Ah, where were you in that thread? It could have saved the need to start this one…
Conservatives consider Fox news as their own or at least as a fair and balanced ( :rolleyes: )
Leftists don’t consider CNN or CBS or the other mainstream channels as their own news.
Both the left and the right agree outlets like Fox are a part of the conservative experience.
The right however denies even that the left does not see outlets like CNN or CBS as their media!
Fact is, even lurking at Democratic Underground, I see hundreds of efforts or complaints against the mainstream media actively ignoring many subjects that the left considers important. So sorry, the best you can say Bicker is that the mainstream media is centrist and right of center in many subjects.
…which, perhaps, demonstrates how far to the right Bricker is, that he considers the mainstream media to be “liberal.”
Hell, anyone who claims Bernie Goldberg as an authoratative source with a straight face immediately loses the “media bias” argument, IMO.
Why not browse through the voluminous evidence collected by the folks at MediaMatters.org? Keep in mind that these generally pertain to lies or distortions, not necessarily simple bias. However, the uniform direction of the lies and distortions implies the direction of bias. Here’s the beginning of the pages on Fox News Channel.
Nonsense - MediaMatters is obviously a liberal organization, complaining that Fox is not biased as far off center as they are.
Regards,
Shodan
Cite, please?
Media matters “about us” section:
http://mediamatters.org/etc/about.html
Bolded for emphasis:
I think that’s pretty clear.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I’ve had to watch a lot of Fox news in the past year or so, but frankly I’ve never noticed its famous conservative slant - at least not in its basic news coverage. What I have noticed is sort of a low-brow approach to the news that focuses on car chases, celebrity legal cases, the missing/dead girl of the moment, etc.
Thanks, much obliged.
Nowthen, Shodan, does the fact of their “progressive” bias mean what they say about FOXNews is a lie?
See what I mean?
Overall it is true, MediaMatters is indeed liberal, the point here is that there is a huge blind spot from the part of the critics of the “liberal media bias”: the left is actually at odds with mainstream media. It is high time that the believers of the “liberal media” canard accept this important fact and see the mainstream media for what really is. Notice that MM does have articles also critisizing CNN and the others.
And the Media Research Center, Accuracy In Media, and ChronWatch are conservative media watchdog organizations, but that hasn’t stopped folks from citing them in the past.
Or is this just yet another example of IOKIARDI?
This thread needs to be folded into the one that spawned it, compacted, deodorized and burned.
It’s been recycled too many times already.
I switch back and forth a lot between the 3 main cable news channels, and I can tell you with some confidence that the other 2 are just as bad, if not worse in that sense. I have often had to tune into FOX to get non-Michael Jackson converage or non-celebrity-trial-of the-month news coverage.
This is a bit dated (2003) but Fox News viewers were found to be the most misinformed news watchers of all media outlets.
Looking at the data in the study above those who get their news from PBS/NPR were roughly 4 times less likely to maintain misperceptions about the Iraq war than those who relied on Fox. CBS was second worst and pretty bad but Fox was still clearly ahead of even CBS in the misinformed viewer department. Those who read newspapers were the least misinformed (PBS/NPR next best).
I’ll let someone else defend FOX on that matter, but just note that that has nothing to do with what I was talking about-- there seems to be just as much sensationalism on CNN and MSNBC as there is on FOX. Just depends on when you happen to tune in.
Perhaps not in the basic news coverage although somehow viewers are coming away with misperceptions after watching Fox news (se my last post). Misperceptions that track well with what conservatives would like the public to think and not the other way around.
Fox news aside though you still get this unabashed conservatism apparent in their other programming. Ever watched Hannity & Colmes? Fox would have you believe this is a “fair and balanced” show with conservative Hannity counterpointed by liberal Colmes. Absolutely no one is fooled by this and it is a matter of many news articles both in and out of the US because it is so laughable to maintain it is “fair and balanced”.
Ever see the O’Reilly Factor? Personally I’d rather listen to Rush Limbaugh.
I am not arguing that a media company cannot decide for itself what programs to air but to veil themselves in the cloak of journalistic integrity that they are “fair and balanced” is disingenuous in the extreme. At least Rush Limbaugh makes no bones about who he is and what he is about and puts on no pretense that he is in any way trying to “be fair” in his show.
I have not seen a study on that but it is something I have no problem believing. Once one network figures a recipe to better ratings the rest follow like lemmings.
hmmmm…“Goldberg”, eh?.. ;j
I am reminded of the Doonesbury strip where Phil Slackmeyer tries to get a position with the Tobacco Institute, but fails the key test of keeping a straight face while saying “Cigarettes do not cause cancer”.
Fox doesn’t deal in lies so much as they deal in spin and “product placement”.
For instance, as the Iraq Debacle finished phase one, there was an ongoing game here at the Board. It occured whenever a report arrived claiming some discovery of the dreaded WMD, regardless of the flimsiness of the report or the potential bias of the source, Fox was right there trumpeting it to the skies. As* each* and every one of these was shown to be just so much Bushwah, Fox couldn’t be bothered to report that news, there was something vastly more urgent to report, such as another bogus report, etc. etc.
Now note well: there is no “lie” here. The reports did exist, they simply didn’t have any substance. Nor is Fox under any legal obligation to report the subsequent debunking if they choose to believe that such isn’t “news”. But they leave the unwary with the impression that the WMD’s had been found by the simple expedient of not saying otherwise. And that isn’t, strictly speaking, a “lie”. Depends on what the meaning of is is.
Now take “product placement” as a matter of personalities. We are all suckers for certain character symbolism, the gruff, plain talking, no nonsence truth teller for instance, the kind of character Wilford Brimley made a career out of. Bill O’Reilly’s abrasive personality doesn’t detract from his credibility, to some degree, that is his credibility! We are pre-programmed to think of liars as smooth talkers and complex thinkers, whereas the straight-ahead, no bullshit guy is gruff and direct.
Take Hannity and His Bitch, similar construct. Now whats-his-face might be a perfectly splendid fellow, but he looks like the poster child for effeminate, lilly-livered pencil neck liberal geek. (There’s some guy who fills in for Mark Sheilds on Lehrer some times who is the only guy I’ve ever seen who looks more the archtype. Olliphant?) Its a set up from the git-go, Hannity gets to present himself as forceful, direct and “honest”, he presents simplistic sound bites and before Colmes gets a chance to point out the complexity, he’s already jumped to the next sound bite, while Colmes rolls over on his back to have his tummy rubbed.
Can you imagine Hannity pulling that crap on Mark Shields in a “fair fight”? Shields would take his milk money, eat this lunch, and ask for his wife’s phone number!
But again, note: none of this is a lie! It is merely marketing. Fox knows who it wants to reach, and they’re only in it for the money. Have you seen American Dad? The views expressed therein would make friend Reeder look positively centrist. Fox News has staked out a market share, and that’s what they are about, they are devout acoltyes of the Mammonite Church. And if they American people swing away from the viewpoints they express, (…from my lips to the ears of Allah…) they will drop that point of view like a live grenade.
I watch Fox, on occassion. As I advance past late youth into early maturity, it is reassuring to know that I can still get mad enough to want to reach inside the TV and throttle someone like Sean Sheisskopf. Does that make me part of thier demographic? No, but it makes me part of thier audience!
Last but not least: corporate Pubbies will always have that advantage in media outlets and money. Get over it. Even in America, money is not the only card in the deck.
Venceremos! If the people lead, the leaders will follow.