Musicmystery -> RE: Take the Fox Balance/Bias Challenge! (11/1/2009 12:24:02 PM)
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~FR~ OK. I can see this is going to go downhill fast. Here's what I'm seeing/suspecting about the Run-of-the-Mill-Liberal-Bias-Proclaimer: *People unhappy that news coverage didn't reflect their agendas denounced "liberal bias" in the media. *It suited the Bias-Proclaimer-Posters' purposes, so they just accepted this as true. *Once objections were raised, Proclaimers were told that studies proved this. Without questioning which sources were examined or how bias was determined, the conclusions were accepted as established fact. *Bias-Proclaimers are making no distinction between Internet feed and actual news organizations. *A great deal of the "news" debate is actually about columnists, commentators, talk show hosts and opinion shows, none of which are actual news, and all of which are fair game for biased views, by definition. *Programmed to this mindset, Bias-Proclaimers view all incoming news through this distorted lens. *Despite dismissing them out of hand, most Bias-Proclaimers seem to have no familiarity with either the NY Times or NPR. *Asked to provide balanced reporting against biased reporting examples in the Times/NPR, Bias-Proclaimers are unable to do so. I had thought there'd be a barrage of finger-pointing at links, not a total washout. Nor is this any fishing expedition. Such thorough and blatant bias should be readily apparent. Even a quick glance at Fox's site shows it's a mouthpiece for Republican news, with a Conservative talk show host's uninvestigated opinion as one of the top "news" stories. A quick glance at the NY Times or NPR sites shows an array of world and national news, the emphasis on national events, with perhaps greater than average coverage of the arts. [To be fair, a quick glance at CNN's site shows a confused mess of fluff.] So here we are. No evidence. Complete inability to put story against story to illustrate the bias. Nor am I condemning anyone--just pointing out the unsupported blind spot. I turn to the NY Times and NPR because they provide generally reliable and broad-based coverage--as the evidence (reading/listening) shows. Now, if someone says "I want my news slanted right, so I get the talking points from Fox," well, fine. That's at least honest, even while admitting its deliberately slanted takes on the "news." But to dismiss Times/NPR stories as inherent "liberal bias" is unsupported--and untrue.
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