Media Bias

Archy1221 said:
I wish Journos would get away from the reliance on anonymous sources.  Too often the story turns out wrong or only half right.  I just default to not believing anything anonymously sources now until someone is on the record.  
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Yes I think anonymous sources need to somewhat be taken with a grain of salt. Anybody not willing to tie their name and face to something may or may not have an agenda, and all we can do as readers is trust that the journalist/editors who wrote the story have good reason to publish the information.

I generally prefer written media, but one thing I like about TV media is the general lack of anonymity. When I worked in local TV, anonymous sources... weren't a thing. I don't think I ever published or reported on a story that had an anonymous source and I'm struggling to think if we ever did. If we did, it was uncommonly rare because you can't visualize anonymous information very easily or effectively in a local news format. We hid the identity of crime victims sometimes but that was different because they had their names on police reports which made them legally liable for what they said.

 
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Enhance said:
(This isn't directed at you Red, just using it as a jumping point).

SOAPBOX RANT INCOMING.

I hear this a lot, but I think if people actually mean it and care about it, they have to start taking action and making better choices. Otherwise, we're just going to continue to deal with the same issues and complaints.

One of the best ways people can do this is by purchasing a digital subscription to their local newspaper/online news site. I hate to say it, but the days of advertising subsidizing local news have faded. Local communities are going to have to pay for reliable, local news if they want to keep it alive and sustainable. And it's really not that expensive to do so.

Yes, local news is imperfect. But at least these people are in your community. They care about it. Most of the national news published locally is nuts and bolts versions which suffices in a lot of cases.

Without this support, local news/investigative journalism will continue down the path its on, only to be replaced by more sensationalism and talking heads that care more about your clicks than you as a person.

:rant
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I don't necessarily disagree. I do think this approach would help but it isn't the only answer, if there even is an answer at this point.

My examples.

The area where I live leans very conservative republican. I used to subscribe to the local newspaper but that didn't really make them any more objective. Most stories had that lean built into them, I suppose simply because they knew who their subscribers were. I can only guess similar things occur in most all markets. I mean I doubt if the dem liberal view of things is going to be represented well in most local Nebraska markets.

Anyway, I guess my point is, I'm not convinced subscribing locally solves the problem. However, I do think it would help to some extent. Unfortunately I think it would take a miracle to fully return journalism to nothing more than unbiased facts. I fear too many people prefer being misled and lied to as long as it supports their preconceived notions. All evidence indicates that is where we are.

Enhance said:
(This isn't directed at you Red, just using it as a jumping point).

SOAPBOX RANT INCOMING.

I hear this a lot, but I think if people actually mean it and care about it, they have to start taking action and making better choices. Otherwise, we're just going to continue to deal with the same issues and complaints.

One of the best ways people can do this is by purchasing a digital subscription to their local newspaper/online news site. I hate to say it, but the days of advertising subsidizing local news have faded. Local communities are going to have to pay for reliable, local news if they want to keep it alive and sustainable. And it's really not that expensive to do so.

Yes, local news is imperfect. But at least these people are in your community. They care about it. Most of the national news published locally is nuts and bolts versions which suffices in a lot of cases.

Without this support, local news/investigative journalism will continue down the path its on, only to be replaced by more sensationalism and talking heads that care more about your clicks than you as a person.

:rant
Click to expand...


I don't necessarily disagree. I do think this approach would help but it isn't the only answer, if there even is an answer at this point.

My examples.

The area where I live leans very conservative republican. I used to subscribe to the local newspaper but that didn't really make them any more objective. Most stories had that lean built into them, I suppose simply because they knew who their subscribers were. I can only guess similar things occur in most all markets. I mean I doubt if the dem liberal view of things is going to be represented well in most local Nebraska markets.

Anyway, I guess my point is, I'm not convinced subscribing locally solves the problem. However, I do think it would help to some extent. Unfortunately I think it would take a miracle to fully return journalism to nothing more than unbiased facts. I fear too many people prefer being misled and lied to as long as it supports their preconceived notions. All evidence indicates that is where we are.

 
Enhance said:
(This isn't directed at you Red, just using it as a jumping point).

SOAPBOX RANT INCOMING.

I hear this a lot, but I think if people actually mean it and care about it, they have to start taking action and making better choices. Otherwise, we're just going to continue to deal with the same issues and complaints.

One of the best ways people can do this is by purchasing a digital subscription to their local newspaper/online news site. I hate to say it, but the days of advertising subsidizing local news have faded. Local communities are going to have to pay for reliable, local news if they want to keep it alive and sustainable. And it's really not that expensive to do so.

Yes, local news is imperfect. But at least these people are in your community. They care about it. Most of the national news published locally is nuts and bolts versions which suffices in a lot of cases.

Without this support, local news/investigative journalism will continue down the path its on, only to be replaced by more sensationalism and talking heads that care more about your clicks than you as a person.

:rant
Click to expand...


I don't necessarily disagree. I do think this approach would help but it isn't the only answer, if there even is an answer at this point.

My examples.

The area where I live leans very conservative republican. I used to subscribe to the local newspaper but that didn't really make them any more objective. Most stories had that lean built into them, I suppose simply because they knew who their subscribers were. I can only guess similar things occur in most all markets. I mean I doubt if the dem liberal view of things is going to be represented well in most local Nebraska markets.

Anyway, I guess my point is, I'm not convinced subscribing locally solves the problem. However, I do think it would help to some extent. Unfortunately I think it would take a miracle to fully return journalism to nothing more than unbiased facts. I fear too many people prefer being misled and lied to as long as it supports their preconceived notions. All evidence indicates that is where we are.

 
JJ Husker said:
Unfortunately I think it would take a miracle to fully return journalism to nothing more than unbiased facts. I fear too many people prefer being misled and lied to as long as it supports their preconceived notions. All evidence indicates that is where we are.
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:thumbs

Media and Journalists know who their customers/viewers/listeners are and they pander to that and slant stories and facts, emphasize or de-emphasize stories and facts, narrate based on what will keep the customer consuming their brand of news.  It just so happens that the majority of media is Left based solely majority of news is brought to you with a slant and narration to move a Left thinking agenda based on the news.  
 

I think you are spot on, the days of the consumer deciding on how to interpret the facts of the story instead of being told how to interpret them are over 

 
Archy1221 said:
:thumbs

Media and Journalists know who their customers/viewers/listeners are and they pander to that and slant stories and facts, emphasize or de-emphasize stories and facts, narrate based on what will keep the customer consuming their brand of news.  It just so happens that the majority of media is Left based solely majority of news is brought to you with a slant and narration to move a Left thinking agenda based on the news.  
 

I think you are spot on, the days of the consumer deciding on how to interpret the facts of the story instead of being told how to interpret them are over 
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I agree that most media is slanted one way or the other. I disagree that the majority is clearly to the left. Possibly by the sheer number of leanings but I would say the most damage and most overt cases are obviously being done by right leaning media.

It's a strange phenomenon but right leaning people seem to bemoan the liberal media at any opportunity yet those same people fail to properly vet their own news sources and mistake anything they don't like as being propagated by the left leaning media. The result is a bunch of people improperly label actual facts as liberal propaganda. Example; the election was stolen, Trump has been mistreated, etc.

 
JJ Husker said:
I agree that most media is slanted one way or the other. I disagree that the majority is clearly to the left. Possibly by the sheer number of leanings but I would say the most damage and most overt cases are obviously being done by right leaning media.

It's a strange phenomenon but right leaning people seem to bemoan the liberal media at any opportunity yet those same people fail to properly vet their own news sources and mistake anything they don't like as being propagated by the left leaning media. The result is a bunch of people improperly label actual facts as liberal propaganda. Example; the election was stolen, Trump has been mistreated, etc.
Click to expand...


JJ Husker said:
The result is a bunch of people improperly label actual facts as liberal propaganda. Example; the election was stolen, Trump has been mistreated, etc.
Click to expand...
I don’t necessarily see this as much as I do media getting actual facts incorrect because they want to be first to publish, first to report.   The Trump/Russia stories from 2017-2019 are a prime example of this.  How many “Bombshell stories did CNN and MSNBC run with that turned out to be not true?  Look at how many Russia retractions had to take place.

There were an amazing number of “if true” stories giving weeks of life that ended up not being true.  Those stories set a narrative though that allowed them to move onto the next “if true” story, “walls are closing in” story “bombshell” story

 right leaning media does this also, however, I do believe it happens more in the right leaning opinion media and not as much right leaning news media.  In my view that’s not the case on the left media.  It’s the news media and opinion media that has this problem. In my view 

 
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