Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I'm wondering, because it seems that every news story leads to yet another useless, statistically worthless self-selecting poll. The blurring of fact and opinion is just about everywhere. Newspapers and TV news departments have gone through their staffing with a meat axe, and now "news gathering" seems to exist by PR firms faxing candidates statements around (which are published/broadcast pretty much verbatim.) There is a tsunami of media and yet, I've truly never felt more uninformed about so many things that are going on. Reporters are embedded in every way with politicians and the military, so finding a source that cuts through all the spinning and twisting is depressingly difficult, if not flat out impossible. But I started my rant about those polls, which I think are at the heart of the problem. Boring but important stories are buried or forgotten and instead everyone has an opinion on John and Kate and Tiger because that mind candy is popular. The majority of people who are political have largely become sports fans, rooting for the Elephants or the Donkeys, unable or unwilling to see beyond cheering for their own team. I don't know what the answer to all this is. I hope and pray that somehow, someway a news organization can be created that is able to work independently of corporate/banking/military industrial complex spinmeisters while still being able to keep the light bill paid. More and more, I don't think it's possible.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/</a>
Originally Posted By RockyMtnMinnie >>>I don't know what the answer to all this is.<<< Maybe we can have a poll to decide what to do.
Originally Posted By mawnck <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/</a> <a href="http://www.npr.org" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org</a> <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/" target="_blank">http://www.csmonitor.com/</a> <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thedailyshow.com/</a> <a href="http://amiestreet.com/music/auto-tune-the-news/" target="_blank">http://amiestreet.com/music/au...he-news/</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck Ultra-liberal Laughing Place poster Kar2oonMan said in a post today that he was tired of the conservative corporate bias in mainstream news reporting, which can be shown by its biased and inaccurate polling. "The majority of people who are political have largely become sports fans, rooting for the Elephants or the Donkeys," stated Kar2oonMan, or 2ooney as he is known to frequenters of the site. Spokespeople for the Gainsville High School Red Elephants and the Bray-Doyle High School Donkeys sports departments both stated that they are pleased to get enthusiastic new fans in any way possible, but neither team has the other on their schedules in any sports this year, so they're not sure what 2oony is talking about. Kar2oonMan also accused executives at the major networks of slaughtering innocent employees with a meat axe, and claimed that John and Kate Gosselin and Tiger Woods are involved in a three-way love triangle. Laughing Place has long been known as a breeding ground for its pro-Socialist and anti-Princess viewpoints. Nearly 67% of conservative Laughing Place posters polled said they were constantly being harassed for expressing their views on the Disney website, particularly when they contradicted the Socialist diatribes of Kar2oonMan. Just over 33% also claimed "My views were given to me directly from God and are not to be questioned by anyone."
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy Did everyone hear the news that Tiger and Elin are going to stay together?
Originally Posted By ecdc Like I've said, there's a war on expertise in our country being led, in part, by the media. There's two sides to every story; each side is equally plausible and deserves equal play. That attitude is killing us. Truth is now based on what sells and how many people believe it.
Originally Posted By ecdc I think the polling problem also reflects what a self-involved people we are. News should inform us so we can be better citizens. Now, it's all about US! See the teasers for the evening news lately? "The Haitian death toll climbs above 100,000. See how Utahns are involved." "A major grocery chain recalls thousands of pounds of meat. Could your family be at risk?" Yes, it's all about ME. Give me a poll so the whole world can know what I think about it!
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy Journalism has changed dramatically in the past decade. TV abandoned the notion of doing any in depth news reporting 25 or more years ago. The real seismic shift has been the death of newspapers and magazines. Print media used to fill the information gap, in my opinion. And while you might suggest that these print media have moved on to the internet, I've never really found anything that delivers the same news product online as the old print sources. Blogs and newswires are no replacement for a good, old-fashioned magazine cover story or multi-part series in the local newspaper.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>multi-part series in the local newspaper<< Our newspaper used to have a Sunday package every week. An in-depth look at something. It usually wasn't a revealing exposé piece but was a good "here's everything you need to know about ______________." Basically it would be everything they knew about the topic. Now, half the front page is a spadea -- a half page "flap" that features how many coupons are available in the Sunday paper. When you train readers to care more about money-saving coupons than in reading about why the economy is in the tank, it's no wonder print is in such trouble. TV news is no better. For decades, local news has to work in a segment related to American Idol, or that evening's episode of Lost or whatever. It's nuts.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Nearly 67% of conservative Laughing Place posters polled said they were constantly being harassed for expressing their views on the Disney website, particularly when they contradicted the Socialist diatribes of Kar2oonMan.<< LOL! 67% is low.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***LOL! 67% is low.*** Wondering which of the three decided not to complain, and how long it will take for him to be drummed out of the W.E.R.W. caucus.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo This is where international media sources are excellent. May I suggest checking out Reuters? The UK media has yet to succumb (except Sky News which is owned by Murdoch). Most of it is pretty balanced and there are significant slander and liable laws that help. It is the newspapers that cannot be trusted here, they are very biased. Personally, I read multiple sources on line from the UK, US, and Europe.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << This is where international media sources are excellent. May I suggest checking out Reuters? >> I'm not sure it has as much to do with the source as the nature of how news is delivered. Reuters is a decent source, but it's primarily a wire service. You get some basic facts about a story as it happens, but hardly any follow up or in-depth study of an issue. If the facts in a news event aren't clear at the outset, Reuters isn't likely to go back weeks or months later to correct them. That's what is missing from the news media today. It's also why the punditry gets away with spewing information that isn't factual.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***You get some basic facts about a story as it happens, but hardly any follow up or in-depth study of an issue. If the facts in a news event aren't clear at the outset, Reuters isn't likely to go back weeks or months later to correct them. That's what is missing from the news media today. It's also why the punditry gets away with spewing information that isn't factual.*** I think in this day and age we can forget about anything other than (hopefully) basic facts about a story.
Originally Posted By dshyates I think the local media does most of the heavy lifting these days when it comes to actually keeping an eye on what our politicos are up to. Most local media outlets still make an effort to be unbiased, and also to do follow ups.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy ^^ Are you kidding? Local media newsrooms have been decimated. They don't even have enough reporters left on the beat to cover anything other than the daily fire or crime story. I visited our local TV news program a few months ago to get a tour of their operation. On a single evening's newscast (weeknight not weekend), three of their "big" stories were produced by PR firms and not local reporters. In their newsroom, all they have left is 2 hard news reporters, the weather guy, and a health reporter. Then there are the 3 news readers that do the anchor duties. That's it. This is not a small market, either.
