:smack: Aauuggghhh! Make that “Throwing fastballs or hardballs is not the defining element of media bias.”
Yes, because we all know a reporter’s frowny face has far more impact on public perceptions than what kind of softball questions he asks. :rolleyes:
It results in the impression that virtually every media outlet (save Fox, of course) regards their liberal and/or Democrat guests as the good guys. But even more importantly (if you read my post previous to the one you answered) it results in an imbalance in the way that the news or other issues are portrayed. Issues the mainstream media favor get more and better air time and the opposition view is given short shrift. It still gets some ‘shrift,’ but only enough to allow for the claim that both sides are presented.
I used to think all of this was intentional. But after reading Goldberg’s book, I’m now of the belief that it’s pretty much unintentional and that the guilty parties are by and large either unaware they’re doing it, or to the degree they are at least somewhat aware of it, they justifiy it to themselves with the belief that they are on the side of what’s right and good, and therefore, so what?
I know that if I were the host of the Today Show or CBS Evening News I would have a very hard time treating John Kerry or Ted Kennedy in a way identical to President Bush or Dick Cheney.
The difference is, I’m aware of my bias, whereas they either aren’t or they’re unconcerned about it. Dan Rather himself said several years ago that he didn’t see why reporters had to be unbiased, anyway. He pointed out that everyone has biases and asked why it was thought to be so important for reporters to suppress theirs.
Well, the answer to that is credibility. When a reporter is perceived as having an agenda, the things he/she reports are viewed with skepticism at the very least, and as a deliberate attempt to sway opinion at the worst. (Well, not the absolute worst…Rather – and CBS itself – were perceived as deliberately trying to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election just weeks before it was to take place.)
But really, all of this is beside the point. The point is that this country’s mainstream media (i.e., virtually all but Fox on the national level) are biased toward the liberal/Democrat point of view and against the conservative/Republican point of view. That is the basis of our disagreement, and it is much more insidious and it carries much more weight than is suggested by your “frowny face” comment. True, a frowny face in and of itself isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s a very good indicator of the bias that underlies it, as is the ‘smilie face’ that greets the likes of Hillary, Kerry, et al.