Media Bias

[drisley]

I thought I'd open a discussion on this, for fun's sake.

Republicans insist it is there, for sure.
Democrats say its a figment of Republican imaginations.

I say it is, but not because of some huge, grand conspiracy. The worse offenders are the network news organizations: ABC, NBC, CBS. Fox is said to be biased toward Republicans, but Libs just say this cuz Fox actually HAS conservatives on their staff. CNN used to be heavily Liberal, but with the advent of Fox, and the fact that Fox is overtaking CNN in the ratings war, CNN is making an effort to be more balanced, now showing both sides of the debate.

i don't think anything will change the primary networks, as they have a pretty much set audience every night. Fox changed the scene of cable news, though, and forced CNN to show both sides, which is good.

i think Fox is right up the middle. They never have a debate without both a pro and con present. We are so used to leftist bias that we see Fox and say they're biased to the right. Well, when you compare them to somebody like ABC, yeah. They're right of left, but surely not WAY to the right. Rush Limbaugh is WAY to the right, and nobody will argue that. I think Fox is very fair.

So....opinions?

[Edited by drisley on 02-15-2001 at 01:42 PM]

[bob]

Fox is GOPTV. The only liberal is Colmes. He looks like a freak. They bash Clinton as if it is news. If you want to get the news Fox sucks.
Sure they attempt to be ballanced but they spend all their airtime on rightwing issues.
O'Riely is a charactor. As right wing as they come and he claims to be unbiased. WOW. If he seems liberal to anyone they are off the scale to the right.

[drisley]

I like O-Reilly. Puts a dose of reality into the media scene. While other reporters shy away from the tough stories (like Jesse Jackson) he doesn't. and he's perfectly fair. Most of the time his guests disagree with him. That's what makes a good show, not some crap like "Politcally Incorrect" where they just sit there and say "Bush is dumb" a bunch of times in a row.

I think Fox is the fairest, only because they will talk about the stuff that the other networks won't. And it works, too, because their ratings win over everyone else. People get tired of the same old slant.

I disagree with Colmbes all the time, but I like the guy. He doesn't go into full-out GOP-hater mode like some of these guys do. He puts forth the other side and doesn't get pissy. sometimes he does it even if he doesn't feel strongly on it. He's more of a Utopian in my viewpoint.

[bob]

O-Reilly is fun to watch. The rightwing Howard Stearn. The common man...He is nice to those that see things his way. The mail segment is always my favorite. Just remember "Fox news" is not news it is commentary. I know CNN ...CNN was a friend of mine..... FOX is no CNN. Hardball with Chris Mathewws or Lary King earned my respect. Brent Hume is a dork.

Politcally Incorrect is great and even some right wingers love it. Truth is truth - question everything.


Colmbes is cool but he is a token liberal who only gets 1/5 the time that the well dressed clean-cut Hannady gets. He is not a full-out GOP-hater but Hannady is a full-out Clinton hater.....go figure.

You may never become a liberal but there is hope that you can be edged twords the center.

[troysvihl]

Fox is a refreshing change from all the other talking heads. Those other channels are so biased I can't even stand to watch them anymore. I'd rather read the editorials in the journal. Fox is slightly biased to the right, but I don't think they sway to the right as much as CNN, CBS, NBC, et al sways to the left.

Caveuto is cool. O'Reilley is OK, but he's a bit to totalitarian in his politics for my tastes. His stance on drug control is completely out of character.

[bob]

FOX is the right wing Geraldo network. It sings to the....

It is like the Jerry Springer network - skank city.

[drisley]

Bob, why is Fox commentary and CNN news? What the hell's the difference, except that you might agree with what you hear on CNN more than on Fox?

Sure you migth respect Larry King. I do too. He's an experienced journalist. but, so are the guys on Fox. O'Reilly has been in this business a long time. And he's got balls Larry doesn't. Larry sits there and chats like Barbara Walters. O'Reilly goes after issues. huge difference.

"You may never become a liberal but there is hope that you can be edged twords the center. "

Wishful thinking? I'm a thinking Conservative. I don't follow the party line, I follow the Risley line. On some issues, the Risley line is further right than the Republican banter. But, it certainly is nowhere near the increasingly socialist philospohy of the so-called Democratic party.

[troysvihl]

thomas jefferson is rolling in his grave, that's for sure

[bob]

Comparing Larry King and O'Reilly is like comparing God to a peasant.


CNN has scores of news stories. Fox repeats the same old political right wing crap.

If that is not clear then---oh well.

[Edited by bob on 02-16-2001 at 01:33 AM]

[Wonk]

Just give me ten minutes with that Sean Hannity prick, and I'll show him to be the joke that he is. I used to track Rush's lies DAILY on my web page (www.rushiswrong.com), but he's a lot more careful these days, given the FAIR reports and such. But when Hannity gets on there, he makes up such outrageous crap, it would be easy to cut him down to size. Colmes is a punching bag, not real opposition.

[Prader Willi]

The media bias was especially evident during the last presidential election. Remember the debates? How CNN made Al Gore larger than Bush on the TV screen? NBC Today had Al Gore, but not GW, as a guest the day after each debate. Remember, the town hall forums the Today show had for Hillary but not for her opponents?

Oh, and remember election night, the media called Florida early for Gore, before the precincts had even closed, thereby decreasing the voter turnout in the Republican panhandle of Florida, but then waited two hours to call Georgia for Bush even though GW won Georgia by 18 points?

Remember the Newsweek cover "The Gingrich that Stole Christmas"?-- no bias there, huh?

[bob]

Fox news were the ones that called the election wrong FIRST. You may want to think about that for a while.

[troysvihl]

i don't think that's right bob. i was watching the hearings that they had on this a couple of days ago, and i don't remember the exact times, but i'm fairly sure that fox was either the last, or second to last out of eight different channels.

[bob]

Seems NBC called Florida for Gore first and all other networks joined within minutes. They called it 10 minutes before the polls closed. How someone watching TV 10 minutes before the polls close was kept from voting escapes all logic.
Fox did call Bush the winner first - but again the other networks joined within minutes.

[drisley]

You guys are parsing words here. All of the networks screwed up. It doesn't matter who called what. And I don't think bias really had anything to do with it. Its just a comptetive need to call it first. And since all the networks pack together in stories like this, if one calls it, the others follow.

They all messed up. What they need to do is close all polls nationally at the same time, stop trying to call elections based on exit polls, and this kinda of crap won't happen again.

[Wonk]

Given other things going on in my life, I will limit my involvement with this site by simply pointing out facts, and letting the readers decide for themselves- no arguments, just helpful facts.

In 1997, Fox affiliate reporters Steve Wilson and Jane Akre were fired after threatening to report Fox to the FCC for distorting the news. A jury later awarded them $425,000 in damages.

Their station manager, David Boylan said of Fox: "We paid $3 billion for these television stations. We will decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is."

I think there's a famous quote of Murdoch, too, about how he doesn't apologize for using Fox News to further his own political views... let me find it...

[bob]

Facts are more than enough.

[drisley]

They surely are. Facts are great, as long as you're not completely slanted with them. For every "fact" you find on Fox, I guarantee there's a slew of them for CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, etc. So, as long as you're at it, analyze them too.

ALL Liberals like those stations and call that real news and consider Fox biased. People always see bias when they don't agree.

[Wonk]

So why has Fox *never* reported that the steward aboard Air Force One said that NOTHING was taken?

Why does Fox, when showing the video of Clinton and Rich's wife never point out that it was a cancer fund-raiser, and that Ms. Rich had a daughter who died of cancer at 27? Why do they just say "fund-raiser," while the other responsible networks give important details like that?

Why?

[drisley]

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/3/1/173644.shtml

CBS censors its own poll that shows that a large majority WANT Bush's tax plan. All I had to see was Dan Rather and I knew that'd be biased. Dan Rather is one of the worse biased journalists.

[bob]

Stories from newsmax.com follow.

That is just like a bug to the light.





Denise E-mail Suggests Pardongate Quid Pro Quo

Media Zero In on Jenna Bush, Blind to Clinton-Gore Kids' Wild Times

Kathleen Willey Not Surprised by Rich-Clinton Sex Allegations

Enquirer: Denise Rich in White House Sex Trysts With Clinton

Hugh Rodham was 'Barricaded' Inside White House

Ashcroft Winding Down Justice Department Chinagate Probe

Media Week Cites Rising Radio Stars Hannity, Sliwa & Kuby

Matt Drudge Flatters NewsMax.com

Hillary Wants Starring Role in Next Democratic Response

Fox-CNN Feud Gets Personal

N.Y. Observer: Pardongate Shame Should Force Hillary to Resign

More Inside Cover Storie

[drisley]

I'm yawning here, Bob. Whats the point? I post a link about CBS and you copy and paste a bunch of headlines. Did you just figure out CTRL-C?

[bob]

Drisley, you posted a link that was from a website.
.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/3/1/173644.shtml

That website is clearly anti Clinton.

You get your news by listening to what you want to hear?