just an honest question regarding media and election

[thesightless]

yeah, we all know that outside of certain fox news anchors, the media in general is eavily liberal....

my question is why are all the networks going crazy over obama's trip to the middle east when john mccain has already gone there three times ?>?>>> they are sending anchors and large contingents with him.

can, at least for a little while, the media act nuetral or at least portray it? at least until the election is over.

obama isnt doing anything groundbreaking here, its been done.

[Garrick]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

they will never be neutral. the media is there to make a big deal about their candidate. sorry, that's just how media is today. they will give their candidate the limelight and attempt to swing the votes.

[thesightless]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

its a shame, becasue these two idiots are going to battle out an election where half the actual facts are either going to be lied about of simply not stated.

again, this trip is the 4th made by a candidate so far, and obama's first. no big deal

[MJDub]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

If the media has a liberal agenda, they failed at making anything come out of it for the past 8 years. But let's be honest, Obama is a little more interesting. The media covers what's more "interesting."

[FM]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

and if they can dramatize it up a bit...got to have IMPACT...

It's not so much the talking heads you see reading the prompters...it's the producers and the news directors that decide what gets aired and how it's going to be written/read...

[superdave]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

yeah, we all know that outside of certain fox news anchors, the media in general is eavily liberal....

my question is why are all the networks going crazy over obama's trip to the middle east when john mccain has already gone there three times ?>?>>> they are sending anchors and large contingents with him.

can, at least for a little while, the media act nuetral or at least portray it? at least until the election is over.

obama isnt doing anything groundbreaking here, its been done.

I think you hit it by stating the liberal is largely liberal. They love Obama because he's a Democrat, young(in Presidential terms) and the first black nominee for President.

[runningman]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

The only way it will be be fair is is the "Fairness Doctrine" was re-introduced. That will do away with the Rush Limbaugh's and COmpany

[88Mariner]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

^ ha. seriously.

Clearly, the "Fairness Doctrine" you're talking about is not about being 'fair'. It's about silencing dissent.

But this isn't suprising coming from such 'philosophical' persuasions...

[subterFUSE]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

Yep. But this is no surpirse. Liberals are all about silencing oppositition. They don't want to win an argument... Just silence any dissent, or tilt the voting population in their favor by legalizing 12+ million illegals.

[88Mariner]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

^ as are neoconservatives. but that doesn't warrant them being silence.

The way to eradicate false beliefs is to show the evidence.

While it may not be the 'best' way to eliminate these atrocious ideas, it is the most essential way.

[runningman]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

all I'm saying is that you shouldn't be able to have one view drilling ideals in your head for hours everyday.. I hate Rush is what I was trying to get across and wished him and Bill O'reilly would be booted off the air.

[88Mariner]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

^nobody is forced to listen to him. There is a dial. Everyone has a choice.

[Kiff]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

all I'm saying is that you shouldn't be able to have one view drilling ideals in your head for hours everyday.. I hate Rush is what I was trying to get across and wished him and Bill O'reilly would be booted off the air.

Well then lets look at your argument in light of having one view drilling ideals in your head. Here are some numbers to chew on:

Audience reach and circulation statistics illustrate the liberal domination of the five major information media, two of which have no conservative sources:

Broadcast TV news, millions/day Liberal 42.1 Conservative 0
Top 25 newspapers, millions/day Liberal 11.7 Conservative 1.3
Cable TV news, millions/month Liberal 182.8 Conservative 61.6
Top talk radio, millions/week Liberal 24.5 Conservative 87.0
Newsweeklies, millions/week Liberal 8.5 Conservative 0

*for more info check out http://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/MediaBias.doc

So, if there are any ideals being drilled into the head, its obviously the liberal ideals that are really being drilled (though I doubt you actually have a problem with that). Ironically, it's the liberal ideals that stand to loose the most from the "Fairness" Doctrine. So, would the "Fairness" Doctrine increase or reduce discussion about public policy issues? History says speech would be curtailed. When the "Fairness" Doctrine was in effect, talk radio avoided controversial topics. Most stations programmed only general talk and advice. Politicians repeatedly have used the "Fairness" Doctrine to chill speech. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson both used the "Fairness" Doctrine to stifle criticism, suppress the speech of political adversaries, and force radio stations to provide free air time. Today, efforts by liberal politicians to restore the "Fairness" Doctrine bring to mind the worst moment of Israel’s King David (I'm not much of a christian, but there are some interesting stories in the bible). David was not satisfied with his many wives and concubines; he also had to have the beautiful Bathsheba, the only wife of one of his soldiers. American liberals already dominate four of the five most important news and information media, and they are determined to take over the fifth medium as well. America has so many sources of news and information available that no federal regulation of broadcasting content can possibly be justified on the grounds of public interest. The Fairness Doctrine has an ugly history of political abuse directly intended to restrict the free exchange of ideas.
And why should Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Rielly be booted from the air? I get it, you think that only Liberal ideals should be discussed and that nobody with conservative ideals should have a voice (how very Soviet of you). How about having Bill Moyers and Anderson Cooper booted off the air too? Oh, wait they are Liberal voices and they have the only right to be heard. In all actuality, none of these people should be booted off the air. This is America, where freedom of speech is a right. As my fellow Libertarian Mariner88 stated, if you don't like the shows, then turn that dial or change the channel. Otherwise move to Cuba, Mynmar, or Venezuela where "fairness" doctorines thrive. Oh wait, your already in Canada....

[Lorn]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

^nobody is forced to listen to him. There is a dial. Everyone has a choice.

Spot on.

[toasty]

Re: just an honest question regarding media and election

my question is why are all the networks going crazy over obama's trip to the middle east when john mccain has already gone there three times ?>?>>> they are sending anchors and large contingents with him.

Ironically, I honestly think that part of the reason is that because the folks on the right made such a big deal over the fact that Obama hadn't been yet, it inevitably became more newsworthy when he did go. The RNC ran a ticker on its homepage showing how long it had been since Obama had been to Iraq -- now he's there, and so far it looks to be a net positive for him. Be careful what you wish for, IMO.

And by the way, it is not a foregone conclusion that the media has this liberal bias that everyone speaks of. The media has a pro-media bias, and will run whatever stories keep people watching and listening, period. At different times over the course of an election cycle, that manifests itself by reporting that looks to favor one candidate or the other, most often the one that is behind, because viewers are more interested in a close race than a blowout.

I frankly am just not buying the media bias study cited by Kiff (and I couldn't help notice that there are quite a few commentators that take a similarly dim view of the methodology). The way it is set up, it ignores obvious displays of bias, like when a reporter editorializes about a situation, and it also attaches what I view as artificial significance to what "think tank" is cited by members of congress and news outlets. This debate will rage on forever, but attempting to quantify something like this in an empirical way is like herding cats, IMO.