4 ms·

Since 95% or more of typical newsrooms are progressive Democrats, isn't it likely that there is just as much bias in the other direction on those outlets?

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Since 95% or more of typical newsrooms are progressive Democrats A majority (but a smaller one) are Democrats, and almost all of the corporate/neoliberal center-right faction, not the progressive faction.
smt88 8y ago
> likely that there is just as much bias Biased people can produce content with varying levels of bias. Theoretically, biased people can produce neutral content. Fox News is the only major TV news outlet (and only network news channel) with the explicit goal of shifting the country in a political direction[1][2][3][4][5], so I'd say that its bias comes not only from its employees, but also from its corporate owners and managers. I read news from the left and the right (WSJ, WaPo, RealClearPolitics, Reason.com, Fox News, Quillette, Vox, BBC, Al Jazeera, and others), and there is absolutely bias on both sides, but Fox News is by far more biased. It's not even close. The composition of their audience bears this out[6]. From the way they write headlines to the stories they choose to promote, they've become almost entirely a propaganda machine in the last year. They occasionally have some balanced stories when the Pence-esque right conflicts with Trump, but it's rare. And their coverage of AOC seems incessant -- far more than is proportional to her degree of power. 1. https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-roger-ailes-transformed-media-politics-1495139530 https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-roger-ailes-transforme... 2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39943820 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39943820 3. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-... 4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/roger-ailes-architect-of-conservative-tv-juggernaut-fox-is-dead-at-77/2017/05/18/b5b9e73a-3bc7-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/roger-ailes-... 5. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/roger-ailes-fox-donald-trump-2016-conservatism-214076 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/roger-ailes-... 6. https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444 https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444
- masonic 8y ago
  Nothing in your writing, and nothing in your links, quotes a single factual error extant in any Fox News content. Your last link, however, does claim that NPR, PBS, NYT, WaPo, BBC, and others are much farther to the left than Fox News is to the right. (See chart)
  - smt88 8y ago
    I wasn't talking about factual errors, although it's really easy to play that game, too. Bias can come from a lot of different areas. Sometimes you use partisan quote as a headline, you refuse to cover a certain issue, you extensively cover a different issue... lots of ways to do it without lying. If you want to talk about factual errors, Fox is the only mainstream news network that has peddled debunked conspiracy theories, such as: - birtherism (they had Trump talking about it many times) - Seth Rich was murdered (for which they were sued)[1] - death panels[2] - Charlottesville rallies attended by actors[3] There are a lot more. There are no MSNBC equivalents. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/business/fox-news-seth-rich-lawsuit.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/business/fox-news-seth-ri... 2. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/nov/11/americannewscom/first-execution-under-obamacare-death-panels-pants/ https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/nov... 3. https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/17/sean-hannity-has-been-dumpster-diving-conspiracy-theorists-again/217686 https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/17/sean-hannity-ha...

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Since 95% or more of typical newsrooms are progressive Democrats A majority (but a smaller one) are Democrats, and almost all of the corporate/neoliberal center-right faction, not the progressive faction.

smt88 8y ago

> likely that there is just as much bias Biased people can produce content with varying levels of bias. Theoretically, biased people can produce neutral content. Fox News is the only major TV news outlet (and only network news channel) with the explicit goal of shifting the country in a political direction[1][2][3][4][5], so I'd say that its bias comes not only from its employees, but also from its corporate owners and managers. I read news from the left and the right (WSJ, WaPo, RealClearPolitics, Reason.com, Fox News, Quillette, Vox, BBC, Al Jazeera, and others), and there is absolutely bias on both sides, but Fox News is by far more biased. It's not even close. The composition of their audience bears this out[6]. From the way they write headlines to the stories they choose to promote, they've become almost entirely a propaganda machine in the last year. They occasionally have some balanced stories when the Pence-esque right conflicts with Trump, but it's rare. And their coverage of AOC seems incessant -- far more than is proportional to her degree of power. 1. https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-roger-ailes-transformed-media-politics-1495139530 https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-roger-ailes-transforme... 2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39943820 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39943820 3. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-... 4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/roger-ailes-architect-of-conservative-tv-juggernaut-fox-is-dead-at-77/2017/05/18/b5b9e73a-3bc7-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/roger-ailes-... 5. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/roger-ailes-fox-donald-trump-2016-conservatism-214076 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/roger-ailes-... 6. https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444 https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444

masonic 8y ago
Nothing in your writing, and nothing in your links, quotes a single factual error extant in any Fox News content. Your last link, however, does claim that NPR, PBS, NYT, WaPo, BBC, and others are much farther to the left than Fox News is to the right. (See chart)
- smt88 8y ago
  I wasn't talking about factual errors, although it's really easy to play that game, too. Bias can come from a lot of different areas. Sometimes you use partisan quote as a headline, you refuse to cover a certain issue, you extensively cover a different issue... lots of ways to do it without lying. If you want to talk about factual errors, Fox is the only mainstream news network that has peddled debunked conspiracy theories, such as: - birtherism (they had Trump talking about it many times) - Seth Rich was murdered (for which they were sued)[1] - death panels[2] - Charlottesville rallies attended by actors[3] There are a lot more. There are no MSNBC equivalents. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/business/fox-news-seth-rich-lawsuit.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/business/fox-news-seth-ri... 2. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/nov/11/americannewscom/first-execution-under-obamacare-death-panels-pants/ https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/nov... 3. https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/17/sean-hannity-has-been-dumpster-diving-conspiracy-theorists-again/217686 https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/17/sean-hannity-ha...