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Defining Bias Downward: Holding Political Power to Account Is Not Some Liberal Plot
Columbia Journalism Review ^ | Issue 1: January/February | CJR

Posted on 01/25/2005 7:04:00 AM PST by indcons

Defining Bias Downward

Holding Political Power to Account Is Not Some Liberal Plot

Reed Irvine, the energetic liberal-bias hunter who died November 16 at eighty-two, wasn’t always wrong. Irvine founded Accuracy in Media, the conservative press watchdog group, thirty-five years ago. He was stone blind to his own prejudices, and he could be scurrilous and unfair in his attacks, but he knew something about our major media, most of them based in the urban capitals of what we now call blue states and influenced, naturally, by their context.

Irvine must have been amazed in the end by all the company he had: well-financed bias-busters, slews of books, think tanks, and radio and television icons, all singing his song. This has had the good effect of waking some left-tilting journalists to their sometimes unconscious leanings, pushing them to challenge their presumptions and broaden their reporting. It has had the bad effect of making other journalists afraid of their own shadow, for fear of the bias cops. And now there’s a new challenge.

(Excerpt) Read more at cjr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cjr; journalists; liberalmedia; mediabias; reedirvine
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This has had the good effect of waking some left-tilting journalists to their sometimes unconscious leanings, pushing them to challenge their presumptions and broaden their reporting.

Are they serious?? Do they actually believe the tripe they write?

1 posted on 01/25/2005 7:04:03 AM PST by indcons
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To: indcons

LOL, NO.


2 posted on 01/25/2005 7:04:38 AM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: indcons

Those living in fear of life can do little else... Yes, they believe their tripe.


3 posted on 01/25/2005 7:05:53 AM PST by odoso (Millions for charity, but not one penny for tribute!)
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To: indcons

Here's why we question them. In the 90's, the MSM reported often on the growing relationship between Saddam and Osama.

Now that we're at war with Iraq, in large part because of Saddam's support for Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, the MSM is denying there was ever a relationship.

Hundreds of articles detailing their relationship are here:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327993/posts


4 posted on 01/25/2005 7:06:38 AM PST by Peach
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To: indcons

Exhibit A.


5 posted on 01/25/2005 7:08:33 AM PST by Rutles4Ever
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To: indcons
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW......

Isn't that an OXYMORON?.......

6 posted on 01/25/2005 7:08:38 AM PST by Red Badger (And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you FReep!........)
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To: indcons

More properly, the CJR should rename the school and all it's publications Columbia School For Propagandists.

A degree from the school is tainted with the stench of political bias. No reputable media would hire such a graduate.


7 posted on 01/25/2005 7:09:04 AM PST by bert (Peace is halftime....)
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To: television is just wrong
Do they actually believe the tripe they write?

Probably not -- they just want you to believe it.

8 posted on 01/25/2005 7:12:56 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: indcons
When a Republican former treasury secretary publicly parts company with his president on economic policy, that’s a legitimate story fit for national discussion. Ditto for a book by a top antiterrorism expert who seriously argues that the administration is blowing the war on terror. Ditto for the need for some attention to the work of Woodward, a quality reporter on the insider perspective (and whose book on the run-up to the war was carefully balanced). An effort to map the young George Bush’s record in the Guard, unknown to this day? That’s legitimate, too — if, of course, it’s done right. Abu Ghraib? It was an insult to America’s commitment to morality that, if anything, has been undercovered. One can have a legitimate debate about the weight that ought to be given to stories such as these but to suggest they should not be aggressively reported is to slip away from the world of real discourse.

Well then explain the exposure of Kitty Kelly's tabloid book. How many days was she on Good Morning America, three? Despite the rhetoric, these stories mentioned were way overblown by the media. Besides, Abu Ghraib has to be the most over reported story of my life, well excluding celebrity trials. Really, I never got Abu Ghraib. The terrorists are beheading Americans on a weekly basis, and the lead story is some embarrassing pictures of a guy with panties on his head. Give me a break.

9 posted on 01/25/2005 7:14:12 AM PST by Always Right
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To: 68skylark
Whats even worse they pretend to believe it......
10 posted on 01/25/2005 7:15:34 AM PST by lillybet (Your all right)
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To: indcons

Heh, my favorite part was when they allowed that "blue-state based media was more left leaning"... CNN (Atlanta) vs FOX (New York)

They allow for a false accuracy, and expect us to swallow the rest of the drivle?

This guy wants to come across as "mostly" correct, while avoiding the big question of why hes wrong in the first place.


11 posted on 01/25/2005 7:16:22 AM PST by MacDorcha
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To: indcons
Abu Ghraib? It was an insult to America’s commitment to morality that, if anything, has been undercovered.

Abu Ghraib has been undercovered?!! It's generated multiple headlines every freakin' day for a year now, with no signs of stopping.

I stopped reading right at that point -- the author can't possibly have anything more stupid and biased to say than that.

12 posted on 01/25/2005 7:16:39 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: indcons
"...first, recognize that challenging political power and holding it to account is the legitimate role of the press in a democracy, not some liberal plot."

Not true - if it's only Republicans and conservatives that are being held to account.

The canonical example is to compare the Bush National Guard stories to the treatment of the Swift Boat Vets. Both cases had accusations against presidential candidates, and could thus affect the election.

On one side were a small number of disaffected people, mostly associated with Democrats, bringing out evidence that later proved to be forged. Yet these people were taken seriously enough for this story to be in all the major media until complete outsiders brought out unambiguious evidence of the forgery.

On the other side were a couple of hundred guys, from Democrat to Independent to Republican, with direct experience on the matters at hand. They had some documentary evidence, and the rest was withheld by Kerry, who refused to sign his form 180. Kerry actually backtracked on some of the accusations, such as his Christmas in Cambodia story. Other accusations, such as meeting with the North Vietnamese in Paris, were never disputed.

Yet the media's drumbeat was "debunked accusations", and none - NOT ONE - network new organization or the New York Times or Washington Post or the LA Times, or any of the other supposedly "objective" media took the accusations seriously or reported on them in any substantive way.

Until cases like this are recognized and corrected, any pretension that the media is not biased should be treated for the laughable assertion that it is.

13 posted on 01/25/2005 7:20:31 AM PST by Joe Bonforte
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To: 68skylark

They are an activist political organization, and they laugh their heads off when we claim bias.

They know exactly what they are doing.

And they must be completely defeated and discredited.


14 posted on 01/25/2005 7:21:03 AM PST by roses of sharon
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To: indcons

The leftists are on the run in every area of our culture. Press them unmercifully. Do not yield one point or give them any hope of retaking the field. Encourage each other in every situation where a right-thinking person is being attacked by them. And hold your congressmen and senators to the conservative standard they ran on last Nov. to win their red-state offices. We need to press for a 100-year legacy, nothing less.


15 posted on 01/25/2005 7:26:26 AM PST by kittymyrib
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To: indcons
The sad fact is that the editors of the Columbia Journalism Review actually DO believe the tripe that they write. They lack the perspective to see how sardonic and funny their editorial is.

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest, "Social Security, AARP and Coots"

16 posted on 01/25/2005 7:32:08 AM PST by Congressman Billybob (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.)
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To: indcons

"Stop questioning"? How jouralistic minded of them.


17 posted on 01/25/2005 7:49:40 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Legislatures are so outdated. If you want real political victory, take your issue to court.)
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To: kittymyrib
The leftists are on the run in every area of our culture.

Yeah, I've heard some people say that since we've now defeated the left-wing press monopoly we should look for new ground to conquer. Someone said it would be wonderful for conservatives to move into public education.

It's a nice idea, but it seems like huge battle to fight against a very entrenched enemy.

18 posted on 01/25/2005 7:59:19 AM PST by 68skylark
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To: Peach
"Now that we're at war with Iraq, in large part because of Saddam's support for Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, the MSM is denying there was ever a relationship. "

Their reason, of course, is to hide Willie's involvement with that connection. All through the '90s, Willie and the DNC were collecting Saddam's (and Saudi) oil cash for services renderd, mostly, keeping OBL alive. After 9/11, the congressional dems and the neocommunist media are desperate to keep Willie out of it. Lies are a major part of the effort.

Imagine what will have to what is left of the MSM when we have proof that Monica was simply a diversion for Willie's theft and the media should have known about it?

19 posted on 01/25/2005 7:59:36 AM PST by Tacis (Democrats! - When You Need America Blamed Or A Pool Peed In!!)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

This is classic old fashion style soviet bull shiite. These people are so dense that they will never be a threat to us.


20 posted on 01/25/2005 7:59:39 AM PST by jmaroneps37 ( Frist/ Blackwell in 2008 for a landslide: you saw it here first.)
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