Huh?
Via Bubba, we learn that the local (and free!) bird cage liner has endorsed Kerry. Also, the NYT endorsed Kerry. The Chicago Tribune endorsed Bush. Ad infinitum and who cares?
But I have to wonder why news media outlets are in the business of endorsing any candidate. Doesn’t lend to credibility, if you ask me.
October 21st, 2004 at 12:17 pm
Eh… We get our knickers in a collective twist about unbiased media. At several points in ou history, newspapers were openly partisan. I think we’d be better off if they were today as well. This idea of “balance” is bullshit in my opinion. If we are too lazy to get off our asses and engage in our own fact checking, then we deserve what we get. The problem isn’t bias. The problem is lack of attention or effort on the part of the users of media.
October 21st, 2004 at 12:27 pm
I think it’s a combination of bias, laziness from the press, and reader apathy. Also, it’s issue specific.
For example, the press lies about guns every day. Now, are they intentionally lying? Dunno. But they get their facts wrong so they’re lazy if not lying. The public takes the press at it’s word. The result is no real idea or discussion about an issue by ordinary folks.
October 21st, 2004 at 12:42 pm
The public takes the press at it’s word. The result is no real idea or discussion about an issue by ordinary folks.
Yeah, but whaddya gonna do? Establish product labeling standards for information? Nice idea, but who would you or I entrust to write and enforce such standards. Misleading product labels can kill. I guess bad information can kill as well, but this is one of those sticky issues. For now, I’m more comfortable holding the consumers of information accountable for viewing anything they’re told by the media with a skeptical eye. We’re too complacent.
This isn’t a simple issue though. Sometimes when I see the back and forth on blogs, I realize that someone may have the same basic values I have but has reached wildly different conclusions. Sometimes I wonder if there are huge chunks of information that we are ALL missing because the media is “following the soccer ball” as Jon Stewart quipped.
October 21st, 2004 at 1:13 pm
Part of the problem is that in most cities, there’s only one viable major newspaper. In the olden days, whether the papers were partisan or not, you still had competition keeping you honest. In all but the largest cities, that’s gone.