Liberal mainstream media
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Poll
Question: Do you agree that "Americas mainstream TV networks and newspapers have a Liberal bias"
#1
Yes (R)
 
#2
No (R)
 
#3
Yes (D)
 
#4
No (D)
 
#5
Yes (I)
 
#6
No (I)
 
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Total Voters: 71

Author Topic: Liberal mainstream media  (Read 3830 times)
politicus
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« on: April 04, 2012, 07:09:17 AM »

Conservatives often claim that the "mainstream media" have a Liberal bias. Do you agree that the big TV networks and broadsheet newspapers in the US generally have a Liberal (or anti-Conservative) bias?
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dead0man
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« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2012, 07:29:34 AM »

Not as much as 20 years ago, but still I think overall that there is a lean to the left.  What they really go for, more than a liberal bias by far, is general fear mongering.  It's what idiots want to hear and they market to idiots.

"what common household item could kill your children?....we'll tell you at 11!"
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Jacobtm
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« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2012, 10:19:08 AM »

The U.S. media unquestioningly supported war with Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Iran is considered ''liberal''.

They believed the WMD lies about Iraq, and now they're believing the WMD stories about Iran without any question. They support Israel's continued occupation of Palestine, and the abuses there.

Of course they don't hate gays as much as the average American, so I guess Joe Schmoe from Indiana probably thinks they seem like radicals because they don't think gays are bringing about the apocalypse.
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fezzyfestoon
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« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2012, 11:10:56 AM »

Absolutely not.
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Redalgo
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« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2012, 12:45:25 PM »

No. Media outlets have varied biases, some of which are certainly "liberal," but I reckon that the strongest biasing factor of all in what is covered is quite obviously profit-motive.
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20RP12
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« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2012, 01:12:41 PM »

Yes and no. Fox News touts the fact that it's the "number 1 most watched cable news network," thus making it part of the "mainstream media" and it clearly has a conservative bias. Some networks lean left, some lean right, others are moderate/unbiased for the most part.
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Reginald
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« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2012, 01:15:12 PM »

No, but that certainly isn't to say that it doesn't have other problems, which dead0man and Redalgo have mentioned. What it chooses to prioritize really isn't reflective of some inherent political bias (at least in the sense of "liberal vs. conservative"); it's simply dumbed-down and over-polished so that the general public can show some semblance of caring about it.
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Beet
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« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2012, 01:45:25 PM »

The 'mainstream' media is increasingly an anachronism.
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politicus
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« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2012, 02:49:38 PM »

The 'mainstream' media is increasingly an anachronism.
Thats true. But the concept is very much alive in the political discourse of certain groups.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2012, 03:41:14 PM »

The 'mainstream' media is increasingly an anachronism.
It's like 'mainline' Christianity. Cheesy

Seriously, if it's "liberal" it's more so in the Euro sense than the US one. A Rockefeller Republican bias as it were, certainly nothing remotely describable as left or even (on a saner political alignment) left of center.
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shua
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« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2012, 10:45:31 AM »

Outside of Murdochville, yes - at least if you are talking about "social issues." 
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« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2012, 10:52:57 AM »

No. If there's any bias at all, it's a pro-corporate elitist bisas, as seen with the lack of coverage of issues such as socio-economic inequality and the education crisis in this country, and the "liberal" New York Times's fascination of the issue of whether or not a few wealthy, elite women could play in a golf tournament.
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shua
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« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2012, 11:17:10 AM »

No. If there's any bias at all, it's a pro-corporate elitist bisas, as seen with the lack of coverage of issues such as socio-economic inequality and the education crisis in this country, and the "liberal" New York Times's fascination of the issue of whether or not a few wealthy, elite women could play in a golf tournament.
If they weren't liberal, they wouldn't care about this sort of symbolic gender equality.
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Nathan
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« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2012, 11:42:13 AM »

No. If there's any bias at all, it's a pro-corporate elitist bisas, as seen with the lack of coverage of issues such as socio-economic inequality and the education crisis in this country, and the "liberal" New York Times's fascination of the issue of whether or not a few wealthy, elite women could play in a golf tournament.
If they weren't liberal, they wouldn't care about this sort of symbolic gender equality.

Liberal in a particular sense, yes; that doesn't necessarily equate to overall liberalism or leftism.
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #14 on: April 05, 2012, 11:47:07 AM »

They have a $$$$ bias.
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Redalgo
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« Reply #15 on: April 05, 2012, 11:48:14 AM »

No. If there's any bias at all, it's a pro-corporate elitist bisas, as seen with the lack of coverage of issues such as socio-economic inequality and the education crisis in this country, and the "liberal" New York Times's fascination of the issue of whether or not a few wealthy, elite women could play in a golf tournament.
If they weren't liberal, they wouldn't care about this sort of symbolic gender equality.

Which could be material pitched for a targeted audience already reading the New York Times. I am under the impression that (a.) folks with high incomes are generally more liberal on normative than economic issues, and (b.) journalists themselves tend to lean more to the left and are oftentimes cut a lot of slack provided they do not run any stories that seriously undercut the company's goals. Most major media outlets in the States are businesses first and foremost.
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lowtech redneck
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« Reply #16 on: April 05, 2012, 05:35:33 PM »

Yes, though most of it is likely of the unintentional, 'echo-chamber' variety.
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Bacon King
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« Reply #17 on: April 05, 2012, 06:28:49 PM »

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company; NBC is jointly owned by Comcast and General Electric; CNN is owned by TimeWarner; Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch; and CBS is owned by the same guy that also owns Viacom and Paramount.

If there's any bias there, it's towards corporatism.
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dead0man
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« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2012, 11:48:34 PM »

I understand your point (and agree with it), but who would own them if not corporations?  A hippy commune?

(and there are at least 2 TV news sources, the only 2 I ever watch, that are owned by governments....so I suppose that's an option as well)
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« Reply #19 on: April 06, 2012, 12:29:04 AM »

Yes, there is a general bias to the left.  If we disregard places like FOX and MSNBC which are biased toward the right and left respectively, ABC and CNN have a very slight bias to the left.  Newspapers tend to sway to both sides, but averaged out, they slightly tend to favor the left.

But both sides distort the bias of the media to fit their party's/ideology's rhetoric.
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Redalgo
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« Reply #20 on: April 06, 2012, 01:02:36 AM »

I understand your point (and agree with it), but who would own them if not corporations?  A hippy commune?

(and there are at least 2 TV news sources, the only 2 I ever watch, that are owned by governments....so I suppose that's an option as well)

I am fine with private firms (or worker co-ops!) controlling most of the mass media provided that alternative means for information to flow are available, academic freedom is well-respected, and some portion of the media is state-run so as to prioritize social utility over profit. It would be nice for private, public, scholarly, and popular media sources to coexist - all supplementing, challenging, and policing one another to provide people a rich array of at least somewhat accountable choices.

Unfortunately, the presense of biases is virtually inevitable and something we have to cope with.
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dead0man
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« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2012, 01:04:37 AM »

Don't they?  Everybody makes fun of Fox News for being what they are.  Many people make fun of the various PBS news shows for being dry (because they don't do "missing white woman of the month type pieces I guess).  It's unfortunate that of the people that do pay attention they mostly watch sh**tty TV news, but it's not like we don't have options out there.  As with most things, it's the people's fault that sh**t sucks, not some evil dude in a tower somewhere laughing at his cleverness....whether you want that tower be ivory, Trump or tax dollar built, it and he don't exist.
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Redalgo
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« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2012, 01:26:42 AM »

In the context of the United States I think too little of the media is public sector. I am otherwise inclined to agree with you though. My attitude considering profit-driven bias does not tie into a grander belief about a handful of rich dudes or major corporations conspiring against the public interest. The People themselves are in part to blame if their apathy lets the state abuse its power or imprudent habits of consumption lead firms to cater to folks’ less-than-laudable preferences.
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jfern
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« Reply #23 on: April 06, 2012, 01:51:30 AM »

Definitely not
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Bacon King
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« Reply #24 on: April 06, 2012, 02:24:48 AM »

I understand your point (and agree with it), but who would own them if not corporations?  A hippy commune?

(and there are at least 2 TV news sources, the only 2 I ever watch, that are owned by governments....so I suppose that's an option as well)

Something like the BBC, if properly implemented, would be great, but I really don't trust the US government to manage something like that appropriately (on a related note, though, I do love some NPR).

The problem I have with the ownership of the news channels isn't that they're corporate entities, it's that they're all, in some form or another, just subsidiaries of various giant media/entertainment/electronics conglomerates. I wouldn't have an issue if they were managed by independent companies or whatever, like they used to be. CNN being the cable news component of Turner Broadcasting, for example, was completely fine. But when they're owned by a company that also owns amusement parks, sports teams, record labels, video game developers, internet service providers, movie studios, publishing companies, etc etc etc... things start carrying a bit of a burden of suspicion.
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