Why do people on the left think the media is Conservative, and those on the right believe it is libe

Ive noticed lately that at a political debate at school that the democrat side believe that the media is controlled by the right, and the republicans believe it is controlled by the left? This confuses me, because something like this could be so cut and dry, so why the extreme difference of opinion. Is it just partisan bickering, or something else?

Not sure about any left or right leanings, but USA media at large is very clearly pro-government. Controlled by the government it seems.

In the major media, there was simply no questioning the government on the lead up to the Iraq invasion. Nothing. The New York Times even got the ball rolling by publishing front page scoops from Ahmed Chalabi. This is only the most recent example.

[edit on 22-11-2005 by heelstone]

I think the media is more biased towards what will get more people watching them. After 9-11 everyone was pretty mad, so it paid the bills (and then some) if you made yourself out to be ready to kick ass. Now people have gotten bored with the GWOT and it pays for the media to try and find anything at all that might make the governement look bad.

Why?

Because the public, in general, doesn't want the facts; they want their personal viewpoints reinforced.

When it's not, it's just to easy and "obvious" to blame partisan bias.


[edit on 11/22/05 by redmage]

Well the media is both liberal and conservative. Ever thought of that possiblility?
The government is the same way both liberal and conservative.
They use which ever method best gets across what they want you to think at that time. Or whatever group at that time they want to influence.

They like you to think everything is just black and white, makes it easier for them to label groups of people, which makes it easier to control you.

Groups of people all thinking along the same patterns (supplied to you BTW) are easier to control than true free thinking unbiased people.

You label yourself liberal, so then all of a sudden ANYTHING coming from a conservative angle is automatical looked at scepticaly.
They're Just control methods to keep us from getting to the real truth.

People label me liberal, but I can also be conservative, no? But of course that just confuses people and the normal reaction is to label you a "flip-flop" or hypocritical or just ignore you as a "nut bar".

Labels, the most basic way to control free thought. Give you a label and you will conform to that label. People just don't realise how much their thought patterns are handed to them, and then think they are their own.
See that all the time on ATS...

Agreed, there is an extreme polarization occurring with rhetoric flying around like "You're either with us or against us" and "it's unamerican to criticize the actions of the government" (when in fact exercising your rights is the most american thing you can do) and this is leading us to unrest and the true means of control.....fear.

It doesn't matter if you watch FOX or CNN, the basic message is around an 80%-90% content of things you should be afraid of.

By separating and polarizing the nation into two definable groups, you can use mediums to attract each, to one that simultaniously reinforces your world view (what "we" want) and tailors to "play" on your specific group's fears (what "they" want / what makes us easier to "control").

It's as if politicians and the media are playing the clasic game of divide and conquer on our own population.

A self serving circle of polarization, creates unrest, creates fear, creates reactions which create more polarization.

People tend to be more gullible and trusting when they are to afraid to think for themselves.


[edit on 11/23/05 by redmage]

To Answer Ludachris I think ANOK pretty much summed it up. We all see Media through our own eyes. For me the media is quite conservative but my worldview is different than others.

I do feel though the greatest trick Conservatives ever pulled was convincing America it had a left wing media. If want a good perspective of our media check out British, Australian or Canadian News (because it is in English) and compare that to American Media. You will learn so much about what is going on in America. In terms of news I've learned more about America living abroad than I ever knew possible being in the States. give it a Try.

Thanks everyone, well I guess Ill throw in my 2 cents. I do agree that the media can be both liberal and conservative. But where my difference of opinion lies, is how it is diversified. We all know people say fox news is conservative, and CNN is the clinton news network, yada yada. But I have noticed both sides reported from both. To me, as someone pointed out earlier, the times dictate the reporting. In my opinion that has to stop. If the news outlets are only reporting what we want to hear, then are we really getting the news as it should be, unbiased?

According to surveys taken of itself, the media in general tends to be more liberal than conservative. They said themselves they tended to have about 7 liberals for every 3 conservatives. In the article I read, they recognized their own biases and were trying to do something about them. That report would be about 18 months old now, so I have no idea how accurately it might portray today's media.

For whatever it's worth, here are some links to reasonably current articles of this subject. If you look, I'll bet you can find several hundred more.

www.slate.com...
www.mediaresearch.org...
www.mediaresearch.org...
usconservatives.about.com...

[edit on 23-11-2005 by Astronomer68]

IMO it's more like they report what they want us to hear.

The media is really just a control mechanism. There are what, like 3 sources that all the national news comes from? When you whatch FOX their "news" is coming from the same place as CNN?

Like someone pointed out listen to an English speaking news channel out side of the U.S. and you hear a significant difference in the reporting.

Reporters we see on Fox etc. are not really reporters at all. They know no more about what they are reading than we do. You can tell the way they read the tele prompter (sp) that they really have no prior knowledge of what they are reading. There are very few real investigative reporters anymore...

And it has been proved that the gov has created their own "news" stories and supplied them to the "news" outlets.

It's all about control and manipulation. The ruling elites are more paranoid than we are, and they have to keep tight control on us peasants to feel safe.
Remember there is a whole lot more of us than them, and if the population was to wake up and realise how they're nothing but slaves working away to maintain the ruling elites privilaged lifes then they would lose everything.

When you are poor you deal with it but want a better life, when you are rich you are paranoid about being poor and will do anything to avoid it.

[edit on 23/11/2005 by ANOK]

I think that this is why: Say its a day when accusations are flying about a member of our wonderful government. This is what happens:

1) Fox news focuses on that day looking for missing persons, looting, robbers, anything but mention bad things happen in Washington- therefore, by omission, they help the government keep things quiet.

2) CNN, MSNBC, actually have the gall to report what really IS going on in Washington. This makes them the Liberal enemy.

I think it boils down to whoever is doing the real reporting must be liberal.
Those who do not report (aiding the agenda) are conservatives.

It used to be hideously left, Chris, but it has pulled to the right since Fox woke them up.

Oh, don't worry, they all tailor the "information" as best as they can, and it doesn't make any difference if it is Fox or CNN.

The truth is it's neither, it's for the rich and powerful, and it's just a way to control people by using the partisian and "liberal"/"conservative" BS card. So yeah, it's stupid to argue, otherwise that owner of the "The NY TIMEs" wouldn't have that eerie quote at that Newspaper convention a long time ago. Who's pulling the strings? is the question. All I can tell you is it isn't BSB, man. BTW, if you can find that quote please post it or U2U me. Thanks.

YAY! You remebered the NSA and all that crap they did in WW2 and the "Great Depression". I hate those ppl, I guess b/c I know better than some of the ppl I know.

I applauded this, simple but says it all. A lot of people don't want news, they want justification.

Well said.



[edit on 23-11-2005 by intrepid]

Well, there really isn't any such thing as "the media" when you think about it. There are people working in some form of journalism and each of them that plays some part makes some judgements that cannot help but be colored by their opinions. And then, there is the audience - that's us. Each of us will perceive the reports as being either agreeing with our opinions or not.

In reality, "the media", "the government", and "the corporations" don't actually exist in the context that most people use to discuss "their agenda" or judge them to be good/evil, liberal/conservative, greedy/generous, honest/deceitful, etc. - they are all collections of individuals and each of those individuals has their own agenda and are, like each of us, boundedly rational.

when something is room temp, a person who comes from inside out of a cold rain thinks the item is warm. When someone comes out of a hot shower and touches the same object, it feels cold.

The media wants to please as many ppl as possible (more ppl = more $). So they try to stay in the middle, and thereby have both sides thinking the object is more similar to the other side.

---Pineapple

One of our local broadcasters wrote an article very similar to this very topic. Half the mail he gets accuses him of being too 'liberal' the other half accuses him of being too 'conservative'.

I think people just notice the things they don't agree with.

The media (I am specifically talking about “American TV News”) focuses on what it believes its’ audience cares about. Focus groups, polls, and of course, the all-powerful RATINGS.

If people didn’t watch Sean Hannity, he wouldn’t be on TV. Ditto for Lou Dobbs.

When was the last time you saw a news report about a kidnapping that involved an African-American woman rather than a pretty white co-ed?

I mean honestly, who gives a crap about a missing girl in Aruba? Not me. There are far more important things going on. I hope she is alive but either way it affects nothing in my life.

Terry Schiavo? What the HECK was all that about? Someone told a programmer that this was gonna be HOT. Or someone said “ABC is covering this, we gotta do it better!”.

Scott Peterson? Wha? Betcha there is a hundred men around the world killing their wives right now. As terrible a crime as it was, it was strictly rubber-necker fare. “Wow-how-terrible-glad-it’s-not-me” Syndrome.

A rich white lawyer’s wife is slain in her house? Um, yeah, it’s bad, but is that really NEWS? How does it affect MY world and if it doesn’t WHY is there a special report on it for 15 minutes?

The media are attention whores. The more viewers, the more advertising dollars.

The US media seems to think the average age of its’ viewers is about 16, and that they are slow-learners. Watch the BBC and see how real news is not spoonfed. Opinions are given AS opinions, not as fact.

All hail the ThreadKiller!