any thoughts on this?

Cheers

BHR

The "news" channels and programs tha twe have are typically leaning towards sensationalism (read, ratings)

That's why I get all my news from The Daily Show. They make no bones about what they are reporting on being factual or not, and yet I am aware of the big topics.

John Stewart is a reporting God!

Susquehanna (btw What does that mean),

I think Jon Stewart is great too.

Over here in the UK we do not see him enough.

I wish someone would pick this show up and show it on the same basis you get it.

Cheers

BHR

BHR, The Susquehanna is the river of my life, I've lived along it for most of my years on this globe. You sent me searchign for what it means, and here it is -



With Lenape being the name of a native American Indian Tribe that lived in Pennsylvania.

As for John, I'm glad that you do get to see him in the UK, he tells it like it is, and it's frigging funny...

I think you just insulted everyone that follows Foxnews.

Thats pretty good coming from a Canadian ordained Liberal such as yourself there, Interpid.

Yeah, I do BHR. So what of it?Would that be before the elections or after?
You don't like Fox either?
Big Fan of ABC, NBC, CBS, and Dan Rather, etc?
CNN worshipper?
Subscriber to the LA Times and NYTimes, etc?








seekerof

[edit on 8-4-2005 by Seekerof]

Intrepid/Seekerof,

Now, now.

We cannot have fighting between the Mods now can we?

Cheers

BHR

They are paid, pressurised, threatened and God knows what, to get somebody else's work done. Their role is pre-defined and why should we waste. Although creating public opinion which is like a bubble these days is fun sometimes. Nothing personal just a time bound opinion

I think Media, nowadays is niche biased..
There are so many channels,on Tv, Radio, and now the internet.

If there is a large enough demographic (that also has some spending power), any particular media outlet can target them specifically.
I think thats what is happening.
A bit like the music industry.

SO, what flavor of news will you be having today?

I certainly think there is bias on to both extremes. While the big 3 and CNN lean left, Fox News leans right. However, having both sides represented in the same competing market serves a good purpose. If we were like the middle east for example where Al-Jazeera can make any off the wall claim they see fit and its carved in stone, our media outlets have the burden of proof placed on them by their competitors on the other side of the coin. I think it sets up a system of checks and balances when each are waiting for the other to plainly fabricate something as we saw in the case of Dan Rather's unfortunate incident.

Yes, each can and do choose to downplay and spin various things but the pure fabrication of news is hard to slip through. I know many of you hate Fox News and I won't pretend to believe everything they put out there is fair and balanced but without them, we were privy to only one side of the coin for years. Many believe thats the main reason for the decay of our moral values in the US but it certainly wasn't good for anyone.

I'm glad we have both sides and I don't care what another person watches or believes. When my point becomes so weak it cannot stand debate, I'm ready to change my point. Those of you who spend day after day cursing Fox News for spewing its agenda or CNN for spewing its agenda, relax. If your position is strong in fact and logic, what are you worried about what other people see?

Astro,

Do you feel that Fox even attempts to be "fair and balanced"?

I would disagree with you the CNN is liberal biased and has an agenda.

I consider myself liberal and on many occasions I find myself disagreeing with the news they broadcast or the tone of an editorial.

Whereas with Fox I feel they go out of their way to push an agenda to the exclusion of the opposing view. One only has to look at the airtime given to the like of Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter to name a few.

Cheers

BHR
Cheers

BHR

Anybody ever read or hear about Joe Scarborough, former Congressman for Florida and now MSNBC talk show host's scandal involving a dead intern in his office? You'd be surprised at the amount of people I know who never knew this. Sure we all know about Gary Condit and Chandra Levy, but never heard one iota about Joe Scarborough and Lori Klausutis.

Both happened around the same time. Just a few months apart in 2001. Gary's intern went missing and was found a long time later as a pile of bones in a park. Joe's intern died right in his office. Of a "blow to the head" after falling due to suddenly being stricken by a "previously undiagnosed heart ailment" despite Lori being an athletic 20-something. Odd to say the least. It barely made the news in the region the incident took place in and got no mention in the national press. Why would the press not jump on this during a time when dead intern scandal was all the rage? What could possibly be the difference between a LIBERAL Congressman scandal like Condit's and CONSERVATIVE Congressman scandal like Scarborough's?

The biggest alleged liberal outlets didn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Gotta wonder about that left-wing media bias.

[edit on 14-4-2005 by Frith]

I understand your disagreement. You have taken a side in the political arena and will likely never see any negativity pretaining to the side you have chosen. The reason you find yourself in dissagreement with some of the news CNN runs is due to the very same thing I eluded to in my post.

While each news agency is able to change or insert a tone about what they are reporting, they must maintain a level of accuracy and accountability that is enforced by their opposite and counterpart on the flip side of the coin. I never said Fox news was fair and balanced..in fact I think I said the complete opposite, however because of CNN and the Big 3 networks, if they completely fabricated news, they'd be called on it..as was Dan Rather.

Reading between the lines in your post, its easy to see that you would like to have only the liberal viewpoint presented to the American public and don;t get offended. Conservatives would love to have it all their way too. If we got only one side of the coin, as we did for years before Fox News came along, many things would be swept under the rug. Who knows how much we have never known about because the media all marched to the same drummer?

As I said earlier, if you believe you are correct in your political views, then certainly your position would not mind a little debate and scrutiny now would it? CNN is a left leaning news agency. That does not mean that everything that happens in the world is going to agree with the liberal agenda. Lest we forget it is a news agency operating in a representative republic and not a socialist state therefore, many many things are going to disagree with the liberal philosphy. There in lies there delima. If they do not report the news, people will tune into to someone who will and they cannot fabricate facts that don't exist or other agencies will call them on it. Its the same for Fox News. As much as they try to push the conservative agenda, they have to report when things aren't going well in Iraq such as the recent car bombings. You know they hate to do it and conservatives hate to hear it but if they suppress it, people will tune them out.


Thats the great thing about free press in the US. They are free to report it but they cannot force people to listen. The right to free speech does not include the right to be heard. There is a difference and I am afraid both sides will have to live with it. It is for this reason that I believe we get the most accurate picture of any country in the world. Yeah, we may have to consider the spin but at least we are not allowing ourselves to be spoonfed propaghanda by the likes of AlJazeera whom have little competition enforcing the burden of proof.

So, when CNN reports something you do not agree with you might as well chalk it up to the fact that no one political agenda is without its share of problems. You liberal views, in my opinion, are as tainted as the conservative views and must relay just as heavy upon its followers ignoring the contradictions in policy and plain old everyday hypocrisy. Why else would we see people march one day to preserve an animals life and another to destroy a human's? Why would we see them attack in the name of protecting women's rights and then ignore and condone the appalling treatment of women in the middle east or even by their own pollitical leaders? I'll tell you why. Its not about what a person does or does not do, its not about right or wrong or the issue, its about what label you decide to wear..and thats a damn shame.

Astro,

I see your point of view however I feel you have slipped into the same problem you attribute to me.

The only instance of false reporting by the so-called liberal press is the Dan Rather incident and that was dealt with.

Look at any given day on Fox and the level of false reporting is high. Furthermore when another station attempts to bring this to the publics attention Fox whine about "liberal attack dogs" etc.

Furthermore, Fox gives a mouthpiece to those who spout deliberate lies and fails to correct them or admonish them when these lies are proved.

Cheers

BHR

Well, I don't really watch Fox News all that much but I the few times I have watched it, they seem to give ample time to those opposing these views as well. I don't know how you mean that I have fallen into the same problem to which I attribute to you. I don't really support either agenda. But, I know that when we have both sides presented, its better than only one side. You, like your conservative counterparts wish the rest of us to believe that your position and your position only is the one true unbiased representation of the facts. Now, whether you like it or not, the reality of the situation is that people in the US are going to be privy to more than just what you and those like you want them to know. Fox News likely pisses you off for the same reason CNN pisses off conservatives and thats because they shed light on aspects of issues the opposition would downplay. I know your reason for wanting only one voice..or many voices of the same thing but in the bigger picture (which is what political agendas seem to lose sight of) we are better off to not censor any viewpoint.

Any one of us has the right to obtain the equipment and license and go on the air to proclaim our views. What we cannot do is force the masses to listen which is the whole fly in the ointment for socialists. You can not force those who listen or watch conservative based programs to give the liberal view equal time in their lives...not without taking the former away..which is what is coming across as your agenda.

An agenda , I might add that is doing well. Look at public schools. Taxing people to pay for education they may not even agree with and then indoctrinating pupils with supposed "facts" some of which have more holes than Ted Kennedy's liver. Now, if only you could get TV and radio regulated, we'd just leave the whole idea of personal freedom and responsibility in history...which would also be written according to the agenda.

....but whether there is any meat at all? The Media is a glob of pork belly - no meat what so ever.

C-SPAN is the only entity to be able to claim impartiality. Everything else is simply degrees of sell-out to the structue of the medium - play for pay curves toward that which pays....something that logically is at opposites with impartiality.

Bout Time,

Have you read "Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them" by Al Franken?

It starts off with very much the same vein as your last post.

Al says asking if the media is biased is like asking if Al Qaeda uses too much oil in it Hummus.

He means that it misses the point that Al Qaeda is trying to kill Westerners.

Cheers

BHR