Posted on 08/08/2010 5:14:53 AM PDT by preacher
For a year, a small number of conservative media outlets have been reporting on the New Black Panther Party scandal – a slam-dunk voter-intimidation case documented on videotape, which the government won by default but that Obama administration appointees ordered career lawyers to dismiss against the NBPP and two individual defendants. (The injunction against a third individual was drastically curtailed.) On the web at CONTENTIONS, Hot Air.com, and National Review Online, and on the pages of the Weekly Standard and the Washington Times, readers could watch the story unfold as bit by bit an extraordinary tale came into focus
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
In other news: water is wet.
hopefully, at some point, this tape will become “Exhibit A” in the trial of that slime holder.
NEWS FLASH!!!!
People will support a news service that reports the news. Those in the media who chose to ignore reporting on stories for partisan reasons, will eventually run out of customers.
The Partisan Socialist Media doesn’t miss the news, they reject it.
“Those in the media who chose to ignore reporting on stories for partisan reasons, will eventually run out of customers.”
MSM bias has been going on for at least twenty years. At this stage, the customers who remain are either as partisan as the MSM or too stupid to notice. That’s how we got Obummer and half the repulsive congresscritters in DC.
...”Those in the media who chose to ignore reporting on stories for partisan reasons, will eventually run out of customers”...
Yes..There is an ignorance in their stance that defies reason and reality..They are participating in their own demise and do not even grasp it.
” Those in the media who chose to ignore reporting on stories for partisan reasons, will eventually run out of customers. “
Unfortunately, their most loyal ‘customer’ base consists of the ‘power elites’ (regardless of party) - giving the old-guard MSM an inordinate influence over the National Agenda...
It would of been on the news 24-7 for years, and the perps would of been put under the jail.
Preacher:
How the Mainstream Media Leftist Presstitues Misses Ignore the News.
Preacher: You are so right.
And yet it is much more. At one time,the press ‘covered’ the news fully. Now, they ‘cover up’ the news. Especially the news that they do not want you to know about.
For the record, here are the kinds of bias...... Courtesy of the Free Republic Media Bias Chapter.
Types of Bias: Descriptions and Examples of Each
# Bias by commission
# Bias by omission
# Bias by story selection
# Bias by placement
# Bias by the selection of sources
# Bias by spin
# Bias by labeling
# Bias by policy endorsement or condemnation
# What Isn’t Bias
Identifying and Documenting Bias in News Stories
Bias by Commission:
A pattern of passing along assumptions or errors that tend to support a left-wing or liberal view.
This is the most common form of bias. Within the space or time limit constraining them, reporters are supposed to provide roughly equal time to presenting the best arguments of both sides of an issue. If liberals say “A” and conservatives say “B” then the story should summarize both perspectives. For example, liberals cite government statistics to show that during the 1980s the rich got tax breaks while the middle class and poor paid more taxes. Conservatives, on the other hand, contend federal figures demonstrate that the rich paid more of federal tax receipts as everyone else paid less. Who’s correct? A properly done story would recite the figures and analysis behind both views, so that a news consumer could make up his own mind about which perspective makes more sense.
If the reporter presents only one perspective or passes along only the “facts” espoused by liberals without any acknowledgment that conservatives disagree, then he has committed bias by commission.
Documenting bias by commission often requires research. Unfortunately, while reputable books and studies include citations or footnotes, the media (especially television reporters) often ask you simply to believe them. So when reporters cite a specific group or study, try to get a copy of the original report. Most of the time you’ll recognize bias by commission because the reporter will have presented only the liberal slant on an issue you know has another side. If you’re not sure, find an expert in the field, and ask him if a story’s statistics ring true. The offices of conservative state legislators are excellent sources to consult on any issue facing state lawmakers. If they don’t know, try a conservative group that specializes in the area in question, or a conservative-leaning professor at a local college.
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Bias by Omission:
Ignoring facts that tend to disprove liberal or left-wing claims, or that support conservative beliefs.
To catch this kind of bias you’ll have to be knowledgeable about the particular subject. If you know the various points of view on an issue, then you’ll recognize when one side is left out. Bias by omission can occur either within a story, or over the long term as a particular news outlet reports one set of events, but not another.
To find instances of bias by omission, keep abreast of the conservative perspective on current issues. See if that perspective is included in stories on a particular event or policy. If it’s not, you may have uncovered bias by omission.
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Bias by Story Selection
A pattern of highlighting news stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stories that coincide with the agenda of the Right.
Bias by story selection often occurs when a media outlet decides to do a story on a study released by a liberal group, but ignores studies on the same or similar topics released by conservative groups.
Like bias by omission, to identify bias by story selection you’ll need to know the conservative and liberal issue agenda — the events of concern to the two sides of the political scene. See how much coverage conservative issues get compared to issues on the liberal agenda. If a liberal group puts out a study proving a liberal point, look at how much coverage it got compared to a conservative study issued a few days or weeks earlier. If charges of impropriety are leveled at two politicians of approximately equal power, one liberal and one conservative, compare the amount of coverage given to each.
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Bias by Placement:
A pattern of placing news stories so as to downplay information supportive of conservative views.
Does a story appear across the top half of the front page, or is it buried back with the obituaries and the horoscopes? News editors exercise great discretion in their placement of stories. The news they consider most important and/or most likely to sell papers goes “above the fold” on the front page, where it can be read as the newspaper sits on the rack. Less important stories go on the bottom half of the first page, on the first page of other sections of the paper, on page two or three, and so on.
Bias by placement can occur with television or radio news — making a story the lead versus running it 25 minutes into an hour-long newscast. But, it’s a lot easier to identify this kind of bias in a newspaper where placing a story on page one versus on the bottom of an inside page makes for a dramatic contrast.
There are limitations on a newspaper editor’s discretion, of course. He must fit stories together in an attractive way and place stories around advertising, a job that is like assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle. He must use graphic elements such as charts, graphs, and photos effectively. But as a general rule story placement is a measure of how important the editor considers the story.
Another form of bias by placement is the placement of facts within a story. Again, this is a kind of bias that occurs much more in print than broadcast media. A television or radio story lasts anywhere from a few seconds to two minutes, and so only has time for one or two brief soundbites from each side. It really doesn’t matter where in the story the two sides are presented, just as long as they are given equal time and weight.
Newspaper stories are usually written in a “pyramid” style — that is, the most important facts are supposed to appear early in the story, with each paragraph a little less important than the previous paragraph. Newspapers use that style for two reasons: (a) so that editors, editing a story to fit the available space, can cut from the bottom up, and (b) so that the average reader will get the most important facts. Editors know that, the farther down you go in a news story, the fewer readers you have.
Studies have shown that, in the case of the average newspaper reader and the average news story, most people read only the headline. Some read just the first paragraph, some just the first two paragraphs, and some read just to the bottom of the column and don’t bother to read the continuation. Very few people read the average story all the way through to the end, especially if it is continued to another section of the paper.
To locate examples of bias by placement, observe where a newspaper places political stories. Compare the placement of a story that makes a liberal point or makes a conservative look bad to a story on a similar topic that makes a liberal look bad. Whenever you read a story, see how far into story the conservative viewpoint first appears. In a fair and balanced story, the reporter would quote or summarize the liberal and conservative view at about the same place in the story. If not, you’ve found bias by placement.
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Bias by the Selection of Sources:
Including more sources in a story who support one view over another. This bias can also be seen when a reporter uses such phrases as “experts believe,” “observers say,” or “most people think.”
When a reporter says “most experts believe...,” he often means, “I believe...” Quoting an expert by name does not necessarily add to the credibility of a story, because the reporter may choose any “expert” he wants. The same goes for the use of politicians or “man on the street” interviews.
Experts in news stories are like expert witnesses in trials. If you know whether the defense or the prosecution called a particular expert witness to the stand, you know which way the witness will testify. And when a news story only presents one side, it is obviously the side the reporter supports.
To find bias by use of experts or sources, stay alert to the affiliations and political perspective of those quoted as experts or authorities in news stories. Not all stories will include experts, but in those that do, make sure about an equal number of conservatives and liberals are quoted. If a story quotes non-experts, such as those portrayed as average citizens, check to be sure that about an equal number come from both sides of the issue in question. Also check to see if a reporter’s generalization about how “economists across the political spectrum” or “most health care specialists” is supported by subsequently cited experts. If they are all or overwhelmingly from one side of the political spectrum, then you’ve come across bias by use of sources.
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Bias by Spin:
Emphasizing aspects of a policy favorable to liberals without noting aspects favorable to conservatives; putting out the liberal interpretation of what an event means while giving little or no time or space to explaining the conservative interpretation.
Party spokesmen who talk with reporters after a presidential debate, seeking to convince them that their candidate won, are called “spin doctors.” One expert on the news media, Professor Michael Robinson, explains “spin involves tone, the part of the reporting that extends beyond hard news” it’s a reporter’s “subjective comments about objective facts.”
So, check the spin on a story. If liberal politicians are offering one interpretation of an event or policy, and conservatives another, see which one a news story matches. Many news stories do not reflect a particular spin. Others summarize the spin put on an event by both sides. But if a story reflects one to the exclusion of the other, then you’ve found “bias by spin.”
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Bias by Labeling:
Attaching a label to conservatives but not to liberals; using more extreme labeling for conservatives than for liberals; identifying a liberal person or group as an “expert” or as independent.
The power to label politicians, activists and groups is one of the media’s most subtle and potent powers. The paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould may be a Marxist, but he makes a valid point: that labels tell you as much about the person applying the labels as they tell about the subject being labeled. Gould wrote, “Taxonomy [the science of classification] is often regarded as the dullest of subjects, fit only for mindless ordering and sometimes denigrated within science as ‘stamp collecting’....If systems of classification were neutral hat racks for hanging the facts of the world, this disdain might be justified. But classifications both direct and reflect our thinking. The way we [put things in] order represents the way we think.” In other words, classifications, or labels, matter.
Terms like “right-wing” are used to describe hard-line communists and staunch capitalists, Israeli Zionists and Soviet anti-Semites, apartheid-loving bigots and Clarence Thomas supporters. And liberals complain about conservatives being “simplistic.”
Bias by labeling comes in two forms. First, the tagging of conservative politicians and groups with extreme labels while leaving liberal politicians and groups unlabeled or with more mild labels. Responsible conservatives are sometimes stigmatized as “far right,” “ultra-conservative,” or “right-wing extremists,” while radicals, even Marxists, are called “progressives,” “liberals,” or “moderates.” In other cases, conservative groups are identified as conservative, while liberal groups are described in neutral terms such as “womens group” or “civil rights group,” or favorable terms such as “children’s rights supporters,” “free-speech activists,” or “clean-air advocates.”
The second kind of bias by labeling occurs when a reporter not only fails to identify a liberal as a liberal, but describes the person or group with positive labels, such as “an expert” or “independent consumer group.” In so doing, the reporter imparts an air of authority that the source does not deserve. If the “expert” is properly called a “conservative” or a “liberal” the news consumer can take that ideological slant into account when evaluating the accuracy of an assertion.
When looking for bias by labeling, remember that not all labeling is biased or wrong. A story calling Senator Helms “conservative” is accurate; as is a reporter’s reference to Pat Buchanan as “the conservative co-host of CNN’s Crossfire.” But any story labeling conservatives should also label liberals. So, the story should read: “Pat Buchanan serves as the conservative co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, sparring across the table each night with the liberal Michael Kinsley.”
Bias by labeling is present when the story labels the conservative, but not the liberal; when the story uses more extreme-sounding labels for the conservative than the liberal (”ultra-conservative,” “far right,” and “hard right” but just “liberal” instead of “far left” and “hard left”); and when the story misleadingly identifies a liberal official or group as an “expert” or “independent watchdog organization.”
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Bias by Policy Recommendation or Condemnation:
When a reporter goes beyond reporting and endorses the liberal view of which policies should be enacted, or affirms the liberal criticism of current or past policies.
As described earlier, when reporters list possible solutions to society’s problems, the solutions often follow the agenda of the Left (”raise taxes,” “cut defense,” “have taxpayers pay for abortions,” “issue more government regulations”). And when reporters review past policies, their evaluations follow a liberal script (”Reaganomics made the rich richer and the poor poorer,” “slashes in social spending caused increased infant mortality and homelessness,” “the lack of an energy policy has made the U.S. dependent on foreign oil,” “too much defense spending has driven us into bankruptcy”).
Most news stories simply relate a sequence of events, but when a story mixes reporting with specific recommendations for government policy, that’s bias by policy recommendation. When a reporter conclusively declares that a past or current policy has failed, that’s bias by policy condemnation. Taken together, this bias occurs whenever a reporter, without any attribution, offers a definitive policy evaluation.
Bias by policy recommendation/condemnation should jump out at you, but be careful. A story or sidebar which includes recommendations is biased if it endorses one view over another or urges one particular policy. If a story, however, lists various options or summarizes the policies advocated by both liberals and conservatives, then it does not reflect bias by policy recommendation. Similarly, if it explains why liberals and conservatives feel the policies espoused by the other have been failures, then the story does not exhibit bias by policy condemnation. Bias by policy recommendation or condemnation occurs when the reporter endorses one side’s policy recommendation or one side’s policy condemnation.
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What Isn’t Bias
You may come across stories that you believe fit one of these eight definitions of bias. But, they still may not qualify as examples which you should criticize. With some narrow exceptions explained later in this section, you want to identify bias that occurs in news stories and which favors the liberal view over the conservative perspective.
What isn’t bias falls into three broad categories:
1. Editorials or opinion columns
2. Stories or statements that make the conservative side look bad, but are accurate
3. Non-policy stories on a specific event that don’t have to be balanced
Newspaper, radio and television station editorials are supposed to take a point of view. The same goes for columns which appear on the op-ed page and commentaries on television news shows. Don’t equate a front page news story with an editorial. They are very different items. You should stick to analyzing news stories. They are supposed to be unbiased presentations of the news. When they are biased, the reporter is not doing his job. Editorial and column writers, in contrast, are supposed to take a point of view. They are under no obligation to be fair or balanced.
The only exception: If you are interested in showing that a newspaper’s editorials are consistently liberal, or advocate liberal policies more often than conservative ones. Similarly, you can analyze the columnists run by your local paper if you want to prove that contrary to the paper’s claim or public perception, they do not balance out.
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Index bump.
How about this headline MSNBC: "B.O. More Damaging Than BP"
# Bias by adjectives
The media always refers to someone they want to disparage with negative adjectives, like "controversial," "extreme," "right-wing," etc.
Their choice of descriptive adjectives for people they favor is much more positive.
Examples abound. Read a puff piece on someone like Hagan and compare it with a hit piece on Janice Rogers-Brown. Write down all the adjectives used in both pieces and compare them.
The media had to consult first with the Journolist blog and White House sources to see if they should cover this story.
Further addition, the medias use of “two wrongs make a right”.
Bringing up a completely unrelated situation, with no common elements into a report as if to say “See, they did it too - and WORSE!!”
Example - Bringing up Larry Craig being found to have sent sexually explicit emails to a House page in reports ranging from Rangel/Waters ethics charges, to Enron, the Gulf oil spill and Global Warming.
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