WWW.RIDESIDE.NET

home | about | tracker | comics

i ride sideways

tracker / 2005 / 5

Posted by G lib on 2005-05-26 15:32:08 +0000

Media bias debate focuses on NPR

[url=http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/transcripts/2005/may/050520.folkenflik]Is NPR biased toward the left? Of course they are. But the new addition is th THEY are actually saying it about themselves.[/url] How can we tell what is bias and what is 'news?' I'm sure there is some kind of scientific measure, but with the world so polarized, it's very difficult to figure out where teh middle is. . Someone get Beckybunny up in this piece.
Posted by tgl on 2005-05-26 15:43:54 +0000
I think Moyers has it right. Fair and balanced is an advertising line. A way for people to cover their asses. It doesn't ensure that the truth will out. 5% of the public think NPR is biased toward Israelis, 6% believe NPR is biased toward Palestinians. Sounds reasonable to me.
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-05-26 22:42:04 +0000
Todays Globe: NPR is biased [url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/05/26/the_assault_on_npr/]towards the right.[/url] Please stop denying this. Editors are from the WSJ editorial page? Tucker Carlson? Who are you kidding, Glib? They even get money from the Government, so many anti-goverment stories get burried. In a time when the impeachment of a President is more obvious and necessary than ever in our history --lying before Congress, to the American Public, and to GAO, unauthorized use of forces in Iraq, threats to independent news, etc.-- they refuse to bring it up. Yet way before Clinton was impeached (and acquitted BTW) they continually talked about it. Yes, NPR [b]listeners[/b] lean left, but that's because NPR is as close to the middle as mainstream US news gets. The actual news leans right of center. Compare it the AP and Reuters or even the BBC, true centered news sources.
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-05-27 03:11:48 +0000
Woops, [url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200505260004]NBC gets it wrong.[/url]They can't even give an example. Seriously what ever happened to data? I'm done here
Posted by tgl on 2005-05-27 04:14:02 +0000
Almost posted that Media Matters link earlier today.
Posted by tgl on 2005-05-27 04:23:48 +0000
From the Glob: "But NPR's listeners self-identify themselves across the American political spectrum -- one-third conservative, one-third liberal, and one-third independent." So, no, not even the listeners lean left. I do think NPR has given Bush et al. a free pass on a lot of issues. Whether it's to quell a supposed "conservative backlash" from the mid '90s or some unconscious self-censorship as a result of that-date-I-don't-need-to-repeat. Isn't the act of journalism itself a (lower l) liberal endeavor? Does anyone seriously believe that shows like "This American Life", or "On the Media", or "Marketplace" could be produced by people of conservative leanings? I don't think so.
Posted by tgl on 2005-05-27 04:28:48 +0000
Now that I'm re-reading that Globe piece... it's by Tom Ashbrook! Not really an impartial observer (But who is, these days?) He doesn't actually claim that NPR is biased towards the right.
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-05-27 04:48:18 +0000
No, I am...
Posted by tgl on 2005-05-27 05:05:57 +0000
Your placement of the hyperlink made me think is was an attribute of the Globe story.
E-mail to tgl@rideside.net to add your tumblr.
Find me on github.