Do You Believe The Media is Biased?

[ben9753]

In conservative circles a big talking point is the bias in the media towards liberals and liberal viewpoints. Especially in an election year where those on the right say every Republican misstep or even supposed misstep is talked about and dissected ad naseum, while Obama gets protected from his liberal friends in the media. Do you believe there is a bias in the media?

[John_Brian_K]

TV network exec, writers and reporters gave 88% to Obama in 2008 | Attack Machine

"Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.

By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744."

[rhino]

The bias is not conservative vs. liberal.

The bias is to disguise the facts in a divisive manner to keep our nation of democrats and republicans fighting, while satiating the masses with drivel, so the system can continue to be abused and manipulated unabated by any organized rebellion of potentially united citizenry.

[Gehringer_2]

In conservative circles a big talking point is the bias in the media towards liberals and liberal viewpoints. Especially in an election year where those on the right say every Republican misstep or even supposed misstep is talked about and dissected ad naseum, while Obama gets protected from his liberal friends in the media. Do you believe there is a bias in the media?

There is no question that journalism is a liberal art, and there is no question that a liberal arts disposition predisposes one to a world view closer to the current Democratic party than the current Republican party. Of course there are individual exceptions to the rule (Roger Ailes has to find those people somewhere!) and also class exemptions, such as the generally conservative bent of financial journalists.

But real issue is not 'bias' per se - it's honesty in journalism. I don't really care that much if I can tell how a reporter feels about a story, or even if he comments editorially about it to a degree. I can sort that our for myself. The question is whether he is reporting the facts without manipulation before giving me his spin. This is where today's media has gone off the deep end in my view. We are getting reportage on both sides that leaves the actual facts in the dust as an afterthought. A couple of examples being: on the left - the MSNBC reporting about the Michigan EM law. On the right almost anything about climate change.

[mtutiger]

There is no question that journalism is a liberal art, and there is no question that a liberal arts disposition predisposes one to a world view closer to the current Democratic party than the current Republican party. Of course there are individual exceptions to the rule (Roger Ailes has to find those people somewhere!) and also class exemptions, such as the generally conservative bent of financial journalists.

But real issue is not 'bias' per se - it's honesty in journalism. I don't really care that much if I can tell how a reporter feels about a story, or even if he comments editorially about it to a degree. I can sort that our for myself. The question is whether he is reporting the facts without manipulation before giving me his spin. This is where today's media has gone off the deep end in my view. We are getting reportage on both sides that leaves the actual facts in the dust as an afterthought. A couple of examples being: on the left - the MSNBC reporting about the Michigan EM law. On the right almost anything about climate change.

This is absolutely my read. I did not vote in the poll provided in large part because I reject the very premise that it is based on. Facts are not liberal or conservative things. Facts should be facts. And on both sides, there are plenty of people in the media world who play "loose and easy" with both.

[TheCouga]

The bias is not conservative vs. liberal.

The bias is to disguise the facts in a divisive manner to keep our nation of democrats and republicans fighting, while satiating the masses with drivel, so the system can continue to be abused and manipulated unabated by any organized rebellion of potentially united citizenry.

I probably agree with this more than anything else. During the Bush Administration, they were biased to the right. During Obama's tenure, I think they might be a little to the left. Of course, that could also be due to how crazy the Republicans have gotten lately.

I think they defer to the powers that be more than anything else. They'll filter out any information that is detrimental to the corporate-government partnership that runs this country. The LIBOR scandal was swept under the rug here in favor of a celebrity divorce.

[screwball]

The bias is not conservative vs. liberal.

The bias is to disguise the facts in a divisive manner to keep our nation of democrats and republicans fighting, while satiating the masses with drivel, so the system can continue to be abused and manipulated unabated by any organized rebellion of potentially united citizenry.

ding, ding, ding.

The media isn't worth watching, talking about, or debating; it should only be turned off.

ON EDIT: I didn't vote either.

[TheCouga]

At the same time, there's still a lot of conservative myths that the media simply refuses to look into and debunk. The notions that Social Security is broke, and that the national debt is due to increased spending rather than decreased revenues are still persistent in the public's minds, when both notions are largely untrue. The media is definitely biased in favor of making the national debt and government spending out to be a bigger issue than it actually is.

[shabba4detroit]

I think they defer to the powers that be more than anything else. They'll filter out any information that is detrimental to the corporate-government partnership that runs this country. The LIBOR scandal was swept under the rug here in favor of a celebrity divorce.

I think the LIBOR scandal was swept under the rug here in favor of something that could be grasped by the average American in a soundbite. Most people would have to be educated as to what LIBOR was and how it is supposed to work before they could even wrap their brains around this scandal and why it is scandalous.

[shabba4detroit]

At the same time, there's still a lot of conservative myths that the media simply refuses to look into and debunk. The notions that Social Security is broke, and that the national debt is due to increased spending rather than decreased revenues are still persistent in the public's minds, when both notions are largely untrue. The media is definitely biased in favor of making the national debt and government spending out to be a bigger issue than it actually is.

Social Security isn't broke. We have a lockbox.

[sinister porpoise]

I don't think the media is particularly liberal in their reporting, the idea has caught on within the conservative movement and within the group its accepted to blame the media when reality contradicts group belief. And then there is confirmation bias, where thousands and thousands of reports are made without any hint of liberal partisanship and then one mistake is made and this one piece of evidence is trumpeted as proof of partisanship influencing the news.

We had years of press coverage extending from Bill Clinton's indiscretions through Al Gore's campaign and the run-up to the War in Iraq where the press was anything but liberal.

Look at the companies that own mass media in America and their corporate interests. The best way to maintain profit is to defend the status quo without pissing off powerful interests. If you are a journalist inclined to buck this unwritten rule you don't rise up the chain or if you do rise you are removed upon revealing your true colors.

[screwball]

I have read bloggers and investors who have been on the main business channels (CNBC, Bloomy, Fox Business, and MSNBC (Ratigan who does cover markets some) and every one of them has said they were told what they could talk about, and what they couldn't.

They also said the producers would not allow them to get off topic or even begin to say what they don't want them to say. Topic mileage may vary.

[pyrotigers]

FOX has an extreme conservative bias, MSNBC has an extreme liberal bias, the other networks have a slight liberal (or perhaps just pro-government) bias.

As for newspapers I'd say most of them are moderately liberal with the exceptions being extremely conservative. The bigger issue is just that the media is not very good at it's job regardless of biases.

[apabruce]

The media asks politicians "what are you going to do about it?" This presupposes that something should be done about it by the government, which makes the question somewhat of a liberal bias.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I have read bloggers and investors who have been on the main business channels (CNBC, Bloomy, Fox Business, and MSNBC (Ratigan who does cover markets some) and every one of them has said they were told what they could talk about, and what they couldn't.

They also said the producers would not allow them to get off topic or even begin to say what they don't want them to say. Topic mileage may vary.

On the rare occasion when Marc Faber, Peter Schiff or Jim Rogers are on CNBC it is a site to see. The newscasters and commentators (Steve Liesman in particular) almost don't know how to handle the answers that come out of those guys.

[screwball]

On the rare occasion when Marc Faber, Peter Schiff or Jim Rogers are on CNBC it is a site to see. The newscasters and commentators (Steve Liesman in particular) almost don't know how to handle the answers that come out of those guys.

They even go as far as making fun of them. It's really awful IMHO, which is "part" of the reason I quit watching them long ago. A pathetic excuse for a business channel.

[chasfh]

I think the LIBOR scandal was swept under the rug here in favor of something that could be grasped by the average American in a soundbite. Most people would have to be educated as to what LIBOR was and how it is supposed to work before they could even wrap their brains around this scandal and why it is scandalous.

Absolutely correct. LIBOR is the biggest crime in the history of the world in size and scope, and it should dominate the news media like Watergate dominated forty years ago. But it wom't for two reasons I can thik of: (1) neither Republicans or Democrats want to go anywhere near this thing because they all get money from the banks behind the crime; and (2) corporate media do not want to do anything that jeopardizes their share of the tens of billions of dollars that banks spend in marketing.

[chasfh]

To frame the question as whether the media have a liberal or conservative bias is simplistic and naïve. The real bias is toward corporate interests.

By the way, it did not escape my notice that two of the choices are for liberal and only one is for conservative. Way to lead the witness, counselor.

[pyrotigers]

To frame the question as whether the media have a liberal or conservative bias is simplistic and naïve. The real bias is toward corporate interests.

By the way, it did not escape my notice that two of the choices are for liberal and only one is for conservative. Way to lead the witness, counselor.

But surely a corporate bias would mean the media was heavily biased towards those evil corporate loving folks like Mitt Romney. Why aren't they?

[chasfh]

But surely a corporate bias would mean the media was heavily biased towards those evil corporate loving folks like Mitt Romney. Why aren't they?

As I was saying ...