In My Not So Humble Opinion
                Fairly Unbalanced

Home Sex Politics Religion Parody Humor Links About Search

 

Up

Powered by Hamsters

Below are short essays I have written on the subject of Media Bias. These essays originally appeared as Random Musings on the IMNSHO Home Page on the date noted.

August 11, 2006, evening.  We are obviously less heroic than we used to be. Every war has produced heroes, but not the war in Iraq. We only rape, murder and torture there. Abu Graib, Haditha. Those are the only images the public gets to see. Are people tired of the war, against the war? Well, what do you expect? Negativism and defeatism, pounded into the public's heads from most forms of media, will have their effect over time.

July 23, 2006, morning.  The media keep pounding Bush. Every time there is a poll, we get to hear how low his public confidence numbers are. What the media do not tell you is that their numbers are even lower. Bush rated 33% in Gallup's June 2006 confidence poll. TV news came in at 31%, and newspapers at 30%. The media are being effective. Bush's numbers have dropped 11% since last year, but what do you expect when the media emphasize the negative day after day after day? IMNSHO, Bush is making a lot of mistakes as he tries to figure out how to leave a lasting legacy, but the war is not one of those mistakes. Immigration and stem cell research? Those are big mistakes. 

You are not allowed the truth by the press. Get out there and read something besides the AP, Reuters, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Remember, confidence in the media is even lower than for the president, and for good reason.

July 19, 2006, evening. The predictable tear-jerker stories about the victims of the  Israelis fleeing Lebanon are taking the spotlight in the mainstream (liberal) media. Here's a destroyed truck, there's a destroyed house. Mostly innocent victims. You can tell how liberal the site is by the leading content. But is there hope? Not every big media outlet bashed Israel (although the predictable ones do). The headlines: "Bombs and Tears" (CNN); nothing but pictures of crying women looking at damage at MSNBC, even though the headline is "Israel targets Hezbollah leaders' bunker"; quite different at ABC News, the stories are even-handed, and the photos are all of victims of Hezbollah rockets; CBS played it pretty straight. USAToday was even pretty even-handed. But how long will DNCBS play the neutral role? Now that Dan Rather is gone, who can tell?

July 18, 2006, evening. CNN is so representational of the liberal media that I probably overuse it as an example. The evening's top story shows a family whining that the U.S. government should have had a backup plan to get all Americans out of Lebanon, especially them. They went on vacation to have their kid baptized in Lebanon. They have been stuck there a whole week now, and our government has not stepped in to make everything perfect. The family figures our government probably knew  12-24 hours in advance of the Israeli attack. Oh, I get it. The U.S. must have known in advance that the Israelis would bomb the airport to close it, so our government should have had a backup plan to sneak all 25,000 Americans out of Beirut before the airport was closed. Since the government failed, it logically follows that the Bush administration is unfeeling and uncaring. Bush did not have 20:20 foresight, therefore, he is scum. The government should solve all problems, no matter what they are or where they are.

July 17, 2006. I clicked over to CNN.com several times today to keep a finger on the pulse of the developing situation in the Mideast. For hours on end, the top story was the same. An open mike had caught Bush using the word "shit" in a supposedly private conversation with Tony Blair. They even had some video special on "The shit heard 'round the world" (except they spelled it "sh_t").

Well, I sure feel a lot better now that CNN has used 100 GB of bandwidth and hours of prime news time to headline the fact that our president is sometimes a potty-mouth. Oh, the shame! That is obviously the most important world-wide event of the whole day. But hey, if it makes Bush look bad, it's worth it, right?

It's a good thing they didn't catch me with an open mike commenting about the current situation in Israel and Southern Lebanon. There would have been a lot more of the alphabet in play than the letter "s".

 

 

 Want examples of bias in the media?

Newsbusters

Media Research Center

Accuracy in Media

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Center for Media & Democracy

I would like to add more liberally-slanted sites that claim MSM bias. Email me.

August 11, 2006, evening.  We are obviously less heroic than we used to be. Every war has produced heroes, but not the war in Iraq. We only rape, murder and torture there. Abu Graib, Haditha. Those are the only images the public gets to see. Are people tired of the war, against the war? Well, what do you expect? Negativism and defeatism, pounded into the public's heads from most forms of media, will have their effect over time.

July 23, 2006, morning.  The media keep pounding Bush. Every time there is a poll, we get to hear how low his public confidence numbers are. What the media do not tell you is that their numbers are even lower. Bush rated 33% in Gallup's June 2006 confidence poll. TV news came in at 31%, and newspapers at 30%. The media are being effective. Bush's numbers have dropped 11% since last year, but what do you expect when the media emphasize the negative day after day after day? IMNSHO, Bush is making a lot of mistakes as he tries to figure out how to leave a lasting legacy, but the war is not one of those mistakes. Immigration and stem cell research? Those are big mistakes. 

You are not allowed the truth by the press. Get out there and read something besides the AP, Reuters, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Remember, confidence in the media is even lower than for the president, and for good reason.

July 19, 2006, evening. The predictable tear-jerker stories about the victims of the  Israelis fleeing Lebanon are taking the spotlight in the mainstream (liberal) media. Here's a destroyed truck, there's a destroyed house. Mostly innocent victims. You can tell how liberal the site is by the leading content. But is there hope? Not every big media outlet bashed Israel (although the predictable ones do). The headlines: "Bombs and Tears" (CNN); nothing but pictures of crying women looking at damage at MSNBC, even though the headline is "Israel targets Hezbollah leaders' bunker"; quite different at ABC News, the stories are even-handed, and the photos are all of victims of Hezbollah rockets; CBS played it pretty straight. USAToday was even pretty even-handed. But how long will DNCBS play the neutral role? Now that Dan Rather is gone, who can tell?

July 18, 2006, evening. CNN is so representational of the liberal media that I probably overuse it as an example. The evening's top story shows a family whining that the U.S. government should have had a backup plan to get all Americans out of Lebanon, especially them. They went on vacation to have their kid baptized in Lebanon. They have been stuck there a whole week now, and our government has not stepped in to make everything perfect. The family figures our government probably knew  12-24 hours in advance of the Israeli attack. Oh, I get it. The U.S. must have known in advance that the Israelis would bomb the airport to close it, so our government should have had a backup plan to sneak all 25,000 Americans out of Beirut before the airport was closed. Since the government failed, it logically follows that the Bush administration is unfeeling and uncaring. Bush did not have 20:20 foresight, therefore, he is scum. The government should solve all problems, no matter what they are or where they are.

July 17, 2006. I clicked over to CNN.com several times today to keep a finger on the pulse of the developing situation in the Mideast. For hours on end, the top story was the same. An open mike had caught Bush using the word "shit" in a supposedly private conversation with Tony Blair. They even had some video special on "The shit heard 'round the world" (except they spelled it "sh_t").

Well, I sure feel a lot better now that CNN has used 100 GB of bandwidth and hours of prime news time to headline the fact that our president is sometimes a potty-mouth. Oh, the shame! That is obviously the most important world-wide event of the whole day. But hey, if it makes Bush look bad, it's worth it, right?

It's a good thing they didn't catch me with an open mike commenting about the current situation in Israel and Southern Lebanon. There would have been a lot more of the alphabet in play than the letter "s".