Balance and Bias

[Valin]

NY Times:

 

ROSS DOUTHAT

4/13/13

 

THE traditional American mass media — the crumbling, Internet-besieged edifice of newspapers and news shows, magazines and roundtables and journalism schools — evolved to believe with equal vigor in two not entirely compatible ideals.

 

One is an ideal of balance, nonpartisanship and near-perfect neutrality — distilled to its essence, perhaps, by the former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie Jr.’s longstanding refusal to cast a vote, “so that I never make up my mind which party, candidate or ideology should be in power.”

 

The other is a much more ideological ideal, which treats journalism as a kind of vanguard profession — fighting for the powerless against the powerful and leading America toward enlightenment.

 

Both of these visions have inspired great journalists and impressive publications. But many of the establishment media’s worst habits arise from the doomed attempt to pursue both of them at once.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

The Comments are depressingly familiar. below is one example of the divide in the nation.

 

 

Rima Regas

Mission Viejo, CA

 

 

Today, neutrality is a rare commodity. I have to agree. But that is where my agreement stops.

 

I watch MSNBC, for the most part. While it is undoubtedly slanted to the left, the news are reported in a complete manner. New items are not omitted because they don't align with the "agenda." Fox News often omits events that all other networks report on, presumably, because those items don't conform to their beliefs. Not only has this damaged their credibility among their own viewers, but it has resulted in the pretty startling reactions of Karl Rove and the Romney campaign when things weren't going their way.

 

I try to watch Dan Rather's reporting as much as possible. The quality of his work is impeccable and the long format he is now able to use allows him to treat topics exhaustively.

 

My local Los Angeles stations all suffer from poor news sourcing and some bias in how straight news are reported. The two should be kept separate. Even after ten years in California, I still read the New York Times and Washington Post daily.

 

As far as online is concerned, I am grateful for David Corn's excellent work. The Nation provides excellent reporting and opinion, as do Democracy Now, HuffPo, Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, and others. The internet makes it possible for us to watch broadcasts from the BBC, Israeli TV, and TV from around the world. It used to be that CNN was pretty much it.

 

Maybe the lack of neutrality is forcing many more of us to evaluate and question more?

Read more?

 

The sad thing is she probably considers herself a High Information Voters.