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March 24, 2008
Elections and the Media
During the course of discussion on the Democratic Primary, the issue of the media and their involvement in elections came up. I think this is a fascinating topic, but one that deserves its own space. So, here we go....
Although I, like others, believe it is the responsibility of the individual to determine what is true and what isn’t when viewing or listening to various media outlets. However, I also think the media does its viewers a disservice by slanting their reporting to favor their view. When I refer to the “media” here, I’m referring to programs such as NBC Nightly News, Fox News, etc. I am not referring to opinion-based programming such as Hannity and Colmes on television, or Phil Valentine on the radio.
Most of us are so busy that we have a limited amount of time, and resources, to independently verify the facts in all news we receive. Therefore, I feel that the media has a responsibility to report the news, not comment on it, or report it in a manner that favors their individual or collective viewpoints. Unfortunately, this is not a common occurrence in the media. This is not a view I hold by myself.
During a radio interview with ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin, Hugh Hewitt stated, “And so everyone that you work with, or 95 percent of people you work with, are old liberals."
Mr. Halperin’s response: "I don’t know if it’s 95 percent, and unfortunately, they’re not all old. There are a lot of young liberals here, too. But it certainly, there are enough in the old media, not just in ABC, but in old media generally, that it tilts the coverage quite frequently, in many issues, in a liberal direction, which is completely improper. It’s an endemic problem. And again, it’s the reason why for 40 years, conservatives have rightly felt that we did not give them a fair shake."
— Exchange on The Hugh Hewitt Show, October 30, 2006. taken from http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasbasics/biasbasics2.asp
There are a number of other examples I could cite, including the book by Bernard Goldberg, “Bias.”
With this in mind, can we honestly blame people when they develop viewpoints that may or may not have any basis in fact? Today, we have been bombarded with the fact that the 4000th soldier was killed in action in Iraq. Yet how many positive stories have we seen since the surge began making considerable progress over there? Front-page news now rarely shows anything on Iraq unless it’s negative. Now the main news is how the economy is tanking. Again, how many front-page stories did we see when the economy was roaring on all cylinders?
Enough of my blabbering. What do you think about the media and politics? Are individuals solely to blame for not getting all the facts, or should we be able to rely on the media to get an unbiased reporting of events?
Posted by at March 24, 2008 11:48 AM
Comments
Since it seems like Barack Obama will probably be the Democratic Presidential nominee, do you think race will play a role in deciding who is our next president?
Posted by: Just wondering at May 22, 2008 04:37 PM
Tim,
I read that book a few months ago and it certainly shed some light onto the mainstream media. Goldberg now does commentary on Fox occasionally. He also wrote a follow-up to "Bias", titled "Arrogance". In addition to pointing out more examples of the blatant bias in journalism, he gives examples of those who are trying to be objective, including Tim Russert. Tim Russert also has a book out called "Big Russ & Me", which talks about his life and the things that influenced his perspective on journalism. All these books are tremendous!
Posted by: Chuck Siniff at April 9, 2008 12:36 PM
All I know is if you look into our own town's media you can see biased election coverage, usually from a particular one, it's not illegal but it's definitely unethical.
Posted by: Viewer at April 8, 2008 01:29 PM
If you would like to read about the bias in media, an excellent book is actually called Bias. It is written by a former reporter at CBS by the name of Bernard Goldberg. It is a very illuminating book and it is not so big that it takes forever to read. I'd love to talk about it, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might want to read it. Pick it up if you like this topic though.
Posted by: Tim Coker at April 1, 2008 08:58 PM
Phil Valentine. Now there's a miserable soul. I thank God that I don't walk around as miserable and angry all the time as that man. To have that much money and still be so angry and hold so much hate toward those who don't agree with you. Then again, it's mostly an act I'm sure...
Then again, I never listen to him, unless a co-worker has him on, and I don't buy the Progressive as a result of him, so...he can spout off and hate the world all he wants....
I won't be listening. I'd rather listen to Bob and Tom...I'd rather laugh than be p****ed off!
Posted by: Jerrald at March 26, 2008 10:55 PM
Judy,
I couldn't agree more with you. It IS our responsibility to get the "facts", whatever they may be. Unfortunately, and I'm sure you'd agree with me on this, not everyone takes the time to do so. They get their information from a media that has been proven to inject bias into their reporting. This has not only been proven, but as shown in my initial post, been admitted. Unfortunately, most in the media are not open about their bias and claim that they portray the news in an unbiased manner.
I'm like you. I don't take much at face value, and little if nothing from the mainstream media. It's unfortunate that more in our country don't take their voting rights more seriously and rely solely on these biased sources for their information. Good or bad, the media has a responsibility to report news as it occurs, not how they feel about it when it occurs.
And, like it or not, the media has a huge influence on how people get, process, and react to information. It's also unfortunate that the media often leads the receiver to reach the conclusion that they want.
Posted by: Chuck Siniff at March 24, 2008 05:10 PM
The media's role is to provide the public with information, many, many times when first reported information is not 100% correct, this is the result of the need to be the first to bring it to light. To grab viewers attention, to be the first to have the Headlines! The days of finding out what is going on around the world in the Sunday morning newspaper is over. Newspapers anymore provide nothing more than the reading of things that weren't on the evening news or information related to your own community. Television reporters are now competing with the Internet where headline news is brought to light well in advance of the midday, or evening news. As a result reporting is done in a manner that really gets your attention much of which is in a controversial/slanted manner. If I turned on the news and found Jane doe reporting, ..... "today Hillary talked about Easter Sunday service, and Obama attended an evening sermon" I' de click, click, click to find something that sparks my interest
It's all about ratings & staying on top! They can't do this by being booorrrring! They use our trigger points for that, like it or not. They are not slanting the news to "their views", they are slanting the news because this is what will get the most attention!! Controversy... Controversy... Controversy!
Having that said, It is everyone's responsibility to determine fact or fiction in what you hear and I am talking Politics. I have a right to vote in elections, one cannot base their vote on what they hear on the news, watch the debates, but you can't always believe what you hear, much is fluff and not substance. What's important to you and our country, how do the candidates stand on these issues, how have they favored these issues in the past, do a little research. And don't tell me our time is so limited that we don't have time, we have time to come to this blog and read or write, we have time to sit down and watch slanted news reporting, we have time to read the papers, we have time to go out to eat, go to the park, go for a ride, etc. etc. etc. Make the time, the only one you have to blame is yourself not the media as to how you vote!! To those that live by talk shows, you're drawn to those that slant in your way of thinking, you either love them or hate them based on your personal beliefs.
Posted by: Judy at March 24, 2008 04:13 PM