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The Press at War (Outstanding read re. MSM bias)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | November 6, 2006 | James Q. Wilson

Posted on 11/06/2006 12:08:31 AM PST by Zakeet

We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately. This news discourages supporters of our efforts there. Not me, though: I am relieved. Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90% of the public do not want us out right now.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2005, nearly 1,400 stories appeared on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news. More than half focused on the costs and problems of the war, four times as many as those that discussed the successes. About 40% of the stories reported terrorist attacks; scarcely any reported the triumphs of American soldiers and Marines. The few positive stories about progress in Iraq were just a small fraction of all the broadcasts.

When the Center for Media and Public Affairs made a nonpartisan evaluation of network news broadcasts, it found that during the active war against Saddam Hussein, 51% of the reports about the conflict were negative. Six months after the land battle ended, 77% were negative; in the 2004 general election, 89% were negative; by the spring of 2006, 94% were negative. This decline in media support was much faster than during Korea or Vietnam.

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bias; drivebymedia; media; msm; wot
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The author presents a good overview of MSM bias in reporting on the War in Iraq, including a detailed comparison with the reporting of prior wars.
1 posted on 11/06/2006 12:08:32 AM PST by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet
The Drive Bys are overwhelmingly liberal and so are their pollsters. Most of their reporting is "noise." Not surprisingly, their ratings and circulation have tanked with the public, in seeming tandem with their liberal bias and partisan orientation. This isn't a coincidence.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

2 posted on 11/06/2006 12:11:27 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Zakeet
network news broadcasts

The socialist/Marxist/liberal media is the most destructive, relentless, and ruthless enemy of this Republic.

****

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the press, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. -Mark Twain

****

"A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague." - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Orator --- 106-43 B.C.

****

3 posted on 11/06/2006 12:13:48 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Either hold your nose a little on Election Day ......... or grab your ankles for the next years)
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To: Zakeet
When the Center for Media and Public Affairs made a nonpartisan evaluation of network news broadcasts, it found that during the active war against Saddam Hussein, 51% of the reports about the conflict were negative. Six months after the land battle ended, 77% were negative; in the 2004 general election, 89% were negative; by the spring of 2006, 94% were negative. This decline in media support was much faster than during Korea or Vietnam.

The DBM has learned alot from Uncle Walter Cronkite

And the public has learned alot more through the internet

4 posted on 11/06/2006 12:20:01 AM PST by Mo1 (Get out and Vote ~ Say No To Democrats !!)
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To: goldstategop
Most of their reporting is "noise." Not surprisingly, their ratings and circulation have tanked with the public, in seeming tandem with their liberal bias and partisan orientation. This isn't a coincidence.

You know what is surprising is just how brain dead they are not to realize what's going on around them

5 posted on 11/06/2006 12:26:59 AM PST by Mo1 (Get out and Vote ~ Say No To Democrats !!)
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To: Zakeet

Excellent article.

Thanks for posting.


6 posted on 11/06/2006 12:31:24 AM PST by EternalHope (Boycott everything French forever. Including their vassal nations.)
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To: Zakeet

A must read. Bump.


7 posted on 11/06/2006 12:31:32 AM PST by Defiant (1/3 of the colonials imposed freedom on the rest of the colonists in 1776. Repeat?)
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To: Zakeet
We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately.

Be interesting to add a question to the poll, where do you get most of your news?

I can't remember the last time I tuned into any of the network news broadcasts. I used to watch quite a few of the "magazine" type shows.

Bet a good chunk of the 50% have done like I have, tuned out the network news.

8 posted on 11/06/2006 1:26:19 AM PST by GoLightly
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To: Zakeet

ping


9 posted on 11/06/2006 2:37:54 AM PST by N2Gems
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To: GoLightly

I have taken the NO DBM pledge and have maintained about a 90% level since 2002!


10 posted on 11/06/2006 3:08:41 AM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: Zakeet
94% were negative

That is about the percentage of stories that are anti-Republican during this election too.

11 posted on 11/06/2006 3:11:38 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: Zakeet

bump


12 posted on 11/06/2006 3:16:40 AM PST by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Mo1

The issue continues to be: How do we get accurate news DESPITE the lamestream media?

Complaining about their bias isn't the issue. The issue is overcoming them and getting the news out anyway.


13 posted on 11/06/2006 3:20:34 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!)
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To: Zakeet

BTTT


14 posted on 11/06/2006 3:44:49 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Bump and bookmarked


15 posted on 11/06/2006 4:11:48 AM PST by listenhillary (Driveby MEDIA -should be forced to file Federal Election Commission reports NOW!)
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To: Zakeet

One answer to the differences between WWII reporting and current propaganda:

The Sedition Act and Military censors put the lives of troops and victory first.

Jail and a firing squad do wonders for pompous traitors willingness to "cooperate" in the war effort.


16 posted on 11/06/2006 4:47:02 AM PST by prov1813man
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To: Mo1

>>The DBM has learned alot from Uncle Walter Cronkite
>>
>>And the public has learned alot more through the internet

Let's hope enough have learned more through the internet, to overcome those brainwashed by the DBM, in this election cycle.

Over time, the real story will come out, and it bodes well for our prospects long-term.


17 posted on 11/06/2006 5:20:39 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Zakeet

How about that weekend long "Broken Government" programming played on cnn?

cnn is like the dragon breathing it's last firey breath before it's fall.

sickening, hatefilled, insane.


18 posted on 11/06/2006 6:42:59 AM PST by jackv (just shakin' my head)
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To: Zakeet; Tribune7; Owl_Eagle; brityank; Pokey78; Physicist; abb; an amused spectator; John Carey; ...
Ping -

James Q. Wilson at his best...

19 posted on 11/06/2006 7:53:35 AM PST by GOPJ (MSM is so busy kissing democrat butt they miss big stories. Come up for air guys.)
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To: Zakeet

http://www.clermontyellow.accountsupport.com/flash/UntilThen.swf

If only the press would report on this!


20 posted on 11/06/2006 7:58:19 AM PST by roses of sharon
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