[CLUE-Talk] Media outlets

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 12-19 13:39, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> *snip*
> 
> > > Fox is just much farther to the right than many other outlets.
> >
> > Invariably, people usually place themselves in the "center" and base
> > their observations from that perspective.  Thus, everyones scale is
> > different.
> 
> Actually, I know I'm not in the center, which is why I think I can
> safely say that most news media don't qualify as left-wing.

To you. I disagree. I don't have time for all the arguments, but Bernard
Goldberg's book _Bias_ does a good job highlighting some of it. Keep in
mind: he's a liberal. He was also denounced as not a *liar*, but instead a
*traitor* by the left. 

But you don't even need to read his book. Just watch the news, and see how
often they interview a rep from a "women's group" other than NOW. Watch how
often anti-abortion crowd is portrayed as "outside the mainstream". See how
often someone who IS representing the conservative viewpoint is flagged as
such vs. someone who happens to be from a liberal organization. Why does
nearly everyone know who Matthew Shepherd is, and few have heard of Jesse
Dierkhising? Both were victims of abhorrent crimes.

I'm familiar with projectcensored, BTW. I think one of the top censored
stories is/was the H1B issue. I'm not sure where that falls, and it's not
easily explained by any idealogy. Maybe the parents corps are in favor of
H1B, I dunno.
 
> > Most people would say I'm of center, and have a strong libertarian bent on
> > certain issues.  Thus, from my perspective NPR, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC are
> > left of center and Fox is pretty close to center.  I would not say that any
> > of them are skewed far left.
> 
> Fox is nowhere near the center. Fox is just shy of Rush territory.

LOL! Oh, come on! Fox may be just right of center, but they aren't even
close Rush territory. Does Rush have Ferraro on call? I've seen her on Fox
countless times. What about Geraldo? What about Colmes? 
 
> > Thus, I would expect Joe to place me far right, since from his perspective
> > NBC, et al are right of center and Fox is skewed even further to the right.
> 
> Quite possibly. Hadn't thought much about it.
> 
> > > I get tired of hearing the claim that the media is left-leaning, when
> > > the fact is that the people who play the gatekeeper roles are almost
> > > invariably right-wing. Reporters may be liberal, but they're typically
> > > managed by right-wing people who are answering to even more right-wing
> > > bosses.
> >
> > I would disagree with that.  CNN is certainly an example of one major
> > news outlet not run by a right-winger.  I would place Ted Turner
> > far-left on the spectrum (from my right of center perspective).  Of
> > course someone who thinks Ted Turner is a right-winger would disagree
> > with me.
> 
> I believe CNN is now part of the AOL-Time Warner conglomerate these
> days, does Turner still have a piece of that?
> 
> I'm not really sure what the ownership situation is in regards to
> Turner these days, if he still owns a piece of it or if he sold it.
> 
> It's certainly not run as a left-wing organization, though. Check
> out today's story about another Senator putting their foot in mouth
> with a racist comment: Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia
> http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/19/senate.race.ap/index.html

Good. Well, now they should find and show people calling for Byrd to step
down, not just apologize. They should also make *sure* they mention he was
the Grand Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1930s.
 
> > > Any Fox News fans might find this article interesting:
> > > http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/cnn/1002/07zahn.html
> >
> > Interesting, but I fail to make the connection between it and the
> > general topic "Is the media left- or right-leaning?"
> 
> Sorry, it doesn't address left/right, just that Fox is organization
> willing to stoop pretty damn low.
> 
> > > You might want to reconsider your viewing habits.
> >
> > Or one might consider boycotting CNN just because Ted Turner is
> > married to Hanoi Jane.
> 
> I thought they were divorced...?
> 
> I'm a bit young to recall the whole Jane Fonda thing firsthand anyway,
> so I don't really have an opinion on it.
> 
> > > Ignoring the left vs. right debate for a second... televised news is
> > > almost universally horrid. For anyone who is interested in this topic,
> > > I recommend "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. You cannot
> > > get your "news" from television and consider yourself informed. Most
> > > radio is little better, and newspapers are in sorry shape compared
> > > to two decades ago, but they're a lot better than televised news...
> >
> > I agree 100%.  It all boils down to ratings.  What gets ratings?
> > Scandalous news peared down to 1 - 2 minute stories written to
> > illicite an emotional response rather than inform a viewer.
> 
> And sports and weather.
> 
> What bugs me is that entertainment, political news, sports, weather,
> fashion tips, etc all get exactly the same level of treatment on
> the news -- thus giving the average viewer the idea that they're
> all equally important.
> 
> Goes a long way towards explaining why people know more about some
> actor's love life or some jock's career statistics than they do
> about their representative's voting records.

I couldn't agree more with you - sports and Hollywood should never be on
equal footing with "news". Even worse, I hate the fact that someone like
Barbara Streisand's opinion is somehow projected as one that matters or at
least should matter to the public, just because they are a celebrity. Or
Woody Harrelson's. Or Alec Baldwin's. These people are *actors* and
*singers*. Why should I hold their opinion in any higher esteem than my own,
or the grocery bagger's?

I'd dig up a conservative Hollywood person who espouses their
opinion a lot, but I can't think of one that does and doesn't hold some sort
of office that justifies the soapbox(i.e., Heston)
 

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
Get MLAC at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlac/
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