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[Tommie Hu$tle]

Anyone besides me realize that we are at "war" and during "wartime" you report war facts.

No one mentioned how France was rebuilding after the Allies pushed the Germans back. Was newsworthy when compared to the EXPLOSIONS that were to the east of France during Germany's last stand? Same thing here. No one cares if you make it home safely. Everyday normal isn't news, a to die in a horrifc explosion is. And to be honest with you what good is building a new school when the building down the street is blowing up.


To me that's like discuinng the guy that opened a new Krispy Kreme on 9-11-01.

 

[teiresias]

Considering I heard no less than like two "good news" stories on NPR on my drive back from school the other day (one was about the rebuilding of the country's Universities, the other about the handover and the broadcast of Saddam being handed over to an Iraqi police officer), I really don't see this lack of good news reporting, but I listen to radio news more than I watch CNN or something like that.

 

[fart]

THAT DAMNED LIBERAL MEDIA!!!

 

[xsarien]

"You gave me a link to a blog. If you can't provide something specific, that's fine."

In other words you're too lazy to read. Thats your problem not Rip's.

Because blogs have been demonstrated to be a font of unbiased, fair, and accurate screeds.

Right?

Don't get me wrong, blogs are wonderful in concept, but it will be a very long time - relatively speaking - before any one of them should ever be given the same amount of weight as more established news organizations.

 

[fart]

oh, and rip's link is hilarious. it's like a neocon prairie home companion or something.

 

[Hitokage]

Considering I heard no less than like two "good news" stories on NPR on my drive back from school the other day (one was about the rebuilding of the country's Universities, the other about the handover and the broadcast of Saddam being handed over to an Iraqi police officer), I really don't see this lack of good news reporting, but I listen to radio news more than I watch CNN or something like that.

Yeah, public radio news reporting is better than cable or even broadcast tv news reporting.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Ripclawe's just angry that Amanpour actually won wo Peabodies, while conservative darling Bill O'Reilly lied about winning two Peabodies.

OK, enough with cheap shots. I just hate seeing Amanpour, arguably one of the best journalists to come out of the sensationalist cesspool of cable news, dragged through the mud.

Anyway, Ripclawe keeps harping on this PEW survey as proof of the "libural media". His point is that there are much more journalists that descibe themselves as "liberal" as opposed to those that describe them as "conservative". This is true, according to the report. However, those that consider themselves "moderate" outnumber those that consider themselves "liberal" and "conservative" combined. Nor does this survey, or Ripclawe, make the point that the definition of "conservative" to the more astute follower of politics ( journalists sometimes follow politics!) has drifted further and further to the right over the past 10 or so years. Ten years ago a person like Dubya would be considered extremely conservative, now he's the benchmark by which conservatives are labeled "true" or "moderates". So, if moderates and conservatives outnumber liberals in the media two to one, how does that equate to wide, pervasive control of the media like you proclaim exists? It's a myth driven by right-wing ideologues who for over 30 years have been trying to change the mass media from the reporitng of the objective journalist to the confrontation of the subjective journalists. By claiming "media bias" they can promote more subjective reporiting to "balance" out the regular media and create a pervasive cross-media right-wing echo chamber for their ideological positions under a united front.

Another interesting point is the way an overwhelming number (82%) of journalists point out Fox News as an "especially conservative" news source, while 62% of them couldn't point out a source that they could brand as l"especially iberal". Not PBS, not NPR, not the NYT.

Ripclawe is railing against media bias because most places that honestly call themselves news organizations don't "balance" real journalism-reporting of the current events and quality investigative reporting of topics-with brazen ideology. The media shouldn't be coereced into "balancing" their news stories-if Wolfy's ill-advised, poorly thought out war is hitting snags and he doesn't like it, that doesn't make reporting on those snags a conspiracy of the "liberal media". What it does do is point out that the war is hitting snags along the way. Journalism , unless facutally inaccutate or distorting, is an essential part of a democracy.

It's important to also point out that factually inaccurate and distorting new (AKA propaganda) s is an essential part of facism. It's the news that's the differentiation, not the author or editor/producer of the news.

 

[Hitokage]

Furthermore, even if you were going to limit discussion to individual journalist political leanings, the leanings of publication editors are often ignored.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Furthermore, even if you were going to limit discussion to individual journalist political leanings, the leanings of publication editors are often ignored.

I wanted to drag that into my post, but I didn't have the numbers handy. I didn't want to make such a claim without some reasonable facts.

 

[Hitokage]

Well, I didn't bring numbers in either, only that the scope of such discussion wasn't looking at the whole picture. How those editors actually lean is, as you said, a matter to be discussed with actual data.

 

[Shinobi]

I think both sides agree here, but just don't want to. Yes, Ripclawe is right. The media are a bunch of tools, and depending on where you go, they're just slanting the info to suit their perspective. Objectivity is dead. These are the days of news with opinion. I prefer to watch The News Hour on PBS b/c it may be dull and boring as hell, but they report mostly facts, and try to offer points and counterpoints in the analysis of the story. CNN, MSNBC and FauX give you one biased host after the other who handpick random idiots off the streets for pundits, and give them titles like "Senior Terrorist Analyst" when really it's just some dude who's been watching FOX all day.

But OTOH, how can you defend Wolfowitz? Just look at any news site today. The story of the day (deservedly so) is the 5-city assault that took place today. That's not sensationalism, it's fact. The media may try to dress it up to seem more shocking than it is, but 80+ people dead and 300+ injured is a legit story about a legit beef. Things have gone to shit and back in Iraq, and the media should not be sugar-coating it. This is the reality of war. We're all isolated over here far from the gunfire and bombs, and we make sweeping judgements on the innocence/value of the Iraqis. Meanwhile, they're pretty much ducking the bullets each and every day and seeing their once secure, but oppressed life now turn into a chaoitic free-for-all. The nerve that some suit like Wolfowitz (who was a chief architect in the destruction of many Iraqi lives) can sit so smugly in front of a camera and give a bullshit line like that. Man, I wish someone would have walked up behind him and just bitch-slapped the shit out of him.

To not report the story would be irresponsible. However, the media should be less melodramatic in their coverage. It is equally offensive that they'd use death and destruction to boost ratings, especially since they're the ones who enjoy pointing the finger at Hollywood and video games for the increase in violence. And Wolfowitz...they should give him an M16 and send him to the front lines. We'll see hos inaccurate those reports are then once his name joins the ranks of those KIA in Iraq. God, this administration's douchebaggery is simply too much to handle. PEACE.

On point like a muthafucka, as usual.

Ripclawe's just angry that Amanpour actually won wo Peabodies, while conservative darling Bill O'Reilly lied about winning two Peabodies.

Remember when Saddam's statue was taken down a year ago, with the pictures splashed on every newspaper cover and TV screen on earth? Or how about when Saddam was captured? I suppose the media was ultra conservative during those times. Fuck Wolfowitz in the mouth with a chainsaw...he's lucky he's still breathing God's good air, the fucking scrot.

 

[Chesapeake Silt]

It's funny how Wolfowitz apologized for his dumbass remark, despite Ripclawe's vigorous defense.

 

[Phoenix]

It's funny how Wolfowitz apologized for his dumbass remark, despite Ripclawe's vigorous defense.

In Rips defense, Wolfowitz apologized a good bit after I started the thread.