Unbiased reporting?

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If you "time" the daily network news shows, you will find that at least 13 minutes of their 30 minute broadcast is commercials....mostly drug commercials.

The drug companies spend billions of dollars per year, on these commercials, which the drug companies add to the price of the drugs people take.

The Only nations which allow this "propaganda" are the U.S. and New Zealand. These commercials are a primary reason why drug prices are so much higher in the U.S. than most other nations.

The drug companies are also major contributors to the political campaigns...which helps insure that the politicians will Not try to lower drug costs here. Do some research on your politicians on sites such as Propublica.com., or OpenSecrets.org, to see where your representatives get their money from, and owe their allegiance to.
 
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Don M. said:
If you "time" the daily network new shows, you will find that at least 13 minutes of their 30 minute broadcast is commercials....mostly drug commercials.

The drug companies spend billions of dollars per year, on these commercials, which the drug companies add to the price of the drugs people take.

The Only nations which allow this "propaganda" are the U.S. and New Zealand. These commercials are a primary reason why drug prices are so much higher in the U.S. than most other nations.

The drug companies are also major contributors to the political campaigns...which helps insure that the politicians will Not try to lower drug costs here. Do some research on your politicians on sites such as Propublica.com., or OpenSecrets.org, to see where your representatives get their money from, and owe their allegiance to.
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Good observations.
 
Alligatorob said:
Ain't no such thing, and never was. People are all inherently biased, we all have our own points of view. The best we can hope for is a balance of the biases...
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But I'm sure you'll agree that news reporting should not be biased. Opinion pieces are opinions. News is facts. But when news programs are funded by corporations that have a lot of clout in Washington DC, the line between opinion and fact gets blurred, and it's intentional.
 
Murrmurr said:
But I'm sure you'll agree that news reporting should not be biased. Opinion pieces are opinions. News is facts. But when news programs are funded by corporations that have a lot of clout in Washington DC, the line between opinion and fact gets blurred, and it's intentional.
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No they shouldn't be biased, but always have been. Newspapers once made money solely from subscriptions, but then found advertising was a source of revenue, as long as the local advertisers were not negatively reported. Local TV news was always somewhat biased, similar to newspapers.

The national news was biased towards the mood of the public, by reinforcing the predominant belief, while being loss leaders as far as revenue. Then they figured out there was really big money by combining entertainment with hard news, which became more polarizing as we moved along in time.
 
Murrmurr said:
But I'm sure you'll agree that news reporting should not be biased
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In a perfect world yes, but it won't happen. Just choosing which news stories are important enough to report introduces bias. Much of the difference between Fox and CNN are their choices of stories. As important as their editorializing.

Clearly separating opinion pieces is a good idea and helps, but not a complete solution.
 
Alligatorob said:
In a perfect world yes, but it won't happen. Just choosing which news stories are important enough to report introduces bias. Much of the difference between Fox and CNN are their choices of stories. As important as their editorializing.

Clearly separating opinion pieces is a good idea and helps, but not a complete solution.
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Fox and CNN is nearly all editorializing and analysis, and I don't care about that kind of crap.

When television was still news, broadcast companies weren't worth trillions, and sponsorship was less competitive and lucrative, TV news programs were factual and concise.

But today there are dozens of independent journalists out there who just report the facts, and I'd estimate that at least 30% of them go to where it's happening.

The world doesn't have to be perfect for people to expect factual news reporting. I mean, when has it ever been perfect?
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
No they shouldn't be biased, but always have been. Newspapers once made money solely from subscriptions, but then found advertising was a source of revenue, as long as the local advertisers were not negatively reported. Local TV news was always somewhat biased, similar to newspapers.

The national news was biased towards the mood of the public, by reinforcing the predominant belief, while being loss leaders as far as revenue. Then they figured out there was really big money by combining entertainment with hard news, which became more polarizing as we moved along in time.
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I disagree that they always have been. The reason newspapers were invented was to let people far and wide know what was going on.

Certainly you had your "Loyalist" paper and your "Rebel" paper, but those were recognized as slanted, just as later Dem and Repub papers were.
 
Many people can see an event happen and each may report it differently, however, if all the stories reach the same conclusion, whatever is being reported is probably correct.
 
Murrmurr said:
Fox and CNN is nearly all editorializing and analysis, and I don't care about that kind of crap.

When television was still news, broadcast companies weren't worth trillions, and sponsorship was less competitive and lucrative, TV news programs were factual and concise.

But today there are dozens of independent journalists out there who just report the facts, and I'd estimate that at least 30% of them go to where it's happening.

The world doesn't have to be perfect for people to expect factual news reporting. I mean, when has it ever been perfect?
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Hi Murmurr, it's me again :cool: - news reporting has many faces, never perfect, never factual, but always a great source of invitation.
Invitation for the reader to go out and find out for themselves, to seek the truth, to not accept blindly. It takes a lot of time to do these things, so people rely on news reporting alone and usually get themselves in a big fix !
 
"How does so much [false news] get into the American newspapers, even the good ones? Is it because journalists, as a class, are habitual liars, and prefer what is not true to what is true? I don't think it is.

Rather, it is because journalists are, in the main, extremely stupid, sentimental and credulous fellows — because nothing is easier than to fool them — because the majority of them lack the sharp intelligence that the proper discharge of their duties demands."
- H. L. Mencken (1919)
 
Shero said:
never factual
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Hello, you.

Never? I follow maybe half a dozen independent journalists, some daily, some weekly, who report facts and nothing more. And usually they cite their sources so you can check stuff out yourself, and maybe you'll interpret the data or whatever differently than they did, but they don't intentionally put a spin on a story. Also, they'll conduct man-on-the-street interviews when they report on location, but that's the only time opinions come into it.
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
"How does so much [false news] get into the American newspapers, even the good ones? Is it because journalists, as a class, are habitual liars, and prefer what is not true to what is true? I don't think it is.

Rather, it is because journalists are, in the main, extremely stupid, sentimental and credulous fellows — because nothing is easier than to fool them — because the majority of them lack the sharp intelligence that the proper discharge of their duties demands."
- H. L. Mencken (1919)
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Mencken left out Vain. TV journalists are vain TV personalities with a highly exaggerated idea of their own importance.
 
Murrmurr said:
Mencken left out Vain. TV journalists are vain TV personalities with a highly exaggerated idea of their own importance.
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TV wasn't around when he wrote those comments, but he likely would agree.

An example of TV journalism in the 21st century. Norah O’Donnell is someone I watch nightly. I sometimes question some of the reports, but apparently ratings is everything. CBS is in 3rd place, so the knives are out. Clearly ratings must be improved, so whatever type of reporting she is managing is now considered lackluster.

They want viewers and truth does not guarantee viewers. Viewers want news to be entertaining, eye-catching, horrifying, heart warming... all in a brief timeframe. Truth has a place, but must be either embellished, spun or somehow limited. Examples abound in network, cable, and web based news. The fourth estate has gone the route of America, which has been head long into corporatism.
 
Murrmurr said:
Hello, you.

Never? I follow maybe half a dozen independent journalists, some daily, some weekly, who report facts and nothing more. And usually they cite their sources so you can check stuff out yourself, and maybe you'll interpret the data or whatever differently than they did, but they don't intentionally put a spin on a story. Also, they'll conduct man-on-the-street interviews when they report on location, but that's the only time opinions come into it.
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Hallo again Murmurr, bet you thought I was going away and leaving you alone no, just want to say there is no such thing as unbiased news reporting anywhere. I understand what you are saying but it is literally not possible to do for a human being.
Psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics have proven that every human being has a viewpoint based on his or her unique experiences and culture and reporters are human after all.

So mon ami to get a balanced view you have to read both left wing and right wing views and hope that you are able to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Unhappily though, some prefer the fiction because it is easier to digest!
 

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