Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] last days

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Wed, 6 Sep 2006, Vern Green wrote:

> Some of the stories they use on Newshour to set-up the guests seem to be 
> slanted at times. I do thing the show is more unbiased than most though.

That's how it "seems" to you.  So what?  Why should anyone care?  To be 
even clearer on this issue:  If a story seems biased to me, I don't care. 
What I do care about is evidence and clear, demonstrable patterns.  I also 
care about what other news reporters say (this is one kind of evidence), 
especially if they can back it up with some facts.


[snip]
> Another, is the tonality used in the story. This is something the New 
> York Times and LA Times are guilty of. They write things that say 
> something like.
>
> "Scientists at NASA repute the human of effects of global warming. These 
> so-called "experts" say that it is still questionable that humans are 
> causing global warming."
>
> NOTE: This is not an actual news story, it is an example.

No kidding, Vern!  You know what would help a lot:  A *real* example.  If 
some of you guys are constantly bothered by "bias" in the major, most 
respected newspapers in America, I'd think you could come up with a bunch 
of examples of this bias.  Al Franken showed a great example in his book 
of where Anne Coulter claimed the NY Times was biased.  She totally 
fabricated her example (that the NY Times didn't cover adequately the 
death of a famous NASCAR driver), and Franken proved it (the death had 
been cover story and he reprinted the cover).

Think about how important this is!  People who believe that the best paper 
are "biased" may avoid reading those papers and read instead something 
much, much worse.  Gradually, with time, they really lose perspective and 
don't know what the heck they are talking about.  Then they vote.  What a 
disaster!


> The point here is if an expert disagrees with the writer of the story, 
> then they are a "so-called" expert. If you happen to agree with the 
> story, you would likely over look the use of that term, but if you 
> disagree with the story, then the use of the term stands out like a 
> beacon indicating bias in the story.

I doubt it.  Show me one example of this use of "so-called expert" in a 
mainstream paper.  If they are going to say that, they should back it up 
with the reasons why they dismissed the person that way.  Skip the Op-Ed 
pages -- I want to see this in the news.

Mike

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