Even the media is talking about the Media Bias

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

Column By MICHAEL S. MALONE

Oct. 24, 2008

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.

But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

But nothing, nothing I've seen has matched the media bias on display in the current presidential campaign.

Republicans are justifiably foaming at the mouth over the sheer one-sidedness of the press coverage of the two candidates and their running mates. But in the last few days, even Democrats, who have been gloating over the pass -- no, make that shameless support -- they've gotten from the press, are starting to get uncomfortable as they realize that no one wins in the long run when we don't have a free and fair press.

[phee]

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

Column By MICHAEL S. MALONE

Oct. 24, 2008

Its funny when NPR is considered centrist all of a sudden

[Simon Bar Sinister]

The mass media in this country is neither liberally or conservatively biased. They adopt whetever slant they think will make people watch...and hopefully buy what the people who buy ad time/ad space are selling. They were a bunch of skirt-hiking whores for the Iraq war/occupation 5 years ago; now they're flashing customers with the promise of "change". That's what you get when less than 10 corporations control almost 90% of the media outlets.

[Rev.Reverence]

Hell, I can show you 10 different ways to color variations of the word "said" -- muttered, shouted, announced, reluctantly replied, responded, etc. -- to influence the way a reader will apprehend exactly the same quote. We all learn that in Reporting 101, or at least in the first few weeks working in a newsroom.

...

...

....

That means constantly challenging our own prejudices, systematically presenting opposing views and never, ever burying stories that contradict our own world views or challenge people or institutions we admire. If we can't achieve Olympian detachment, than at least we can recognize human frailty -- especially in ourselves.

I really think that ETHICS are dying across America...I've been watching it for YEARS.

On a similar note...

...just last night John Stuart had a Lady reporter (forgot the name) that was REALLY pissed off about the 2 parties restriction list about what could/could not be asked & such...I think it is CRAP that these guys aspire to the highest office; only to tell the reporters what is & is not appropriate to ask...fuckin' dumb arsed bullshit.

[Rev.Reverence]

The mass media in this country is neither liberally or conservatively biased. They adopt whetever slant they think will make people watch...and hopefully but what the people who buy ad time/space are selling. They were a bunch of skirt-hiking whores for the Iraq war/occupation 5 years ago; now they're flashing customers with the promise of "change". That's what you get when less than 10 corporations control almost 90% of the media outlets.

...RATINGS SLANTED..

Fucking $ grubberz!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

That's what you get when less than 10 corporations control almost 90% of the media outlets.

And 9 of them are owned by Soros.

[Shade Everdark]

What is this guy smoking?

Media bias to the left? Has he so quickly forgotten the Reverend Wright nonsense? Or "Barack HUSSEIN Obama?" Or the media furor caused by his wife's remarks? As an opinion piece, this sucks.

Pardon my colloquialism, but dude needs to STFU and GBTW.

[Goth Brooks]

What is this guy smoking?

Media bias to the left? Has he so quickly forgotten the Reverend Wright nonsense? Or "Barack HUSSEIN Obama?" Or the media furor caused by his wife's remarks? As an opinion piece, this sucks.

Pardon my colloquialism, but dude needs to STFU and GBTW.

this made me laugh

in other news: Media Bias, a proud institution of American Heritage going back to pre-Revolution days.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

What is this guy smoking?

Media bias to the left? Has he so quickly forgotten the Reverend Wright nonsense? Or "Barack HUSSEIN Obama?" Or the media furor caused by his wife's remarks? As an opinion piece, this sucks.

Pardon my colloquialism, but dude needs to STFU and GBTW.

Do you mean the media ignoring them?

So, there was no bias when the media tore into every aspect of "Joe the Plumber"'s life looking for dirt? All because a private citizen asked Obama a question and Obama, in answering it, gave away his plan to "spread the wealth".

You don't any problem with that?

If anyone has forgotten the Rev. Wright nonesense it's because the main stream media did everything they could to bury that story... along with his connections to domestic terroists and oginized crime.

No body seems to talk about Obama and his connections to/funding of ACORN either... they used to... up until ACORN was caught.. again... stuffing ballet boxes with fake people and trying to steal the election from us. (us, the people of the USA)

Obama said something along the lines of "These are not the droids you are looking for" and the media dropped those storys.

The media has never vetted Obama.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Tell me this Shade...

What do you think of MSNBC? Are they biased?

I wonder, because they had to admit it and demote two of their anchors from News to entertainment because their bias was so evident and they would do nothing to hide it.

[taysteewonderbunny]

Gaf--three things. One, this is not a factual article. It is an opinion piece of precisely the kind that Michael S. Malone himself believes does not belong on the front page and said so in the article itself. Two, this is argument from anecdote. While emotionally convincing, it does not have the same power as a valid argument. Three, Malone concludes that the bias is the result of uniformly self-serving cynical editors. That seems hardly likely.

[n0Mad]

I agree with what others have said that the media is no longer interested in reporting fair and unbiased news. They are solely interested in chasing the buck and using whatever sensationalism it takes to do that. When Rev. Wright's tirades and ACORN's fraud sold tickets, the media was hawking popcorn but most of this election Obamessiah draws more viewers than McCain-is-Able so that is the angle the media is pushing, all to squeeze as many pennies out of us as they can.

[Rev.Reverence]

...Obamessiah.....

......McCain-is-Able...

[taysteewonderbunny]

Everyone screams bias on one side or the other. What I think the issue is here is not whether collectively the news media are leaning left or right but that factual even-handed reportage has been sacrificed on every side in favor of flag-waving, accusatory, sensationalist ballyhoo. Most arguments presented now are emotional arguments, not ones based in fact or reason. Statistics are grossly manipulated. Opinions are thrown out with such elocutionary force that the logical principles that should guide the arguments are drowned out and everything in the ring is treated as having equal value. It's all bullshit now. And just when you think you can't take anymore, a thinly disguised promotion for plastic surgery, home loans or recent addition to the best-seller list is thrown up there. News looks like talk shows. Talk shows look like news. Sickening.

[phee]

Everyone screams bias on one side or the other. What I think the issue is here is not whether collectively the news media are leaning left or right but that factual even-handed reportage has been sacrificed on every side in favor of flag-waving, accusatory, sensationalist ballyhoo. Most arguments presented now are emotional arguments, not ones based in fact or reason. Statistics are grossly manipulated. Opinions are thrown out with such elocutionary force that the logical principles that should guide the arguments are drowned out and everything in the ring is treated as having equal value. It's all bullshit now. And just when you think you can't take anymore, a thinly disguised promotion for plastic surgery, home loans or recent addition to the best-seller list is thrown up there. News looks like talk shows. Talk shows look like news. Sickening.

That makes a lot of sense coming from YOUR SIDE .... (yes I am kidding)

[Rev.Reverence]

Everyone screams bias on one side or the other. What I think the issue is here is not whether collectively the news media are leaning left or right but that factual even-handed reportage has been sacrificed on every side in favor of flag-waving, accusatory, sensationalist ballyhoo. Most arguments presented now are emotional arguments, not ones based in fact or reason. Statistics are grossly manipulated. Opinions are thrown out with such elocutionary force that the logical principles that should guide the arguments are drowned out and everything in the ring is treated as having equal value. It's all bullshit now. And just when you think you can't take anymore, a thinly disguised promotion for plastic surgery, home loans or recent addition to the best-seller list is thrown up there. News looks like talk shows. Talk shows look like news. Sickening.

"NOT I.", said the man on the fence.

I am sure if there WERE flags for the Dem/Rep. Parties...I'ld be burning them in effigy.

(& I LOVE YOUR WORDS)(you said "ballyhoo")

[sass_in_the_pants]

Early on in the election, I caught on the TV in the lunchroom this reporter talking about...get this, the media's 'love affair' with Obama.

So, if you ARE the story, you can't really report the story, now can you? I just found it very funny.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

OK.

Do studies conducted by major university's count as factual evidence?

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.