News Channel comparisons...

[mbs357]

What are the best news channels out today?
I usually trust Fox News reasonably and take things on CNN and MSNBC with a grain of salt.
Is there a web page I can go to that factually reviews each major news source and rates their bias (every news channel has it), etc?
I recenlty found out that a pal of mine regards Fox News as "The Debil," however, he doesn't mind any of the others...just want to get my facts straight.

 

[Biker]

I quit watching TV a while back, but as I remember it, Fox is as far to the right right as CNN is to the left. Can't believe either one.
I get my news off the 'net, from a variety of sources.
Biker

 

[ball3006]

I watch Fox mostly on TV......

I surf Fox, ABC, CNN on the web and just make up my mind which one is more in line with me. Sometimes I will watch CBS if something interesting is coming on. The local CBS channel has the hottest weather babe in the country which runs right before CBS.......chris3

 

[Justin]

You can tell a lot about a person's beliefs by looking at which news sources they consider to be unbiased.

 

[PotatoJudge]

If the truth is in the news at all, its probably somewhere in between what's reported. I watch whoever I run across and listen for signs of bias, then make my judgements from there. The facts on Fox may be most accurate (or not, whatever) but their graphics are too dramatic for me and their hosts tend to push their guests in the directions of their opinions. CNN is lacking in substance, I think. Local news is hit and miss. I wouldn't let any news station alone influence my stance on any important issue.

To make this gun related, a few years ago I heard that a couple of recent events had ended when bystanders with guns took action, and that no major news sources mentioned that. I didn't really pay much attention at the time, and I don't remember the stories.

 

[AJ Dual]

There was a University mass-media or political sience professor who studied the news programming of the major broadcast and cable networks

He set up a pretty rigorous study using a staff of research assistants comprised of equal numbers of liberals and conservatives. They had to take note of how many times each network interviewed or gave airtime to politicians when reporting on political matters. Editorial commentary segments or programming were not considered.

The results?

The "right leaning FOX" was neutral/centrist giving equal coverage to both Democrat and Republican politicians.

All the others were left-leaning to some degree or another. All gave airtime, quotes, or sound bites to Democrat politicians at a higher rate than Republicans.

The funny thing was that the University in question that performed the study was UC Berkley.

 

[JesseJames]

I go to Reuters.com and I read publications like Atlantic Monthly and Harper's to get into the meat of issues. Also, PBS has Charlie Rose. He's one of the best interviewers. And there's Fareed Zakaria's show called Foreign Exchange. Excellent discourse and discussion.
The networks are all biased. No way around it. Controversy gets ratings.
Always keep in mind it's the news BUSINESS. Be careful what you buy into.

 

[Nitrogen]

NPR is a better unbiased news source than most, as long as you ignore their non-news weekend-type shows. They have an excellent financial show, called "Marketplace" as well as great international news.

Fox News is also not as bad as most liberals think, as long as you ignore their opinion shows, like Neil Cavuto, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc.

No news source is perfect; as all news is gathered by humans, and humans are imperfect, opinionated beasts. The beasts at Fox News tend to be rightists, and the beasts at NPR tend to be leftists. That alone shouldn't invalidate either of them.

Still have to keep your mind open and your ears peeled.

Media matters (http://www.mediamatters.org) is a great site to get liberal spin on conservative news stories.

The CEnter for Media Transparency (http://www.mediatransparency.org/) is a good site for conservative information, as is the conservative version of mediamatters, The Media Research Center (http://www.mediaresearch.org/)

Reading each of these sites, you'll get a good idea of what's REALLY going on, and you'll be able to weed your way through a good part of the partisan bickering that's going on.

 

[HankB]

A rather liberal colleague of mine refers to "Fox news" as "Faux news."

I guess that's because Fox's lead anchor used forged documents from a dead man to influence the last Presidential election, and . . . oh, wait a minute, that was Dan Rather at CBS.

Wait a minute, it was because the Fox anchorman, while airing tape of exploding GM pickup trucks, neglected to mention that the news crew had rigged the pickup with an incendiary device, and . . . oops, that was Tom Brokaw at NBC.

Well, you can't forget the Fox anchor's talking about a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons while showing machineguns being fired. The network responded to criticism by saying it was a minor point with no deceptive intent, but the guy did it again a couple of weeks later, continuing his Faux deception, and . . . uh oh, my bad, it was Tom Brokaw at NBC again.

Well, at least the Fox anchor wears his heart on his sleeve so you know where he stands - I remember during a radio broadcast the lead anchor chided the American people for behaving like children throwing a tantrum when they booted over 50 Democrats out of Congress in one election - and this guy wasn't even a U.S. citizen at the time. What a jerk Fox hired when they put this guy on the payroll . . . eh, what's that? It wasn't the Fox anchor who did that, it was Peter Jennings at ABC?

Never mind . . .

****************

Seriously, it's best to watch all news sources with a critical eye. Pay attention to what they say, and ask yourself "Are these the questions I would ask? Does it seem as if they're leaving anything out?"

IMHO, Fox only seems "right wing" when you only have the rest of the media - which is relentlessly, almost religiously, left wing, for comparison. (And note that commentators are not the same as news reporters. Neither are news readers, which is what most anchormen are.)

 

[mbs357]

Lots of good info in this thread...
I've been wanting to catch up with the news more than I normally do (I get most of my news from here at THR) but I've been scared of being brainwashed. ;D
My conclusion from this thread is that they're all pretty "debilish", with Fox being less so.
Apparently, Reuters and NPR are good alternatives--I'll give those a look through.
HankB had an especially good poast. I think I'll use some of that one day.

Thanks!

 

[RealGun]

What are the best news channels out today?

Once it becomes a matter of filling 24/7, it isn't news...it's entertainment. MSNBC is the most entertaining and has the smartest, best looking people. They are sharks who follow the blood in the water, but I wouldn't say they lack objectivity. Now, their feature shows are a different story. I turn it off when the evening shows start. All the networks are truly annoying in that time slot, with Chris Matthews strongly in the lead...more a matter of form than substance. They all bring on guests and then use them as foils for their own little speeches.

CNN is old and tired. O'Reilly and Goodman are embarassments on Fox, and their Lou Dobbs is a blow hard who woke up one day and decided he was a political pundit.

Aaron Brown was the best, certainly the least annoying, but he's gone. 'Not edgy enough, I guess.

 

[Technosavant]

You have to keep in mind that the news channels are filled with programming. These programs are not 24/7 news, but are usually mostly discussion or opinion shows. Fox has more right-leaning opinion shows than the others, but when it comes to bare news (in those few moments when any channels show it), CNN and Fox are pretty even. The broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) tend to try to slant their own coverage of actual news; the cable networks tend to be less slanted, but they all do pick and choose the stories which make it on the air.

These channels are about ratings and making a profit through selling advertising. They will show what people will watch.

 

[MS .45]

I usually watch Fox during their regular news segments but stay away from the Primetime opinion shows. Other than that, a variety of sources on the net is what I use. I like the BBC International website for world news.

 

[geekWithA.45]

For starters, don't get your news from TV. TV rots your brain, and leaves you with an IQ of 3, or so the Oompah Loompahs tell me.

Here's how most of the news outlets lay out.

The average voters are on the purple lines, the average Democrat are on the blue, and the average Republican is on the red.

You'll note that MOST news outlets are shifted left.

Fox seems radical, only to those who allow their reality to be defined for them by the biased media. To them, the "center" is found at roughly 65 on this scale, rather than 50. That puts Fox news 25 points away from their POV, which is more than twice its actual displacement from the actual center.

This creates an "illusory center", which is biased left:

I discuss this in detail here:

http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2005_05_08_geekwitha45_archive.html#111604578912571362

 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I have a friend who wanted a career in journalism. He spent a semester at one of the nation's best journalism universities, and was utterly disgusted by the politics he found there. He said the level of leftist propaganda spread by the profesors was intolerable. He couldn't stand to go to the lectures and sit through their drivel. One of his professors even threatened disciplinary action against my friend for calling him on a blatan lie he told in a lecture.

The stories he tells about his days in journalism school are truly eye-opening. The slant commonly seen in the mainstream media comes as no surprise given the mannor in which up and coming journalists are indoctrinated by the system.

Imparitality is NOT the default condition of today's journalists.

 

[308win]

I have found the local NPR news programs to be the most factual. I stay away from the fufu shows such as Fresh Air as they are usually left of center. Talk of the Nation is usually pretty even handed, the financial show is good. The BBC International News Show in the AM is left biased (sometimes quite a bit) IMHO. The local talk host on WOSU is even handed and will challange anyones 'facts' if he thinks they are biased. Beats the hell out of WTVN (Sinclair or Clear Channel, whichever one carries Lush).

 

[Turkey Creek]

TV news, Herr Goebbles would be proud

 

[Dmack_901]

They're all biased.

I watch MSNBC all the time dispite disagreeing on a good 80%+ of what they say. I probably would watch FOX, but I can't stand to watch them butcher conservative arguements. And listening to people I don't like gives me something meaningful(or so I think ) to think about.

But listening to NPR they seem to overtly disguise they're liberalism by reporting on one topic, and out of nowhere mentioning something like, "Over 2k american's have died in Iraq." Half the time the statement doesn't even go along with the report. But it sounds "factual."

 

[Otherguy Overby]

Fox News?

Fox news doesn't lean to the right. It's kinda straight up and down near as I can see. Sheesh what can one expect from a bunch of big city east coast wannabe "conservatives"? Right leaning? My butt.

Brit Hume is a keeper as is Shepard Smith.

Fox's financial shows are reasonbly good.

Replace O'Reily with Dick Morris for political commentary and insight.

Ron Paul should be brought in regularly as a substitute host.

Ditch Alan Combs, our just let me strangle that skinny turkey neck of his. Replace him with Hannity who's kinda leftist/liberal for my taste and match Hannity against a true libertarian like L. Neil Smith. Replace Gretta Van Sucker with someone we can identify with like Ted Nugent... At the very least we could then tune in for recipes.

 

[longhorngunman]

For a good read about the built in biases of the major networks and media read Bernard Goldberg's Arrogance. He worked for one of the major networks for many years and for ESPN. Can't hardly watch anything besides Fox because they will show both sides of a story unlike some others. Example: back a few weeks ago when the media was raving about whether convicted killer Tookie Williams should be put to death, they kept on mentioning that he was "nominated" for the Nobel peace prize. Fox news was the only one who's reporter showed how easy it was to be nominated and that virtually anybody can be. Kinda took the steam out of the "nominated for the Nobel prize".

 

[cbsbyte]

Wall street journal

Sorry, Geek the Wall street journal which my father subscribes too is not left wing, it is moderate conservative. Basing on their editorials that I have read. They even have interesting pro-gun articles in the weekend edition. It is diffenetly not left wing, then again you probably have not read the newspaper. If you missed that the WSJ is conservative then I am taking the rest of your list with a grain of salt or two.

 

[HankB]

Replace Gretta Van Sucker . . .

But who ELSE would host the All Natalee All The Time show?

Sorry, Geek the Wall street journal which my father subscribes too is not left wing, . . .

+1 on that . . . I just don't see how the WSJ rates to the left of the New York Times and LA Times, and is actually encroaching on Ted Kennedy in "leftiness."

(I wonder where Ron Paul would fall on the graph . . . )

 

[Maxwell]

I hate people who claim to have no opinion, their either liars or ignorant. Theres no such thing as unbiased news unless you want to hear a robot read neuterd AP scripts all night.

I tend to prefer Fox because the news casters for many shows not only lean and spin, but regularly take time out to rant and rave with their own editorials. Its easier to find center if you already know your on the left or the right.

 

[mbs357]

Man...this is crazy stuff.

Ok, just went over the posts that I missed, and it still comes up that Fox is doing a better job of covering both sides than most other news sources.
Geek's post is especially interesting.

 

['Card]

I was a Journalism/Broadcasting major in college. I never worked in the field, but looking back on the experience it's pretty obvious to me why most media has such a liberal bias - and that's simply the fact that only liberals choose journalism as a career. By and large, journalists don't make a lot of money, and by and large their jobs aren't something a lot of people aspire to do.

People become journalists because they want to save the world. Does that sound like a conservative outlook to you? I don't think so. Conservatives (at least those who aren't Christian conservatives) are generally more interested in making a lot of money and getting laid a lot.

So the left-wing bias isn't the result of some kind of massive organized liberal conspiracy. Hell, the vast majority of liberals aren't capable of organizing their way out of a paper bag. (I give you the Democratic party, for example) The left-wing media bias is a result of the fact that everyone who works in the media just happens to be a liberal.

Fox News was a transparent attempt to balance this left-wing bias in the media by creating a right-wing bias instead. Personally, I don't care for it, but I guess it's probably great for people who aren't comfortable having their opinions challenged.

I listen to NPR. They're pretty left wing, but they're at least aware of it, and try to balance things occasionally. Honestly though the left-wing bias doesn't bother me all that much. I think it's healthier for me to listen to people with opinions that I don't agree with.