Media Bias

[Guest Lobo]

20 minutes ago, staboner said:

are you guys trying to tell me the media is biased?!

 

No, the Media are biased.  Though the data are inconclusive. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,515]

Much of the media has shifted one direction or another because that is what their audience wants. I remember when CNN had one hour per day devoted to politics. Not only does political talk get audiences engaged but it has to be what they want to hear in order to remain on the channel. Therefore we are going to see channels gravitate to a side. 

It's also important to realize there is a different between a news org's news side vs their editorial/opinion side. If you can't see see the difference of that with each of the top 3 channels, then you have other problems. 

I know that in the early days of the Trump admin, CNN walked a line of reporting Trump or Spicer's statements with some eyebrow raising of the accuracy. However they finally shifted to what is accurate, the Trump admin lies. I'm glad when a news org finally calls it for what it is.  And calling Trump a liar isn't bias, its accurate reporting.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Brothahorn 10,087]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Which news source do you find credible, perchance?

Surly. Because no matter the event, you will get all the opinions. Whether you want them or not.

[Brisketexan 105,154]

2 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

Surly. Because no matter the event, you will get all the opinions. Whether you want them or not.

Also, there's a sub-board with boobs.

Reuters doesn't have that (unless I've been missing something....)

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

13 hours ago, Lobo said:

No, the Media are biased.  Though the data are inconclusive. 

FOUND THE NPR GUY!!!!

[Gourmand 7,774]

nvm wrong forum

Edited November 7, 2020 by Gourmand
sorry to post in DT...mods can please move to CR if necessary

[Guest]

On 8/31/2020 at 5:59 PM, Brothahorn said:

Surly. Because no matter the event, you will get all the opinions. Whether you want them or not.

I agree.

It's a much better place to "triangulate" to the truth.

In the past year, I bet I haven't watched more 2 hours of news coverage, tops, and that was most likely due to hurricanes and wildfires.  I read different news sites and then read Surly.  It keeps it pretty much down the center towards the truth.

[Hefeweizen 5,328]

Agreed in general with all these recent posts.  People getting news from one source are generally not able to give you any context.  I still read the Statesman along with the economist but dropped the WSJ because I found I was more interested in local news from a daily.

 

Anything from social media is an automatic no for me.

[Microwave Master Chef 2]

The Economist is no longer "center-right".  It started drifting away from it's roots during Micklethwait's leadership on both the editorial front and the focus of the paper's news stories.  Yes it is still free-trade, but it is much more amenable to big government these days.   

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

I gotta say, I let cnn stream in the background for three first time in a long time while the election played out and said to myself “gotdamn, they fucking hate Trump. Like mean girl hate him”

I could see how a Trump supporter would not enjoy their programming 

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

On 8/31/2020 at 3:50 PM, Brisketexan said:

Well, you do get deeper "think pieces" from outfits like Mother Jones and the New Yorker.  I really like The Atlantic for that, but I also know I'm getting a generally left take when I read it.  Shit, if you read with a proper eye, it's just like compensating for a crosswind when golfing/shooting/etc.  I will say that most decent "think piece" type journalism has at the very least an anti-Trump bent to it these days, but I can't tell how much of that is the chicken vs. the egg.  I mean, there's also the problem with the fact that it's really pretty hard to write intellectually rigorous and honest pieces that defend Trump.  Sorry, he's just so uniquely bad that he's broken most any meaningful paradigm.  Which I think was kind of the point -- break all the paradigms, which liberates people to just consume what validates their feelings.

I don't know what The Atlantic is.  I had a subscription for a couple of years back in the early 90s when I was still pretty conservative.  It was left of me enough to challenge my views, but I didn't consider it real left leaning.

Libruls now seem to be offended if you call The Atlantic liberal.  They hate them some Trump, though.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,515]

3 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

I gotta say, I let cnn stream in the background for three first time in a long time while the election played out and said to myself “gotdamn, they fucking hate Trump. Like mean girl hate him”

I could see how a Trump supporter would not enjoy their programming 

Yes, they decided a while ago that Trump took normal politician obfuscation of the truth, and turned it up to a 11. I guess that is a consequence for Trump when he gets his truth from Hannity. Anyway they rightfully call him out as a liar. I'm sure a Trump supporter doesn't like hearing that. 

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

On 8/31/2020 at 4:50 PM, BurntEyes said:

The names on NPR... Lackshemeeb Singaladingdong, Melivusa Shcmarmenburgson, Corleta Nombosobosobepolis, etc etc.. I can't fucking take it 

 

On 8/31/2020 at 4:53 PM, bolverk said:

You've made that statement before and my reaction to it is the same as the last time. "Hahaha!" It's a genuinely funny beef...because it's true.

I'm usually pretty good at phonetic spelling and getting kind of close to spelling words, even foreign ones, from the sound of them.

But on multiple occasions, I have tried to google NPR names and don't have the foggiest fucking clue how to spell it, or if it's two names, or three or what.  Voice search comes in handy there.

Ophebia Quist-Arcton may have been the most baffling, but there are some real doozers on there.

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

 

I like the voice of the female NPR reporter who has the French nasal accent crossed with the southern drawl. She reports from France/Europe. Can't for the life of me remember her name.

Is Ophebia Quist Arcton the one who reports from Africa? I really like the way she says "Dakar" in her byline.

[bernorange 8,362]

Anyone got a scorecard for media bias over that last year or so?  Fox News and CNN are both doing amazing work.

[YChang 3,453]

There are some good reaction pieces from outside of NPR and his colleagues surrounding this story that you may want to include to balance out the story. 

[Parliament 14,260]

Has the CR been locked up or something?  Because a whole buncha CR-type tomfoolery has come upon Bada Bing.  Like the necro bumping of this thread for example.

[troph 24,852]

the more this simulation goes on the more important it becomes to know what is (1) a purported fact, (2) purported evidence, (3) a conclusion, and (4) an opinion.

From there, you then have to do the work to evaluate the (1) quality of the purported evidence, (2) congruence of the purported evidence with the purported facts, (3) the strength of the connection of the conclusion given in light of the evidence and facts reviewed, and (4) the quality and merits of the opinion in light of the conclusion (assuming it's well supported by quality evidence supporting facts).  The stronger the evidence, the more evidence, the overlap of the evidence with the stated fact should lead to the logical conclusion. Then we evaluate the merits of the opinion which often explains what to do next, or what might the ramifications be under the circumstances.

Evidence strength depends on a number of factors - direct interviews with people who were there, testimony under oath, documents filed with courts, original source documents or videos, these are all prime examples of great evidence. a simple statement from someone that a fact is true is terrible evidence, and borders on a full collapse of fact, evidence and conclusion, even if one person states the purported fact, and another draws the conclusion and opines on it.

most on air live video news channels offer opinion at best or a feigned attempt at the full 1-4 process above because production of those programs is pretty inexpensive if you can focus on opinion. Often times opinion has its place, especially when facts are fairly well agreed upon and established (the collective can often times do this so 1-2 can be skipped). but at it's worst, 1-2 are skipped and we are left hearing conclusions and opinions only without agreed upon facts based on quality evidence.

in addition, plenty of people have an agenda and can promote their views through the appearances of journalism through online platforms. both of these phenomena have crippled us in terms of accessing "news".

the explosion of access to video streaming and the inexpensive cost of having a streaming channel makes it triply worse, very little evidence, facts stated and off to the races with bat shit crazy conclusions and opinions.

left leaning traditional outlets (print magazines and newspapers) are not immune from this degradation and collapsing of facts, evidence, conclusion and opinion. but the left leaning outlets have held on to the values of quality journalism for a lot, lot longer than many conservative outlets. Now, there are conservative outlets I'm sure that are of a like mind with regard to the quality of journalism even if ideologies are not shared. But I don't know many.

This NPR thing is an example of that, at least with respect to one person's view.

In the end though, news consumption and remaining a free person in that endeavor requires rigor, intelligence, evaluative skills, and independent thought and a willingness to dedicate yourself to get your news from a diverse set of outlets. you have to actively participate in the evaluation of evidence, its connection to the stated fact, the combined support of the conclusion and then the opinion (including the bias of the speaker).

I don't think many can do this.

 

[B00M 6,419]

1 hour ago, BeardIP said:

Thought this was an interesting saga from NPR:

The editor posted this 10 days ago:

On April 9, Berliner, who had been at NPR for 25 years, opined in The Free Press that the outlet lost the public’s trust due to left-leaning bias. He cited NPR’s coverage of ”Russiagate,” and noncoverage of the Covid-19 lab leak theory and Hunter Biden’s laptop. He also blamed NPR’s internal culture, citing a “burgeoning number of employee resource (or affinity) groups based on identity.”

Yesterday he resigned:

 

 

I could argue this says a lot more about one party being conquered by one guy than it says about NPR, but this is DT.

[F250 28,780]

1 hour ago, BeardIP said:

Can you submit any you found to be enlightening or valuable to your understanding? I'm just trying to report the news here, not make it.

I read a few articles about this earlier and the common theme was this isn't a recent thing and these issues predate Berliner's career at NPR so his assertion that this is a recent development is odd.

[B00M 6,419]

Maybe ground news didn’t exist when this thread was created but it seems like the best way to get news and analyze bias. 

https://ground.news/

Trigger warning: the ratings. for example, Fox is “right” and CNN is “left lean.” The ratings are by independent agencies, then averaged. Don’t get hung up on trivial shit. 

Edited April 18 by B00M

[Foosters 17,858]

"non coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story"

lulz

[YChang 3,453]

2 hours ago, BeardIP said:

Can you submit any you found to be enlightening or valuable to your understanding? I'm just trying to report the news here, not make it.

https://steveinskeep.substack.com/p/how-my-npr-colleague-failed-at-viewpoint

https://slate.com/business/2024/04/npr-diversity-public-broadcasting-radio.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/18/npr-uri-berliner-criticism-politically-charged

[UT_OB1 2,224]

1.  Sock gets banned.

2.  New sock gets made.
3.  New sock acts normal to build some rep 

4.  New sock starts just asking questions outside of CR

5.  Go back to 1

[Neonmoon 38,129]

6 hours ago, BeardIP said:

Can you submit any you found to be enlightening or valuable to your understanding? I'm just trying to report the news here, not make it.

Why all fucking know what you are trying to do asshole 

[Samson's Wig 3,192]

I fucking love NPR and have for decades, but anyone who thinks it isn't heavily biased to an almost comical degree is delusional.  For me, it's like a warm cup of coffee on a cold day.  Hits just right.  But I also know what I'm being fed and can take it with a grain of salt. 

Ole' Uri simply pulled the common old man mistake of stating the obvious and expecting people to give a shit.  Now his only friends are mouth breathers.  Have fun with that, bozo. 

[Bevo 13,579]

26 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I fucking love NPR and have for decades, but anyone who thinks it isn't heavily biased to an almost comical degree is delusional.  For me, it's like a warm cup of coffee on a cold day.  Hits just right.  But I also know what I'm being fed and can take it with a grain of salt. 

Ole' Uri simply pulled the common old man mistake of stating the obvious and expecting people to give a shit.  Now his only friends are mouth breathers.  Have fun with that, bozo. 

It worked out nicely for Juan Williams.

Edited April 19 by Bevo

[F250 28,780]

32 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I fucking love NPR and have for decades, but anyone who thinks it isn't heavily biased to an almost comical degree is delusional.  For me, it's like a warm cup of coffee on a cold day.  Hits just right.  But I also know what I'm being fed and can take it with a grain of salt. 

Ole' Uri simply pulled the common old man mistake of stating the obvious and expecting people to give a shit.  Now his only friends are mouth breathers.  Have fun with that, bozo. 

The last time I checked demographic numbers, the NPR audience was predominantly white upper-middle class America with a similar amount registered R and D voters. It is bougie as fuck more than anything else.

[Bevo 13,579]

6 minutes ago, F250 said:

The last time I checked demographic numbers, the NPR audience was predominantly white upper-middle class America with a similar amount registered R and D voters. It is bougie as fuck more than anything else.

 

I wonder if the demographics look anything like this

 

[F250 28,780]

2 hours ago, Bevo said:

 

I wonder if the demographics look anything like this

 

This would be fairly accurate except I believe the Asians are a much smaller audience.

[F250 28,780]

1 hour ago, BeardIP said:

This. I love NPR. I’ve heard liberals purloin NPR for not being liberal enough and standing for “Nice Polite Republicans”.

Feels like the reality of  NPR demographic is for post-graduate educated white people.

and lol at obvious trolls mad that I’m linking and talking about the news qua news.

IMO, NPR is for members of polite society that use their passports, debate on which university to send their kid to, choose Target over Walmart, only purchase Apple devices, overpay for coffee, used to buy Teslas and donate to NPR without a second thought. It's not a beacon of leftwing journalism. It's for people that like to sniff their farts.

 

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

14 hours ago, YChang said:

https://steveinskeep.substack.com/p/how-my-npr-colleague-failed-at-viewpoint

https://slate.com/business/2024/04/npr-diversity-public-broadcasting-radio.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/18/npr-uri-berliner-criticism-politically-charged

Some good stuff there and citations/links to other good stuff.  Funny thing, I had half-heartedly searched for critiques/contrary views but the channel is so flooded with bullshit right-wing sites repeating the same shit that it is difficult to find anything else.

This is a common thing these days, but for whatever reason, I lacked the diligence to track down any contrary views.

[Samson's Wig 3,192]

14 hours ago, F250 said:

The last time I checked demographic numbers, the NPR audience was predominantly white upper-middle class America with a similar amount registered R and D voters. It is bougie as fuck more than anything else.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at.  It's not so much a political bias as there is a barrier to entry based on education and worldly experience.   Uri was as big of a snob as anyone else on NPR, and I'm not sure is going to enjoy the company he'll be forced to keep now that he pooped in his own cereal bowl.  I'm sure Tucker Carlson has been blowing up his phone over the last 24 hours.  Have fun with that, Uri.  It was all for nothing, too, as he wasn't even remotely standing up for some noble cause or principle.  He clearly just didn't like the nonsense that comes with a new generation taking over the workplace with all their bullshit, just like happens with every generation. 

[Bevo 13,579]

13 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

as he wasn't even remotely standing up for some noble cause or principle. 

 

Wasn't he trying to root out bias at NPR? It seems like a worthy cause to me.

[Samson's Wig 3,192]

9 minutes ago, Bevo said:

 

Wasn't he trying to root out bias at NPR? It seems like a worthy cause to me.

If it were real, sure.  But he missed the mark by a long shot. As already noted in this thread, NPR is biased, but it isn't hard left. The bias is about lifestyle and eduction level. NPR is largely for wealthy educated people, who tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Uri's real beef was about what was going on internally and not liking the direction new, younger folks were taking things.  I get it, I'm getting longer in the tooth and don't like change much anymore myself, bu this was a boring "old man yells at clouds" event and little more.  

Edited April 19 by Samson's Wig

[F250 28,780]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Some good stuff there and citations/links to other good stuff.  Funny thing, I had half-heartedly searched for critiques/contrary views but the channel is so flooded with bullshit right-wing sites repeating the same shit that it is difficult to find anything else.

This is a common thing these days, but for whatever reason, I lacked the diligence to track down any contrary views.

The Steve Inskeep article was a good read. He does a solid job of highlighting some of the unsupported claims by Berliner, especially the Israel-Palestine topic.

[Bevo 13,579]

16 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

If it were real, sure.  But he missed the mark by a long shot. As already noted in this thread, NPR is biased, but it isn't hard left. The bias is about lifestyle and eduction level. NPR is largely for wealthy educated people, who tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Uri's real beef was about what was going on internally and not liking the direction new, younger folks were taking things.  I get it, I'm getting longer in the tooth and don't like change much anymore myself, bu this was a boring "old man yells at clouds" event and little more.  

The audience is upper middle class. However, the bias may be different than that. It all depends on the subject being covered. If the subject is science or cigarette manufacturers, bias is mostly irrelevant and probably non-existent. If the story is about politics then the bias comes into play.

[YChang 3,453]

12 minutes ago, Bevo said:

The audience is upper middle class. However, the bias may be different than that. It all depends on the subject being covered. If the subject is science or cigarette manufacturers, bias is mostly irrelevant and probably non-existent. If the story is about politics then the bias comes into play.

It’s really hard to be free of bias when we communicate information, especially in a media context. Even with science… see climate change. What we have to be vigilant is recognizing misinformation and disinformation. 

[Bevo 13,579]

19 minutes ago, YChang said:

It’s really hard to be free of bias when we communicate information, especially in a media context. Even with science… see climate change. What we have to be vigilant is recognizing misinformation and disinformation. 

I agree. But even conservatives don't mind a story or two on climate change. The problem is when those stories dominate at the loss of stories like mRNA vaccines and the resurgence of the Blue Whale populations and the challenges they face from vessel strikes and fishing nets. Back to your point, though, it really turns off conservatives when in the mRNA vaccine stories they say something like the increase of spread of disease due to climate change or the resurgence of the Blue Whale population despite the challenges they face due to climate change.

[Brisketexan 105,154]

14 hours ago, F250 said:

IMO, NPR is for members of polite society that use their passports, debate on which university to send their kid to, choose Target over Walmart, only purchase Apple devices, overpay for coffee, used to buy Teslas and donate to NPR without a second thought. It's not a beacon of leftwing journalism. It's for people that like to sniff their farts.

 

In fairness, my farts are works of art that belong in the Louvre.

 

[Biff Tannen 45,691]

14 hours ago, F250 said:

IMO, NPR is for members of polite society that use their passports, debate on which university to send their kid to, choose Target over Walmart, only purchase Apple devices, overpay for coffee, used to buy Teslas and donate to NPR without a second thought. It's not a beacon of leftwing journalism. It's for people that like to sniff their farts.

 

I feel attacked

[Truth Hurts 77]

2 hours ago, YChang said:

It’s really hard to be free of bias when we communicate information, especially in a media context. Even with science… see climate change. What we have to be vigilant is recognizing misinformation and disinformation. 

which is this? or is it just stupidity? when you make Whoopi Goldberg look like the smart one, you're talking about an incredible level of stupidity. as in 'room temperature measured in Celsius' IQ level. but they are on network tv so presumably some people are watching

 

 

 

[YChang 3,453]

24 minutes ago, Truth Hurts said:

which is this? or is it just stupidity? when you make Whoopi Goldberg look like the smart one, you're talking about an incredible level of stupidity. as in 'room temperature measured in Celsius' IQ level. but they are on network tv so presumably some people are watching

 

Here you go: https://www.apa.org/topics/journalism-facts/misinformation-disinformation

[F250 28,780]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

In fairness, my farts are works of art that belong in the Louvre.

 

Well, they are certainly something only the French would appreciate.

[Brisketexan 105,154]

21 minutes ago, F250 said:

Well, they are certainly something only the French would appreciate.

They ARE afficionados of the flatulent arts....

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

23 hours ago, F250 said:

IMO, NPR is for members of polite society that use their passports-yes but not enough, debate on which university to send their kid to-not really she can decide that, choose Target over Walmart-you're goddamn right the ass much hotter in Target, only purchase Apple devices-lol no, overpay for coffee-cheap and black, like my soul, used to buy Teslas never have and never will and donate to NPR without a second thought-yes, time and money. It's not a beacon of leftwing journalism. It's for people that like to sniff their farts.

 

 

Honestly, I think NPR kind of sucks on the whole. About the only thing I like about them are the hourly news headlines my local affiliate plays. Having said that, NPR is by far the best US-based news source on the radio, period. 

 

 

[Brisketexan 105,154]

 
Honestly, I think NPR kind of sucks on the whole. About the only thing I like about them are the hourly news headlines my local affiliate plays. Having said that, NPR is by far the best US-based news source on the radio, period. 
 
 

I love Marketplace.

And I sweatergawd…I always like Birdnote when I catch it. Dear God, what happened to me?

[F250 28,780]

8 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Honestly, I think NPR kind of sucks on the whole. About the only thing I like about them are the hourly news headlines my local affiliate plays. Having said that, NPR is by far the best US-based news source on the radio, period. 

 

 

I regularly listen to Morning Edition/Market Place, All Things Considered, and Science Friday.

Let's not forget Texas Public Radio. Texas Matters, Fronteras and The Source which is San Antonio focused.

Public Radio is really fucking good.

[troph 24,852]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I love Marketplace.

And I sweatergawd…I always like Birdnote when I catch it. Dear God, what happened to me?

Marketplace is awesome. 

2 minutes ago, F250 said:

I regularly listen to Morning Edition/Market Place, All Things Considered, and Science Friday.

Let's not forget Texas Public Radio. Texas Matters, Fronteras and The Source which is San Antonio focused.

Public Radio is really fucking good.

Texas standard, morning edition, all things considered are my other favs.

bbc world on early early Friday mornings (like 4am) driving to the coast to go fishing is hella good.

Edited April 20 by troph

[Biff Tannen 45,691]

28 minutes ago, F250 said:

I regularly listen to Morning Edition/Market Place, All Things Considered, and Science Friday.

Let's not forget Texas Public Radio. Texas Matters, Fronteras and The Source which is San Antonio focused.

Public Radio is really fucking good.

Science Friday is fucking awesome