« Ann Coulter fan fiction | Main | »
May 19, 2005
Look in the mirror
Look. I have problems with mainstream media. Most major news outlets are nothing more than sensationalistic entertainers, afraid of losing ratings if they interrupt their 24-hour coverage of the latest celebrity trial to report on real news.
But for once, I come to their defense.
I'm not so much defending the media as I'm criticizing its critics. As Kevin Drum points out in a recent post, "here's what the public hears about newspapers from the blogosphere:
- From the right: newspapers suck because they're too liberal.
- From the left: newspapers suck because they're craven apologists for the Bush administration."
But I wouldn't limit the critique to the blogosphere and newspapers. In general, conservatives tend to criticize the media for having a liberal bias, and liberals tend to criticize the media for being conservative. It's like a political litmus test. Unsure about your political beliefs? If you think the media is out-of-touch with mainstream American values, you're probably conservative. If you view the media as "The Man", and think it is entrenched with the dominant power structure, you're probably liberal.
Not to say that there isn't a little political bias in the media. It's hard to argue that Fox News isn't a little conservative, or the New York Times isn't a little liberal. But for the most part, major media outlets appeal to the middle, the mainstream, because that's where the major of the audience (and the money) is.
And the harshest critics, the ones standing on the pedastals shouting into a megaphone about the media's bias, they don't want an objective media. They want a media that caters to their political ideology. They want newspapers and television shows that repeat their party's talking points. They want... the blogosphere.
Posted by Elyas at 11:22 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Comments
It's funny that the accusations of being "liberal" or "conservative" are often based on totally different criteria. Accusations of being liberal generally focus on social liberalism, while accusations of being conservative often focus on economic conservatism/corporatism. So it's possible for both accusations to be true. Still, there are some major news sources that are pretty partisan (Newsweek and Fox come to mind), but most seem to have a non-partisan, big-institution(business/government), cosmopolitian attitude.
As a semi-related note, I'm sick of all the accusations that Newsweek started riots in Afghanistan. Newsweek is not responsible for geo-political developments! They are responsible for their own credibility, and that's all. If anything, they taught the Afghanis an important lesson: just because it is published doesn't mean it's true.
Posted by: Adam at May 24, 2005 09:06 AM
Oops, I forgot to mention something:
This blog-post alluded to the "echo-chamber" of the blogosphere. While blogs are currently used to reinforce the barriers in our communication system, I think that they have the potential to break down those barriers, if we (the readers) use them properly. This involves following a large number of individual blogs using syndication. I have described this idea in more detail when I described the purpose of my own blog.
To summarize quickly, I think that it would be great to have a lot of authors making occasional, well thought-out comments, allowing each reader to subscribe to a large number of "idea-sources". This runs counter to the general attitude of bloggers that they need to constantly add content to their blog to keep interest, which forces readers to follow a narrow set of idea-sources.
Posted by: Adam at May 24, 2005 09:17 AM
In your free time, take a look at some information on pacific poker pacific poker http://www.poker-4all.com/pacific-poker.html http://www.poker-4all.com/pacific-poker.html poker poker http://www.poker-4all.com/poker.html http://www.poker-4all.com/poker.html ... Thanks!!!
Posted by: online poker at July 6, 2005 09:53 PM
Please take a look at the pages in the field of casino casino http://www.favorite-casino.com/casino.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/casino.html gambling gambling http://www.favorite-casino.com/gambling.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/gambling.html - Tons of interesdting stuff!!!
Posted by: casino at July 7, 2005 06:00 AM
You can also check out some information in the field of blackjack blackjack http://www.favorite-casino.com/blackjack.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/blackjack.html online casinos online casinos http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-casinos.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-casinos.html ...
Posted by: casino at July 7, 2005 10:07 PM
You are invited to check some relevant pages dedicated to online gambling online gambling http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-gambling.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-gambling.html online casino online casino http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-casino.html http://www.favorite-casino.com/online-casino.html - Tons of interesdting stuff!!!
Posted by: blackjack at July 8, 2005 05:33 AM
You can also take a look at some relevant pages in the field of free credit report online free credit report online http://www.always-credit.com/free-credit-report-online.html http://www.always-credit.com/free-credit-report-online.html credit score credit score http://www.always-credit.com/credit-score.html http://www.always-credit.com/credit-score.html mortgage refinance mortgage refinance http://www.always-credit.com/mortgage-refinance.html http://www.always-credit.com/mortgage-refinance.html bad credit loans bad credit loans http://www.always-credit.com/bad-credit-loans.html http://www.always-credit.com/bad-credit-loans.html california mortgage california mortgage http://www.always-credit.com/california-mortgage.html http://www.always-credit.com/california-mortgage.html home equity loans home equity loans http://www.always-credit.com/home-equity-loans.html http://www.always-credit.com/home-equity-loans.html auto loans auto loans http://www.always-credit.com/auto-loans.html http://www.always-credit.com/auto-loans.html mortgage rates mortgage rates http://www.always-credit.com/mortgage-rates.html http://www.always-credit.com/mortgage-rates.html free porn no credit card free porn no credit card http://www.always-credit.com/free-porn-no-credit-card.html http://www.always-credit.com/free-porn-no-credit-card.html direct loans direct loans http://www.always-credit.com/direct-loans.html http://www.always-credit.com/direct-loans.html ... Thanks!!!
Posted by: mortgage interest rates at July 8, 2005 12:58 PM
Take your time to take a look at the pages on texas holdem texas holdem http://www.poker-24x7.net/texas-holdem.html http://www.poker-24x7.net/texas-holdem.html online poker online poker http://www.poker-24x7.net/online-poker.html http://www.poker-24x7.net/online-poker.html party poker party poker http://www.poker-24x7.net/party-poker.html http://www.poker-24x7.net/party-poker.html poker poker http://www.poker-24x7.net/poker.html http://www.poker-24x7.net/poker.html poker rooms poker rooms http://www.poker-24x7.net/poker-rooms.html http://www.poker-24x7.net/poker-rooms.html .
Posted by: texas holdem at July 9, 2005 01:56 PM