Media Bias

[Vuk]

Interesting vid, huh? So according to his test, what is you PQ?
Mine is 20.7.

[jirisys]

Like Texas?

I'll donate my trillions of monopoly dollars to support liberal bias.

Also, that is no university, it's a republican youth camp. A sham. A lie. Liberalism is the truth. Repent.

~Jirisys ()

[Montmorency]

Prager Uni? Oh dear...

[Beskar]

Not going to even bother with the rest of that quiz, at this rate, I am going to get PQ of 100.

But I know for sure the irony of a topic on media bias having the most bias media I have seen in a long time.

I would have expected examples on both sides of the fence, perhaps some probing at the underlining causes of media bias, but having a whole lecture where fox is not mentioned once and not even on the initial picture and an advert saying "buy my book on liberal bias" my brain began to hurt from amount of bull being displayed in front of it.

[Major Robert Dump]

Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

[CountArach]

This article pretty much sums up my thoughts on Media Bias:

This is always the problem with the charge of "media bias": for it to be valid, it would have to be the case that "not being biased" were a viable alternative option, and it isn't. No human can adopt a position of perfect neutrality: centrism is just as much a political position as is rightism or leftism, and splitting the difference – what Jay Rosen calls "he said, she said" journalism – is just as subjective a way of filtering reality as any other. (Rosen makes a strong argument that "he said, she said" is worse than the alternatives, but the important point here is just that it's no less subjective.)

[Vuk]

This article pretty much sums up my thoughts on Media Bias:

Of course you cannot be without balance, but we could have some kind of a balance amongst reporters and management (say, half center to left and half center to right), so that the overall effect will be a more balanced offering of news for viewers. It doesn't happen though. 93% of reporters are liberals. So many people rely completely on the media for their opinions and believe what they here, and as most of them are libs, it slants the nation's opinion enormously.

[Montmorency]

(say, half center to left and half center to right),

See, what does that even mean? You missed the point.

So many people rely completely on the media for their opinions and believe what they here, and as most of them are libs, it slants the nation's opinion enormously. .

Does it really?

A large proportion of the population doesn't heed the opinions of friends and family, they merely take NBC's output as gospel?

Well, thank goodness for the FOX network - just what a clear-thinking recluse needs to get the facts.

Anyway, I'd like to see a source for the quote that 93% of reporters are liberal. As far as I could tell, the claim was that 93% of the reporters in the DC area voted Obama in 08. Like the good professor's test, this is a risibly crude measure.

[CountArach]

Of course you cannot be without balance, but we could have some kind of a balance amongst reporters and management (say, half center to left and half center to right), so that the overall effect will be a more balanced offering of news for viewers. It doesn't happen though. 93% of reporters are liberals. So many people rely completely on the media for their opinions and believe what they here, and as most of them are libs, it slants the nation's opinion enormously.

For what you say to be true then the following must all be true:
1) 93% of journalists are 'liberals'
2) Many people rely on the media for opinions
Ergo...
3) Most people will be liberals.

You know that is not at all the reality of the American political landscape so please try not to just turn this into an opportunity to bash liberals. You have set this thread up to have a serious discussion about the nature of media bias... don't ruin that.

[Hooahguy]

I just read the BBC. Its easier.

[lars573]

Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

[PanzerJaeger]

Media bias towards liberal/Democratic positions among the mainstream, old media is a real thing in the United States, but this was a terrible way to broach the subject. As someone else said, starting a discussion on bias with an incredibly biased video was not a great introduction.

[Fragony]

I avoid all state and socallec quality media. All socalled quality newspapers are owned by the same parent-company, which in turn is owned by a very shady character with very close ties to the crown. Blogs never let me down.

[Sarmatian]

Media bias towards liberal/Democratic positions among the mainstream, old media is a real thing in the United States, but this was a terrible way to broach the subject. As someone else said, starting a discussion on bias with an incredibly biased video was not a great introduction.

Well said.

I liked how he quoted from that STORM book, choosing one paragraph out of context that seemed radical enough and completely ignored the previous paragraph which said that STORM isn't a Marxist-Leninist organization, but that they rather hold some M-L values dear. The paragraph after the one he quoted criticized lack of democracy in M-L revolutions.

I get that even those two other paragraphs are "too communist" for most Americans, but it's quite different to what he said.

[Centurion1]

I just read the BBC. Its easier.

BBC is pretty liberal as well. They handle foreign news well though.

[Hooahguy]

BBC is pretty liberal as well. They handle foreign news well though.

Exactly. I dont care about British politics so it can be liberal in that regard but I dont care.

[Beskar]

You kind of have to remember that out of all the nations that compose of the "West", America is pretty much the most conservative. Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, etc are all "Liberals" by American definition even when they have "Conservative" parties in power.

I was reading something a few years back and Fox claimed that 50% of Americans used their channel and resources as their primary news source. I cannot find this actual source, but I remember it was Bill O'Reilly saying it but another source from the Guardian supports this notion.

The most mainstream media source is conservative, in comparison to the larger numbers of "not-so-conservative" mainstream media, which in reality is not all liberal, it is simply not as right-wing as Fox. This one source is world renown for its right-wing conservative bias, quoting from the Guardian source:

Fox News threw out the old model of television news – pitched towards a mass audience across the political spectrum and aspiring to standards of fairness in reporting – and replaced it with an aggressive drive for a niche audience of rightwing voters.

Considering the last presidential election was 53% for Obama, you can make a fair assumption that the vast majority voting against him all watch Fox news.

So if you take another look at the PQ scale where apparently removing just the Liberal bias will make Americans jump to the right (because it will just contain conservative bias). If you removed all media bias, especially of that of the conservative bias partisan machine of Fox News, everyone will take a significant jump to the left becoming more in-line with other nations within the Anglosphere and in Europe, requiring a complete overhaul of the scale.

As the saying goes "Reality has a Liberal Bias" as America is so artificially conservative that everything simply looks "liberal" in comparison.

[Centurion1]

You kind of have to remember that out of all the nations that compose of the "West", America is pretty much the most conservative. Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, etc are all "Liberals" by American definition even when they have "Conservative" parties in power.

I was reading something a few years back and Fox claimed that 50% of Americans used their channel and resources as their primary news source. I cannot find this actual source, but I remember it was Bill O'Reilly saying it but another source from the Guardian supports this notion.

The most mainstream media source is conservative, in comparison to the larger numbers of "not-so-conservative" mainstream media, which in reality is not all liberal, it is simply not as right-wing as Fox. This one source is world renown for its right-wing conservative bias, quoting from the Guardian source:


Considering the last presidential election was 53% for Obama, you can make a fair assumption that the vast majority voting against him all watch Fox news.

So if you take another look at the PQ scale where apparently removing just the Liberal bias will make Americans jump to the right (because it will just contain conservative bias). If you removed all media bias, especially of that of the conservative bias partisan machine of Fox News, everyone will take a significant jump to the left becoming more in-line with other nations within the Anglosphere and in Europe, requiring a complete overhaul of the scale.

As the saying goes "Reality has a Liberal Bias" as America is so artificially conservative that everything simply looks "liberal" in comparison.

Fox News serves the unique position of providing the only mainstream conservative news. Obviously most conservatives watch fox. 50% of the nation roughly is conservative so obviously it will have the largest viewership. Conservatives don't want to watch msnbc and see their positions be trashed.

Basically Rupert Murdoch made one of the wisest media decisions in the history of mass media.

[Furunculus]

I just read the BBC. Its easier.

lol:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...eral-bias.html

[Beskar]

Fox News serves the unique position of providing the only mainstream conservative news.

The point is funnily enough, not reality.

I will give an example, I will translate political compass 2012 into the "Left-Right" scale.


Everyone who supports Barrack Obama is not left-wing liberal socialist pinko commie, though he is the only actual real alternative to the republican/foxnews lead conservative dominance, which weakens the democrats significance as the "Party-of-not-them" as the Demoncrats cannot ideologically please all their posters due to the broad spectrum they come from. Then you got the amusing notion from many posters that Romney is a "moderate candidate that can please voters" as some notion he is a centralist.

Plus if you look at the scale, you have the person from Prauger in the OP placing the average American inbetween Obama and Romney as the "centre point", which shows real naivety when it comes to real positions and politics.

[Centurion1]

The point is funnily enough, not reality.

I will give an example, I will translate political compass 2012 into the "Left-Right" scale.


Everyone who supports Barrack Obama is not left-wing liberal socialist pinko commie, though he is the only actual real alternative to the republican/foxnews lead conservative dominance, which weakens the democrats significance as the "Party-of-not-them" as the Demoncrats cannot ideologically please all their posters due to the broad spectrum they come from.

Plus if you look at the scale, you have the person from Prauger in the OP placing the average American inbetween Obama and Romney as the "centre point", which shows real naivety when it comes to real positions and politics.

Funnily enough I don't care about the rest of the worlds conceptions of left/right. I care about the US' conceptions of left/right.

[Vuk]

Fox News should have been closed down in shame years ago. That anyone can still watch it with a straight face boggles the mind.

Yes, the US Government should definitely get in the habit of closing down news sources that it doesn't agree with. Great for freedom of speech and all that.

[Montmorency]

Yes, the US Government should definitely get in the habit of closing down news sources that it doesn't agree with. Great for freedom of speech and all that.

Why would you think he meant by the state?

[Hax]

The gubment is conspiring with the mooslims and leftists and Joows against us all, of course. Ain't it obvious?

[Vuk]

Why would you think he meant by the state?

Because individuals cannot legally shut down a business. They can boycott it and help make it go bankrupt, but only the government or an illegal mob can shut it down. Maybe you think he meant that?

[Vuk]

The gubment is conspiring with the mooslims and leftists and Joows against us all, of course. Ain't it obvious?

Hax man, get a life. When you resort to cheap leftist tactics of insinuating racism because you are mad at someone, it makes you look really desperate.

[Hax]

I think you're taking me way too seriously here. Like I care what's going on what's going on halfway across the globe, right?

[Montmorency]

Because individuals cannot legally shut down a business. They can boycott it and help make it go bankrupt, but only the government or an illegal mob can shut it down. Maybe you think he meant that?

What? If I start up a business, I can't subsequently close it down? This ain't France*.

*Or whichever mainland European state(s) it is difficult to do so in

[Strike For The South]

I feel like the media is conservative

Sure, 93% may be liberal by the narrow metric that the study used but in the same vein, they are part of the same power structure they represent. Personally they may have some sympathy to a few baby boomer liberal causes but that kind of liberalism is dated and harmful at this point. Causes or viewpoints that don't fit the narrow metric are demonized and given little time to be explained. Mind this isn't some sort of rant against, say, the Koch brothers. It is only natural that monied interests would take an active role in deceminating information, as they have a rather large stake in the presentation and outcome

So it's not who is presenting the information that bothers me, most bias can be sifted through with a keen eye

My real issue is how things are presented in a vacuum, as if this event is wholly independent of those that preceded it. This is intertwined with the whole news as entertainment thing, which is another topic in and of itself

[Hooahguy]

I really wish there was a news source that had very little bias to either side of the spectrum, and reported the news and that was it.