Posted on 12/30/2010 1:38:38 PM PST by Beaten Valve
Former CBS Marketwatch CEO Larry Kramer blogs about MSNBC and Fox News on his blog, C-Scape. In a nutshell, Kramer argues that today’s busy media consumer, lacking the time to dig in to issues themselves, instead relies on cognitive shortcuts to familiarize themselves with what the “correct” opinions are, based on their preexisting ideology.
In Kramer’s opinion, Fox News and MSNBC are at the heart of this problem, which he says is “a bad thing for democracy” and leads to a “less-informed but more opinionated public.”
It is, frankly, easier for someone to turn on either Fox News or MSNBC, listen to the frequent opinion expressed, right or left, and benchmark themselves against that opinion rather than forming their own opinion based on independent thinking.
So if a new Supreme Court Justice was named tomorrow, more people would check out what Fox and MSNBC said about him or her, and then quickly decide whether or not they were in favor or opposed to approving the candidate. “If Fox (or MSNBC) like him, so do I,” a viewer can decide, (or the opposite) based totally on that viewer’s political stance and how it relates to Fox or MSNBC.
Kramer is an incredibly smart and well-respected TV executive, but in this case he seems to miss the mark in at least two ways:
(Excerpt) Read more at mediabistro.com ...
I get my info from a wide variety of sources.
Yes. Fox is trying to be ‘balanced’ by balancing lies and the truth equally. Not good.
ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, PBS, Pacifica, NYTimes, LATimes, Boston Glob, WashingtonPoo, Time-Lies, Newsweak, RollingStoned, etc. do no better at presenting unbiased news.
At least viewers of Fox/MSNBC are told to expect SOME degree of slant in the presentation. I watch neither. And won’t suffer fools in the media who deny THEY hold any bias in their journalism, especially after they were caught red handed colluding on Journalist to shield Obama from criticism in the 2008 campaign and as he instituted his policies.
“It is, frankly, easier for someone to turn on either Fox News or MSNBC”
Hardly. In fact, it is SO hard to “turn on” msnbc that I don’t even try. Ever.
Not working, MSM.
Try again - AFTER you all go back to some college worthy of the name and take some courses that require something more than your high-school (make that PUBLIC high school) level of understanding.
{{Rolls Eyes}}
FoxNews to the Right, is not even on the same playing field as it relates to MSNBC and it’s relationship to the Left.
FoxNews is generally biased to the Right, but it is by no means incapable of presenting Leftist views to counter the right. And it does so not infrequently.
FoxNews is nowhere near the biased anti-Left entity that the major media players try to frame it as being. It merely presents information without trashing the Right during the process. That being said, it does actually present bias at times, that isn’t pro Right. Whether by ignorance or by design, it doesn’t always get it right.
On times it does trash the Left rather hard. It’s the only news program that does. I think that is balanced, since every other national news entity trashes the Right non-stop, and they don’t have a nice thing to say about the Right ever.
MSNBC’s presentations are practically insane as reasoned logic goes. Trying to equate each as being fringe, MSNBC on the Left and FoxNews on the right, is a preposterous supposition.
I don’t watch either of those networks.
The better question from my view as a 30-something, is
What television news network has provided information rich news during my lifetime?
The answer to that leads one to believe Fox and MSNBC are no worse than what preceded them.
I would rather discuss breaking news here, getting a wide variety of opinions.
Shep Smith, Whorealdo, Bill O’Really, et al, are definitely NOT slanted to the right. Big government statist control freaks all.
I’ve noticed more and more that Fox doesn’t follow up on questions that it asks its guest. Example....when O’Reily had Rangle on.....he asked about his taxes in the Dominican Republic. Rangle said that his money from his property was sent to the government there to pay his taxes. There should have been a follow up question, asking him if he payed taxes on the money he earned from the property that enabled him to pay those taxes. Hannity does the same thing.....he doesn’t follow through.
Again, the Tea Party should develop its own TV station.
News? Who cares, I wish to listen to people who look at things the same way I look at them, from a conservative point of view. I have no interest in trying to understand to come to the socialist viewpoint.
“a bad thing for democracy” Oh this sounds serious LOL.
I agree. And if they were cut loose, they would show up on CNN within hours, fitting right in.
Shep Smith: dumber than a box of rox...
Whorealdo: Aztlan’s propagandist of the decade...
O’Really: just looking out for the little (clueless) guy...
You are exactly correct. The follow up questions on Fox are pathetic. It comes from an environment of ALL media outlets to be superficial.
The thing these “journalists” are told is ask a question but don’t get too deep cuz people will get bored and tune away. It’s the nature off the business.
The PBS concept is wonderful other than the fact that their journalists are so freakin left wing it’s hard to comprehend.
What amazes me is the lack of “homework” their so called experts exhibit on any given issue. The left spews their usual scripted platitudes, the right is often an ignorant deer in the headlights. Worrisome.
What exactly is an MSNBC? (And how do you pronounce it?)
Strange, I thought ABC, CBS, CNN, New York Times, Chicago Times and others already accomplished this.
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