Throughout my entire career at NYU I have listened to how the media is “liberal” and “left.” And through my Bias in the News Media class, this area was hardly discussed, leaving me with the question: Is there really hard evidence out there to prove this assertion? Is this just a claim made by conservatives and the “right” to muffle the voices of the media when they are critical of the government? And equally questioning is the claim made that Fox News is the “conservative” news station, and is slanted to the “right.”
I know that there has been some published media about this issue. For instance, the Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism book and film, and Michael Moore have been critical of Fox News. And on the other side, Bill O’Reilly seems to throw in how “liberal” this media source or that media source is every times there is criticism of his views. I also understand that there is a larger issue here, and that much of this debate is heavily tied to the recent conglomeration over recent years of the media, and its ties to big business. People are going to be critical of the media in general, and that is fine. The media as a whole does have problems.
But when you start using the vague political references, you better be able to back it up with your own voice; don't just take the stance of popular opinion. Despite what rocks have been thrown, they all seem to refer to such vague references. I have never heard someone say "Fox News is conservative, and here are several examples why..." or someone say the same thing for the New York Times and being liberal. I feel that this argument has just become a crutch for conservatives/liberals as to why they do not use a certain media source. Well if you are so sure that so and so has this political slant, why don't you tell me why.
Leslie @ Sun, 02/05/2006 - 1:19am
It is hard to believe that unbiased news coverage still exists. Mainstream news media are lucrative businesses concerned with market share, profit maximization (and minimizing costs), advertising, and shareholders. Big business and big corporations that own our mass media depend on being in favor of the rich, the elite, and the government in order to survive this competitive industry. Through certain filters, the final cut is edited to please the aforementioned and, like you said, become another arm of politics. This can result in mass propaganda which is intended to prepare the public for government interests.
Maybe reading Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent" has changed my views drastically on trusting all "old school" mass media but I am aware that not all journalists are like this and we shouldn't lose complete faith. But the good doesn't cancel out the bad and the bad doesn't cancel out the good. We just have to be more weary of these issues and make our own conclusions instead of just depending on the major networks to tell us what is and isn't news.