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SOS2008
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This thread is a continuation of the earlier thread: FOX News - Let's bomb a democracy back to the stone age. I finally have had some time to do some more research on the topic of media bias (also addressed in the thread: Gannon Guffaw), and it is amazing how many conservative web sites there are that tout a liberal bias in the media--which in itself "speaks volumes" if you know what I mean. Here is information on a few articles, web sites, and books on the topic of media bias becoming increasingly conservative (to the right):
San Francisco Chronicle
Ethan Rarick
Sunday, September 26, 2004
NewsMax.com Thursday, March 3, 2005
Media Matters for America
http://mediamatters.org/items/200503180008#1
And a book: What Liberal Media? By Eric Alterman
San Francisco Chronicle
Ethan Rarick
Sunday, September 26, 2004
I've mentioned ratings and how this is indicative of changes in our nation (i.e., basics of supply and demand), and here are some numbers (posted on a conservative web site):CBS explodes liberal media bias myth -- If ever a story should destroy the myth of liberal media bias, it is the flap over Dan Rather's flub. …the real and long-lasting lesson of this story lies in the amount of attention being paid to the apology… The answer lies in the political impact…and reveals much about political coverage in the mainstream media. The CBS apology obviously helped him [Bush], casting a pall of doubt over the entire issue of whether young Lt. Bush did his duty during the Vietnam War. The difference in play given to…apologies is only the latest evidence of a growing, and yet little remarked, conservative media bias.
I do not suggest that conservative apparatchiks crashed news meetings around the country and demanded front-page play for the CBS story. But I do suggest that as the country's political spectrum has become ever more conservative -- dragged "to the right, to the right, farther to the right," as Tom Frank puts it in his brilliant new book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?'' -- media organizations have shifted, too.
For one thing, mainstream media organizations are always in search of viewers and readers, and it's a solidly conservative country. Republicans have won six of the last nine presidential elections. They hold majorities in both houses of Congress and on the Supreme Court. They dominate the business establishment. Newspapers and television stations across the country are competing for the same viewers and readers that have pushed Fox News' audience past CNN's and made the Wall Street Journal one of the largest newspapers in the country.
Second, the conservative movement's hallelujah chorus among overtly partisan media outlets -- Fox News and talk radio are the prime examples -- has amplified the traditional right-wing charge that journalists are all participants in a grand liberal conspiracy. The ironic result is that journalism has become hyper-sensitized to conservative criticism, and, in the guise of trying to be fair, leans farther and farther to the right.
NewsMax.com Thursday, March 3, 2005
In this website it appears FOX is no longer using the tag line of "fair and balanced" reporting, but now it is "We report. You decide"? In any event, here are some stats...CNN Ratings Fall 16 Percent
CNN Headline News has been making headlines itself with its revamped prime-time lineup, with one new show beating MSNBC in the ratings and the other two new programs doing respectably well.
But the parent network is not enjoying any such success.
CNN is falling farther behind Fox News Channel in the cable news ratings war, with a network-wide 16 percent falloff in viewership for February and a 21 percent slide in prime time.
The New York Post reports, "Fox News was the only one among the four cable news networks to post ratings gains during the month."
An 18 percent gain, to be exact, pushing Fox News to nearly triple the viewership of its rival.
CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" down 17 percent; Fox's "O'Reilly Factor" up 9 percent
CNN's "Larry King Live" off 23 percent; Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" up 19 percent
One bright spot for CNN: "Anderson Cooper 360," which gained 2 percent.
CNBC and MSNBC aren't immuned to losing audience to Fox, either. CNBC's ratings are down 42 percent in prime time, and MSNBC's viewer numbers are lighter by 15 percent.
Media Matters for America
http://mediamatters.org/items/200503180008#1
"We Report. You Decide."
-- Fox News Channel motto
"Fox was measurably more one-sided than the other networks, and Fox journalists were more opinionated on the air. ... In the degree to which journalists are allowed to offer their own opinions, Fox stands out. Across the programs studied, nearly seven out of ten stories (68%) included personal opinions from Fox's reporters -- the highest of any outlet studied by far. ... Fox journalists were even more prone to offer their own opinions in the channel's coverage of the war in Iraq. There 73% of the stories included such personal judgments. On CNN the figure was 2%, and on MSNBC, 29%. The same was true in coverage of the Presidential election, where 82% of Fox stories included journalist opinions, compared to 7% on CNN and 27% on MSNBC."
-- Project for Excellence in Journalism
And a book: What Liberal Media? By Eric Alterman
It was stated in the earlier thread that many CNN folks have moved to FOX, if anything this remark only helps substantiate this point, but as shown above, it isn't just an "institutional" phenomenon.“Most of the criticism (and anger) has so far emanated from the political Right, which has offered us the rather unconvincing argument that a systematic Left bias is destroying the quality of news and debate in our country today. Journalist and historian Eric Alterman begs to differ.
What Liberal Media? confronts the question of liberal bias and, in so doing, provides a sharp and utterly convincing assessment of the realities of political bias in the news. In distinct contrast to the conclusions reached by Ann Coulter, Bernard Goldberg, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly, Alterman finds the media to be, on the whole, far more conservative than liberal, though it is possible to find evidence for both views. The fact that conservatives howl so much louder and more effectively than liberals is one significant reason that big media is always on its guard for “liberal” bias but gives conservative bias a free pass.”
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