Media Bias

I read the Fox news debate thread. Wow.

I must say, Avenged, that I am very disappointed. Fox has a definite conservative tilt, despite their claims that they are "fair and balanced". Anyone with more than two functioning brain cells and a cable TV can see that. Still, just because they're the only conservative major news network doesn't mean they're they only biased one. Aside from Fox, all other major news networks are tilted liberal (severity differs).

In fact, in the past fourteen elections, republicans won seven presidential seats while democrats only won five. For every one of the elections, had it only been journalists and reporters voting, the democrats would have won every time. Also, around 60% of journalists in 2004 would have voted for Kerry. Only 20% would have voted for Bush and the remaining 20% refused to say. In a similar case with Regan, the media was split 65/35 against him, despite his landslide victory.

You can whine all you want about Fox being conservative, but other networks have just as much blood on their hands. That's why this thread is going to take a slightly different approach to the bias debate.

Should media bias be acceptable?

It's impossible to get rid of bias all together, but is the kind of bias we see in MSNBC and Fox okay? Can it actually be good for us?

PS: In my opinion, Fox's reports tend to be less biased than many. Yes, Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Huckabee, and Rush Limbaugh are obviously very conservative in their shows (often to the point of annoyance), but I'd consider that "the news" about as much as I would the Tonight Show. I'm talking about their actual news reports. They pick and choose to suit their audience (kinda hard to make money otherwise), but their actual reports usually aren't as tilted as people make them out to be.[i]

The only cable news channel that isn't biased is CNN but even they can tilt left at times but 99% of the time they seem to be fair and balanced

You're serious?! CNN is your example of fair and balanced? That is the single most silly thing I've heard all day. They aren't as bad as MSNBC, but CNN is easily on par with FOX.

Rotaretilbo wrote:You're serious?! CNN is your example of fair and balanced? That is the single most silly thing I've heard all day. They aren't as bad as MSNBC, but CNN is easily on par with FOX.

The problem with Fox news is not that they're biased, but that they are, far more than any other cable news network, fear-mongering. It's one thing for MSNBC to prestigiously look down on and snicker at all those "crazy conservatives." It's another thing entirely for Fox News to give self-absorbed pundits like Glenn Beck an opportunity to spread their ignorance.

Yes, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are not part of Fox' "new's block," but that doesn't make it any more appropriate for them to be handing people like that a microphone.

Well, I'm going to post once here, and never again.

Ironically, it seems that comedic liberal bias, is the most centered. Jon Stewart skewers everyone. Including Obama, and MSNBC, and CNN, and pretty much anything that he doesn't agree with.

Though, not to say that it's perfect. Obviously nobody's right all the time, and Bill Maher's bias against religion and anyone who believes in anything is just disgusting. The last time I watched part of his show, he pretty much said that anyone who practiced any religion was incapable of any logical thought.

There's a reason it was the last time I watched it...

You can't be serious at all. CNN at least reports news but fox just reports what ever they can to make liberals look bad.

If you don't want media bias, you might consider getting your news from outside the US, like BBC news, or even Japanese news.

As far as getting the latest scoop, all news networks are basically the same (probably because they copy each other 95% of the time), and if you want to hear about that gorilla escaping from the zoo and mauling someone to death, then any news station will present the same story because there's not much spin they can put on such a story.

Avenged wrote:You can't be serious at all. CNN at least reports news but fox just reports what ever they can to make liberals look bad.

From my perspective, it's the other way around. CNN reports anything just to make conservatives look bad and FOX just reports news. But, I understand that this is a perception problem, because I'm conservative, and so I'm less likely to notice FOX's bias. Trust me, they are both biased. CNN has gotten better (it used to be worse than MSNBC), because it is a little less focused on liberal bias and more focused on sensationalism. It is, however, still on par with FOX when it comes to media bias.

If there is one thing i HATE about MSNBC and Fox News it is that they don't report the things that actually put our country in danger. For instance Iran will get nukes thats obvious but no one cares they care more about a mosque being built or Lindsay Lohan going to jail but not the bombs that could possibly kill hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Because that does not get the political candidate who they want to get elected elected.

Avenged wrote:If there is one thing i HATE about MSNBC and Fox News it is that they don't report the things that actually put our country in danger. For instance Iran will get nukes thats obvious but no one cares they care more about a mosque being built or Lindsay Lohan going to jail but not the bombs that could possibly kill hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Because that does not get the political candidate who they want to get elected elected.

...Didn't FOX cover that like over and over?

From an outside perspective with a lot of American influence I've got the impression that Fox news/the Reblicans are the crazy, fear monger idiots. To be fair the only thing I've seen of Fox news is stuff like the Mass Effect blunder; but the only other news shows I've seen that in have been local stations

BBC is supposed to be unbiased. It's actually not allowed to take sides at all. People say it's more liberal but I don't see it.

From what i've seen, everyone is always going to be biased, and noone will pick up on biases they agree with. I can't pick up on a culturally liberal bias because i am a fairly liberal person when it comes to culture. I'm sure many conservatives can't pick up on Fox's bias (trust me, it's there).

It's not something you can really fight. Unbiased means "correct", and what is correct is all in people's heads. Ultimately, people will choose facts that make their side look good, and statistics are so easily bent that the are hardly worth listing. The only way someone will be unbiased is if they watch every news sights and then do some research after.

You can't get rid of media bias. The best thing you could do is just watch the weather. lol