The media is biased!

Colleges & Universities Service Academy Parents
1

<p>You hear it all the time: The media is biased! The media is biased! The liberal media is biased. Conservative blogs have it all wrong.</p>

<p>For those of you interested in scholarly work [I know, it’s biased], the following study is interesting.</p>

<p>The Hostile Media Phenomena: Biased Perception and Perceptions of Media Bias in Coverage of the Beirut Massacre. Vallone, Ross, Lepper Standford University [oh, now! It MUST be biased.] </p>

<p>After viewing identical samples of major network television coverage of the Beirut massacre, ** both pro-Israeli and pro-Arab partisans ** rated these programs, and those responsible for them, as being biased against their side.</p>

<p>In an experiment conducted by the researchers, 144 observers were shown six TV news segments about Israel’s 1982 war with Lebanon. Pro-Arab viewers heard 42 references that painted Israel in a positive light and 26 references that painted Israel unfavorably.
Pro-Israeli viewers–who watched the very same clips–found 16 references that painted Israel positively and 57 references that depicted Israel unfavorably.
Both groups were certain they were right and that the other side did not know what they were talking about.
[Sound familiar? The study was conducted in 1985!]</p>

<p>See the full article discussing the research [the article is probably biased] at
<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300512.html?referrer=email[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300512.html?referrer=email&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Published by Washington Post [Is it the WP or the Washington Times that is biased? I get them confused.] on 7/24/06</p>

<p>See the research paper at: <a href=“http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jpillavi/965/hwang.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jpillavi/965/hwang.pdf&lt;/a&gt; [it might not be “jpillavi” it might be “jpllavi”
[my eyes can’t see for sure and I could not copy it directly.] Published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985, vol. 49, No. 3, 577-585</p>

<p>I know, each of you [us] is smarter than those who have actually researched this phenomena, but it may be worth considering that maybe its not the media that is biased, but, rather, the reader who is biased. </p>

<p>The bottom line: Everybody believes the truth to be whatever it is that they want to believe; everybody else who disagrees me is just wrong, uninformed, or intellectually bankrupt.
The state of America today.</p>

2

<p>The Washington Times is owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. He has controlling interest. So of course there is no biase in the Times.</p>

3

<p>And who has the controlling interest in the Fox media empire? What about the WP company? And, of course, the big bogey man: the NYT?</p>

<p>Many media empires are [and have been] controlled by a single person or family.</p>

<p>Try this link: <a href=“http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jpiliavi/965/hwang.pdf[/url]”>www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jpiliavi/965/hwang.pdf</a> for the study.</p>

<p>Oh, and for those of you that are less scholarly inclined, the study is also mentioned in Wikipedia.</p>

4

<p>Neo-conservative Rupert Murdoch created the Fox Broadcasting Company. Murdoch is CEO of News Corp, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. Murdoch’s international media empire includes:</p>

<p>Internet
MySpace - Social networking website. (Aquired through purchase of Intermix Media ).
Grab.com - Entertainment/Games. (Aquired through purchase of Intermix Media )
IGN Entertainment - Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN ,GameSpy ,Rotten Tomatoes and Askmen.com )
News.com.au - Australian-oriented news website </p>

<p>Books
HarperCollins book publishing company
ReganBooks
Zondervan Christian book publisher </p>

<p>Newspapers
Australia
The Australian (Nationwide)
The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)
The Courier-Mail (Queensland)
The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)
The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)
The Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)
The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)
The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)
The Herald Sun (Victoria)
The Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
The Weekly Times (Victoria)
MX (Melbourne and Sydney CBD)
The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
The Advertiser (South Australia)
The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
The Mercury (Tasmania)
The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory) </p>

<p>Fiji
Fiji Times (National) </p>

<p>Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National)
United Kingdom
newspapers, published by News International Ltd.
News Group Newspapers Ltd.
the tabloid The Sun
the tabloid News of the World
Times Newspapers Ltd.
the broadsheet The Sunday Times
the 'ex- broadsheet ’ (Now in compact form) The Times
the broadsheet The Times Educational Supplement
the broadsheet The Times Literary Supplement</p>

<p>United States newspapers and magazines
the New York Post</p>

<p>Magazines
InsideOut
SmartSource
TV Guide , via partial ownership of Gemstar-TV Guide
The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
Wired
Alpha Magazine </p>

<p>Music
Festival Mushroom Records </p>

<p>Sports
50% of National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos ,Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rugby league teams.
40% of Staples Center
9.8% of the Los Angeles Lakers </p>

<p>Studios
20th Century Fox film production company
Fox Searchlight
Fox Television Studios
Fox Studios Australia ,Sydney, New South Wales
Fox Studios Baja ,Rosarito, Baja California
Blue Sky Studios </p>

<p>Television</p>

<p>Broadcast
Fox Broadcasting Company , a US-wide broadcast television network
My Network TV , a US broadcast television network (to be launched September 2006 )
Fox Television Stations Group
bTV , a broadcast television network in Bulgaria
Fox Televizija , a broadcast television network in Serbia (expected to start broadcasting soon)
ANTV , a private television station in Indonesia , under the administration and label of STAR TV
TGRT , a Turkish terrestrial channel </p>

<p>Satellite television
BSkyB , United Kingdom (37.9% holding).
DirecTV Group , North and South America (36.8% holding)
DirecTV , the largest U.S. satellite TV provider
DirectTV Latin America
Sky Brasil (co-owned with Globopar )
Sky Mexico
Foxtel , Australia (25% holding)
Sky Italia , Italian satellite TV service
STAR TV , an Asian satellite TV service
Tata Sky , an Indian DTH TV service (20% holding) </p>

<p>Cable
Fox College Sports , College Sports Network that consisits of 3 regionally aligned channels
Fox Movie Channel , an all-movie channel that airs commercial -free movies from 20th Century Fox film library
Fox News Channel , a 24-hour news channel
Fox Reality , a ‘Reality TV’-themed channel
Fox Sports Net , a chain of US regional cable television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include “Fox Sports Southwest”, “Fox Sports Bay Area”, etc. (some affiliates still owned by Cablevision ).
Fox Soccer Channel , a United States digital cable network specializing mainly in soccer .
Fox Sports en Español , a Spanish-language North American cable sports network; its sports lineup is tailored to appeal to a Latin American audience.
Fox Sports en Latinoamérica , a Mexico -based Latin American satellite and cable sports network.
Foxtel (25%), Australia’s largest satellite and cable pay TV provider, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
FX Networks , a cable network broadcasting reruns of programming previously shown on other channels, but recently creating its own programming, including the Emmy Award -winning program The Shield
National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
National Geographic Channel International 50%
SPEED Channel
Fuel </p>

<p>Other assets
(NDS) - Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs)
Broadsystem Ltd (UK) - Telephony provider for media companies, bought in 1991
Broadsystem Australia (Australia)
Broadsystem Ventures (UK) - provider of cheap-rate telephone calls, particularly for customers of Sky Television. Bought outright in 1999.</p>

5

<p>In case people don’t already know, Rupert Murdoch is a big supporter of the war in Iraq and George W. Bush.</p>

6

<p>Journalism has shifted from news reporting to more analysis and commentary in the last couple of decades. I expect the shift occured for both well-intended and nefarious reasons.</p>

<p>Don’t know about you, but I tend to find the media unbaised when the analysis concurs with my own and incredibly biased when it doesn’t.</p>

<p>Readers need to know that they are getting more than “just the facts” when they read/watch the various news sources.</p>

7

<p>I believe that most major newspapers, and also many newspapers with limited circulation, adhere to established journalistic standards. The subjective part of the news involves editorial choices about which stories make the FRONT PAGE and which stories are never written…For example, the July 4th front page of the Los Angeles Times honored our injured veterans by showing a triple-amputee soldier (one of at least 800+ in the current conflict) in swim trunks being carried in a lake by one of his Army buddies during a recent reunion of his unit. It was a powerful story of this soldiers’ road to recovery and the support of his Army brothers. No wonder the Times wins so many awards.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>A contradiction in terms if I ever heard one.</p>

9

<p>I agree with Aspen, there is entirely too much commentary on the news—its like “talk radio video”–the problem is, a lot of people see the word “news” in the title and assume it is. The public is being assaulted with commentary and mistaking it for the un-varnished truth.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>Heretic!</p>

<p>There is no bias in the media! Journalists have integrity and journalistic standards! How dare you sully their reputation with such rediculous charges? What are you, a Conservative? </p>

<p>:rolleyes:</p>

11

<p>Frankly, its not the majority of journalists that I’m worried about, I think that most journalists do have integrity and standards–its the producers at Fox News and others (both other far right outlets and the far left) that package the information in such a way that it beomes “news” of a very different sort. Make no mistake, there is a very serious war being waged for public opinion by certain media outlets on both sides of the coin, and often times the victim is the very public it should be serving instead of trying to prosletize. </p>

<p>“What are you, a Conservative?”</p>

<p>Nope, just an independent-thinking Republican. :)</p>

12

<p>Not bad for a Sunday.</p>

13

<p>Okay Bill, when I first saw your thread I thought “Well, that lil’ devil stirring the pot and on a Sunday no less…” You raised a valid point though. Most TV news isn’t even worth the electricity used to broadcast it–high speed car chases (OJ again), gang shootings, Mel Gibson driving drunk…not worth my time. However, I try not to miss The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (isn’t he a Texan?) on public television–does anyone on this forum watch it regularly?</p>

<p>Oh well, Shogun and I are chillin’ here in California while Texas and much of the nation are sweltering with the weather we had the past two weeks. Kind of puts you out of sorts…;)</p>

14

<p>It is no suprise to me (and should be to no one) that people think a particular story/news oulet is biased if the information is contrary to their personal views. The latest study, of which I am aware, which objectively attempts to remove the bias of the observer showed almost all major media outlets lean to the left.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664[/url]”>http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Of the news programs to which I listen/read, I think only NPR reported this study.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>Another mindless drone of the Right chimes in with delusions of “media bias”. After all, we all know that the only example of real bias in the media is Fox News. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Yep. Jim Lehrer is ABSOLUTELY unbiased and NEVER takes sides. Neither does NPR. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Does his being a Texan matter? LBJ was a Texan, and a HUGE majority of the financial mess we find ourselves in right now can be placed square on his lap and his socialistic “Great Society” BS. What the hell, Reagan came from California (back when California was worth taking seriously), and I come from the Mecca of liberalism, the city of Noo YAWK.</p>

<p>State of origin means nothing.</p>

16

<p>I think by its very nature, the news media will always be seen to be leaning slightly to the “left” by any sort of authoritarian types. The very nature of their profession, if they are not to be government owned and operated, must reflect a need for reporting that is not merely the regurgitation of the “party line.” This is required for us to even have an independent press. It also inherently implies that there must be more than one newspaper owner, television news owner, or political blogger on the internet to keep that press “free”. Complaining about what one reads in the paper or hears on the news is pretty fruitless (I do it all the time, and they still are there when I turn it on in the morning), and doing so in order to put pressure on said “free press” to report things “your way” is futile at best, and un-American at worst. Simply do what Americans do when choosing a religion… or a spouse----pick out what you like, and thank our Constitution and the “liberal” interpretation of it that has allowed this nation to move forward granting rights to women, African Americans, and law abiding gun owners—Even a lifelong Republican like myself understands that protecting our personal freedoms usually comes from a “liberal” interpretation of our law, not a “conservative” one . As a traditional Republican, I see our efforts as needing to be focused on being fiscally responsible, with the government stepping on MY personal freedoms and privacy as little as possible. Much of the rest of the so-called “conservative agenda” is nothing more than one groups desire to control the personal lives of others because “they” can’t fathom why others don’t think or do as they do. The “left wing liberal” agenda is just as warped. Our country is its greatest when it rejects the extreme and finds value in some of both.</p>

17

<p>I believe most of the previous posters would agree that media outlets have increasingly set a goal to shape public opinion rather than provide its readers/viewers the information needed to form their own opinions. If I was a journalist, I would be tempted to do the same. </p>

<p>Shaping your audience’s opinion has to be more fun and challenging than the neutral reporting of the facts. Why limit yourself to being a passive “talking head” when you have the chance to be an influential “thinking head”? What person, including reporters, doesn’t believe their opinion is valuable and worth sharing? Finally, successful news commentators get paid way more than successful reporters. So for most journalists the choice is not whether to shape opinion, but rather, how and what opinion to shape. </p>

<p>To understand why more media is focused on the positives of more governmental social programs and the negatives of big business and military-related activities, one only needs to look at the primary influences on our aspiring journalists during their formative years. Those would be our school systems and the TV/music media consumed by our younger citizens. Check out the social commentary being delivered by those sources and you’ll see the future majority opinions of our next generation. </p>

<p>Soapbox Time If we want to change the perspectives of our future generations, we will have to change the forces that influence them during their formative years. Parental influence is powerful, but it will often lose the battle when confronted by an enemy of overwhelming force.</p>

18

<p>On another topic:</p>

<p>OUR YEARLINGS COME HOME TODAY!!!
yeahhhhhhhh!!!</p>

19

<p>shogun,
That is fabulous news! Any special plans? My youngster will be home in two days–this mid is pretty salty already–six weeks on the water this summer: three on a destroyer; three on a sailboat. VOST just competed in ALIR (Around Long Island Race). What a cool thing to do, sail completely around Long Island. USMMA boat won the race in their category!!! Navy is getting 24 new 44’ sailboats in September! :slight_smile: Watch out USMMA/USCGA!</p>

<p>Aspen, you’re right about media influence. We never had cable TV because we had little time to watch TV. Just too busy with sports, school, travel, Girl Scouts, church, etc. I was always very careful about what movies my child watched, encouraging her to be discriminating with her time and money. Not that I “censored” too much. Spent much time on values clarification, which after all is a big part of good parenting. I really didn’t like the dirt on some FM radio stations, so she had one of the first iPods and I bought her lots of CDs. Now, after a year at USNA she has seen her share of stupid R-rated movies with her friends and she likes country music and rap…</p>

20

<p>USNAmom:: going to see some movies (kind of a father- daughter thing we have), then a trip down your way—sister has a horse ranch near Rancho Bernardo so we like to hang out there when we want to relax. She says all she wants to do is run (says she didn’t get enough of that at Buckner), eat M & M’s, watch movies, and read the paper. Its a short leave (abt 4 and a half days for us in Ca., but its nice that they get one right before Academics start.</p>

<p>Aspen–sensible and on-target comments as always!!</p>