# HRC Fans: Still think the main stream media is unbiased? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 7, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464 "2008-05-07T19:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/1 "2008-05-07T19:13:59Z")
You may have noticed the joy today now that Obama is close to finishing her off. Here’s a [link](http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/04/salon-editor-most-press-members-hate-hillary-clinton) to comments from a Salon editor you may not have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/2 "2008-05-07T19:18:23Z")
But…Hillary is a Filthy Librul. They should be for her, not against her. This is all wrong??? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/3 "2008-05-07T19:18:30Z")
What exactly is the debate here? “Media bias” is a much bigger and broader issue than any particular election cycle. If there is a “liberal bias” in the media there is no reason to expect it to favor BHO over HRC; ideologically, they’re almost identical. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/4 "2008-05-07T19:22:16Z")
Well, [CNN’s wording](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/07/democrats.race/index.html) is sort of biased: > [@](#): > > (CNN) – Desperately trying to convince Democrats that she still has a chance of returning to the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton headed to West Virginia Wednesday to continue her presidential campaign. In interest of fairness they could have done without everything before the comma, really. Plus they have a photo of her where she looks like Norma Desmond on a shooting spree (“I was the greatest first lady slash really-the-president of them all and my federal gas tax breaks will have all America pumping! Pumping! Pumping! And if it weren’t me there wouldn’t even _be_ a United States of America— Bill and Newt wanted to trade everything west of the Rockies for Antarctica and Bangkok!”) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/5 "2008-05-07T19:24:22Z")
BTW, **What,** I notice your last couple of election-related threads appear to be directed against he current Dem frontrunner. We wouldn’t be playing [Operation Chaos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rush_Limbaugh_Show#Operation_Chaos) here, would we? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/6 "2008-05-07T19:33:36Z")
The fact that the media has spent the last 3 months piling onto Barack Obama for such stupid, non-scandals as flag pins, hippie neighbors and flamboyant pastors while simultaneously giving McCain a free ride and selling the false narrative that Hillary is somehow still in the race definitely mitigates against any suggestion that the media is unbiased. The media is still the same liberal-bashing, Republican enabling coporate tool it’s always been. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/7 "2008-05-07T19:37:43Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Plus they have a photo of her where she looks like Norma Desmond on a shooting spree (“I was the greatest first lady slash really-the-president of them all and my federal gas tax breaks will have all America pumping! Pumping! Pumping! And if it weren’t me there wouldn’t even _be_ a United States of America— Bill and Newt wanted to trade everything west of the Rockies for Antarctica and Bangkok!”) [/QUOTE] So, in nine years, can we expect the following exchange? Reporter: I know your face. You’re Hillary Clinton. You used to be in politics. You used to be big. Hillary Clinton: I am big. It’s politics that got small. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/8 "2008-05-07T19:40:34Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] … definitely mitigates against any suggestion that the media is unbiased. [/QUOTE] Er, that would be [militates](http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861630057/militate.html). > [@](#): > > militate or mitigate? > These two often-confused words have different, mutually exclusive meanings and they function in different ways. Mitigate needs a noun object and means “to lessen the impact or degree of seriousness of something undesirable”: A six-month suspended sentence unfairly mitigates the seriousness of a vehicular homicide.There were mitigating circumstances. > Militate does not take a noun object, but is followed by a preposition, often against, plus a noun. It means “to have an influence, especially a negative one, on something”: Trade sanctions militate [not mitigate] against international cooperation. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/9 "2008-05-07T19:46:11Z")
Well, if you want to be pendantic about it… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/10 "2008-05-07T19:51:23Z")
NewsBusters? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/11 "2008-05-07T19:53:43Z")
The more likely explanation is confirmation bias by the observer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/12 "2008-05-07T20:09:27Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] So, in nine years, can we expect the following exchange? Reporter: I know your face. You’re Hillary Clinton. You used to be in politics. You used to be big. Hillary Clinton: I am big. It’s politics that got small. [/QUOTE] I’m thinking more like 9 months. 😉 ETA: Not a pregnancy reference (though if she’d get pregnant [could happen with some surgical help or a surrogate] that might really help her campaign). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/13 "2008-05-07T23:06:27Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] I’m thinking more like 9 months. 😉 ETA: Not a pregnancy reference (though if she’d get pregnant [could happen with some surgical help or a surrogate] that might really help her campaign). [/QUOTE] Sure, until she gets all hormonal and stuff . . . ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/14 "2008-05-07T23:27:00Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Well, if you want to be pendantic about it… [/QUOTE] Er, that would be p **ed** antic. > [@](#): > > pedantic or pendantic? > These two often-confused words have different, mutually exclusive meanings. Pendantic means “with pendant-like qualities” or “someone shaped like a pendant”. > > Pedantic means “attracted to young children”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/15 "2008-05-07T23:31:21Z")
Pssh. Sure, all media is biased, but every week the papers are most interested in the most interesting story. They want to root for the winner and look pityingly upon the loser. What do you propose: they pick a favorite candidate and back them through good and bad? That’s what campaign members do, that’s what spouses do. I don’t expect it of newspapers. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/16 "2008-05-07T23:43:13Z")
[QUOTE=Little Plastic Ninja] Pssh. Sure, all media is biased, but every week the papers are most interested in the most interesting story. They want to root for the winner and look pityingly upon the loser. What do you propose: they pick a favorite candidate and back them through good and bad? That’s what campaign members do, that’s what spouses do. I don’t expect it of newspapers. [/QUOTE] Well, a old pol was heard to observe that “there’s nothing wrong with a little honest graft” and he was using it in the American sense of “crookedness”, not in the British sense of “hard work”. The same could be said of old time newspapers: “there’s nothing wrong with a little honest bias”. When the Tory newspaper spoke, you KNEW it was the Tory newspaper, no one was trying to fool you into thinking they were being fair to the Grits. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/17 "2008-05-08T06:12:22Z")
[QUOTE=Gozu] Er, that would be p **ed** antic. [/QUOTE] I know. That was the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/18 "2008-05-08T09:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] So, in nine years, can we expect the following exchange? Reporter: I know your face. You’re Hillary Clinton. You used to be in politics. You used to be big. Hillary Clinton: I am big. It’s politics that got small. [/QUOTE] This gave me an idea for a photo-editing project that’s now my MySpace [default photo](http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=73457970&albumID=0&imageID=26138152). (Feel free to copy if so inclined.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/19 "2008-05-08T11:52:07Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I know. That was the joke. [/QUOTE] Woosh. Did you read the definition for pedantic? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464/20 "2008-05-08T12:25:29Z")
Seeing that there was overwhelming media spin just a week ago about “why can’t Obama close the deal?”, the current spin about the near-hopelessness of Clinton’s continued campaign mainly demonstrates that overall, the news media have the attention span of six-week-old puppies. > [@Newsbusters writer](#): > > Wow. I’ve had my run-ins with Walsh before, but I must say I found her candor and impartiality this morning to be quite refreshing. Translation: Wow. She agrees with _my_ spin. One unexplored theme for that writer to tackle: McCain has gotten a pass on his refusal to disavow the Catholic-hating Rev. John Hagee in part because the news media have a fondness for McCain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hrc-fans-still-think-the-main-stream-media-is-unbiased/448464.md?page=2)