Potential for Bias on Sunday Political Shows

[BrainGlutton]

@What_the

Politics… Sunday Morning Political Shows… Democrats/Republicans …get it?

Where does it belong The Pit?

Same reason this does?

[Marley23]

@What_the

The show picked the “commercials” as lead-ins to the segment… they weren’t run as commercials as such.

One was a feel good spot… the other was just a tad nasty although 100% true. Something a bully would run.

If they were covering the newest ads by each campaign or the messages of each campaign as reflected by their latest ads, they did the right thing.

[BrainGlutton]

@waterj2

Interestingly, one way to make yourself suddenly less popular with the Sunday shows is to be pushing a book claiming that no, both parties aren’t actually equally to blame, and the media’s insistence that they are is part of the problem. As Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann seem to be finding out.

@BrainGlutton

Most telling:

Ornstein also noted another interesting point. Their thesis takes on the media for falling into a false equivalence mindset and maintaining the pretense that both sides are equally to blame. Yet despite the frequent self-obsession of the media, even that angle has failed to generate any interest. What’s more, some reporters have privately indicated their frustration with their editorial overlords’ apparent deafness to this idea.

“The piece focused on press culpability — it would be hard to find a more sensitive issue for the media than the question of whether they’re doing their job,” Ornstein said. “We got tons of emails from some of the biggest reporters in the business, saying, `We’ve raised this in the newsroom, and editors just brush it aside.’”

Here’s your answer, What. The bias comes from the editors. But it ain’t LW bias, it’s “Fair and Balanced” bias. :rolleyes:

@What_the

That would apply to the campaign commercials they pick but not to the way hosts ask questions and the way they follow up… or not.

Apparently it does apply to that, and more than that, to who does or does not get on the show in the first place, and what stories/topics are or not covered at all. And the bias there is real, but it ain’t liberal.

[Gyrate]

But there’s something…you’re not considering…BrainGlutton…

[BrainGlutton]

Kudos to What for bringing all this pervasive RW-for-all-practical-purposes media bias to our attention! It is a real problem and needs to be addressed!

[kaylasdad99]

@Marley23

From where I sit, it’s not a Great Debate and it’s not an IMHO topic. It doesn’t fit perfectly into this forum either, but it may as well stay here as far as I’m concerned. It does relate to “political news, and politicians and public figures.”

Meh. Point taken, although I’m not particularly invested in the question of where it “belongs.” As far as I’m concerned, it mostly relates to the entertainment industry.

[kaylasdad99]

@Captain_Amazing

Who are the hosts for each?

Meet the Press is hosted by David Gregory, Face the Nation is hosted by Bob Schieffer, This Week is hosted by George Stephonopolis, Fox News Sunday is hosted by Chris Wallace, State of the Union with Candy Crowley is hosted by Candy Crowley, GPS with Fareed Zakaria is hosted by Fareed Zakaria, Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz is hosted by Howard Kurtz, and the Chris Matthews Show is hosted by Chris Matthews.

@What_the

Thanks…anybody see a pattern there?

@DoctorJ

Yes. Except for Crowley and Zakaria, they’re all older white guys.

@Kyomara

I don’t think anyone does, but you seem to. Do tell.

@BrainGlutton

Stare at it long enough and you will see the sailboat!

Well, an awful lot of those shows have the host’s name right there in the title.

Is that it? Do I win something?

[BrainGlutton]

@kaylasdad99

Well, an awful lot of those shows have the host’s name right there in the title.

Is that it? Do I win something?

Yes! You win a bag of names!

OK, OK. You win a generous tab of the Straight Dope’s Finest LSD. Wait 1 minute 45 seconds for download and lick the exact center of your monitor. Enjoy!

[elucidator]

As his username should make clear, he is currently entombed in parental responsibility. It is cruel to offer an invitation to strange travel to a man under house arrest.

[BrainGlutton]

@elucidator

As his username should make clear, he is currently entombed in parental responsibility. It is cruel to offer an invitation to strange travel to a man under house arrest.

Shut up, I’m trying to entertain his kids! Please Think Of The Children!

[Measure_for_Measure]

How often does a union leader appear on Meet the Press et al? Rarely. A representative of big business? Aw heck, I mentioned two above.

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@What_the

The show picked the “commercials” as lead-ins to the segment… they weren’t run as commercials as such.

One was a feel good spot… the other was just a tad nasty although 100% true. Something a bully would run.

You know, if the Romney campaign did not want a commercial run that showed their candidate as a bully… then maybe they should not have MADE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

“Boo hoo. The nasty network ran an ad that WE MADE that shows our candidate in an unfavorable light.”

As Marley23 pointed out, in order to show that the TV show was trying to bias the viewers, you need to prove that these ads were specially chosen, and that the show was not simply covering the newest ads by each campaign or the messages of each campaign as reflected by their latest ads.

If Romney’s campaign messaging is overwhelmingly negative, you don’t get to cry “bias!” when the media shows a negative ad of his.

[gamerunknown]

@Measure for Measure

How often does a union leader appear on Meet the Press et al?

@What the .... ?!?!

Why would the Green Party warrant inclusion?

Remember, the political spectrum in the US ranges from the right to the far right. It’s only bias if they have more representatives from the right than the far right on a show at any given time.

Edit: The left is simply irrelevant, so it’s not bias to not include their opinions. Keeping the far right out of the public view by restricting them to their own television channels or misrepresenting their opinions is evidence of systemic collusion and probably conspiracy though.

[BrainGlutton]

@gamerunknown

Remember, the political spectrum in the US ranges from the right to the far right.

Not really, but it is in the interest of the right to perpetuate that illusion.

[BrainGlutton]

Watching Fox News makes you stupider. (Actual study.)