Just the facts Ma'am.
Posted on 04/21/2008 3:16:54 PM PDT by moderatewolverine
When Fox News Channel was launched promising news that was “fair and balanced,” mainstream outlets were insulted by the insinuation that their news wasn’t.
They shouldn’t have been. In fact, “fair and balanced” news is a bad idea that was never in our past and will not be in our future.
Before the printing press was invented, news was spread by word-of-mouth, so everyone had the opportunity to influence the top stories. Even governments had to compete, sometimes by hiring singing, colorfully-garbed minstrels to break through the clutter. A pretty good system, really — a multitude of voices competing in a freewheeling marketplace of ideas, with individuals deciding for themselves whom to listen to and what to believe. But, fair and balanced? No.
Things did not improve with the invention of the printing press. The large size of printing presses made them difficult to conceal. This made it easy for governments to track down and pressure those who might be printing content that was critical of their actions. Thus began centuries of governments chilling free expression through a variety of legal mechanisms — e.g. issuance and revocation of licenses to publish, requiring approval prior to publication, censorship, and punishments as severe as the death penalty. A formula for fair and balanced news? Ha!
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
I balance my news out with scrappleface, weakly squirrel news, and The Onion.
This is a post and run because I have a meeting:
News should not be biased, it should not be balanced, it should be FAIR, ACCURATE, and COMPLETE, to the extent possible, not leaving out important facts.
It should be the facts, and the presumption that the reader is not an idiot.
Wait.
...never mind...
It grates on me that the media presents itself as this impartial judge, fair and balanced, when it's so obviously biased almost uniformly to the left.
The news should not have to be “balanced” if it is true and accurate. Editorials should be labeled as such. The current media gets it all mixed up into short soundbites.
Dare to dream. People should be able to get their news with whatever slant they want. Legislating “fairness” is Stalinism.
I just want ACCURATE without the commentary.
Just the facts Ma'am.
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