Monday, September 14, 2009

Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low: Overview - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low: Overview - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: "...only about a quarter (26%) now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is not politically biased, compared with 60% who say news organizations are politically biased."
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And they hold conferences to figure out why newspaper circulation and network TV news viewing are plummeting. Part of it is the internet, but bias is the other part. The bias is so obvious that a person would have to be a complete fool not to see it, and when you can't trust the news coverage, why not figure it out yourself from the web? All the Brokaw types are pontificating about how badly we need them to serve as a "filter," but that would only be true if they weren't filtering it with such a blatant agenda. The coverage (and non-coverage) of the conservative march on Washington over the weekend is a great example.

3 comments:

Beth said...

Next up: We'll survey the population to find out whether evolution is true.

Evan McKenzie said...

And here comes a devastating
response to Brokaw.

Beth said...

That was an interesting article; thanks for the link. My own opinion (for what it is worth) is that the truth is more complicated. This Spectator article shows that no single political viewpoint has ever had a stranglehold on the info available in our society (otherwise Lord wouldn't have all those examples). And I've seen at least as many incorrect or overblown stories on Drudge as actual, significant scoops. I'd say the signal-to-noise ratio there is not as good as Lord implies. Ditto for the National Enquirer (which has had other good scoops besides Edwards, but they aren't exactly a weekly event), or the Beck/Van Jones business, in which Van Jones isn't exactly the evil communist truther that Beck paints him to be (Beck is not entirely wrong either and I'm not a fan of Van Jones, I'm just saying--AND Beck has a major media position in tv & radio . . . which are "old media," right? He's on the cover of Time next week, too, so he is hardly being ignored.) As for Ann Coulter, well, if Lord really thinks liberal bias is the only reason she doesn't have the presence she used to have, there's not much more to say.

Since it isn't reasonable to expect one media outlet to be all things to all people, I'm glad we have multiple places to find smart writing from all perspectives.