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The Return of the Fairness Doctrine?
Slithe writes "Last week at the National Conference for Media Reform, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich (a long-shot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination) stated that the Fairness Doctrine may be reinstated. Kucinich will be heading up a new House subcommittee that will focus on issues around the FCC. The Fairness Doctrine was an FCC regulation that required broadcast media to present controversial issues in an honest, equal, and balanced manner. The FCC repealed it in 1987 — Democrats at the time tried to forestall this move but were ultimately thwarted by a veto by President Ronald Reagan. Critics of the Fairness Doctrine have stated that it was only used to intimidate and silence political opposition. At the convention, Kucinich said, 'We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda. We are now in a position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible.'" In the interest of fairness, here is a Republican, free-market perspective on the return of the Fairness Doctrine.
I'm sure that there are equally egregious examples from "right wing" media, but since I can't actually point to any "right wing" media outlets, I'm stumped at actually describing one.
Let me help you out:
In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
Utter nonsense. If you actually look at who the guests are, and include all the channels, about 60% are conservative and about 35% are moderate. Liberal voices account for only about 5%.
That really depends on your point of view. To me, Rudy Guliani, McCain, Bush, etc aren't real conservatives. Buchanan, Tancredo and such are. However I have the sense to realize my bias accounts for that, and most people do percieve Guliani, McCain, Bush as conservatives. Unfortuantly, you haven't grown into that point.
Just a hint: Joe Lieberman doesn't count as either a Liberal or a Moderate. Joe Biden doesn't count as a liberal, and Hillary Clinton doesn't either. Barak Obama does, sometimes.
Sure, just don't count O'Reilly, Bush, etc as conservatives then. Deal?
Obviously you DIDN'T READ MY POST. Because I SAID hardcore journalists ARE very left leaning. They are also intelligent and well educated and liberalism is well correlated to advanced education and intellect. The key point is the big corprate entities they work for aren't left leaning, many of the editors they work for aren't left leaning, and many of the talking head celebrities that dominate talk TV and talk radio now are VERY right leaning. There is a lot more to the modern media mix than grunt "journalist". You are conveniently choosing ignore that fact and to focus on the only one part of the mix that is liberal and ignore all the powerful parts that aren't.
Its also a fact that many journalists today, especially talking head TV types are going to abandon their personal beliefs in favor of whatever view point drives their ratings the best so most are blowing with the wind, Anderson Cooper being a sterling example. They will also generally do and say whatever their editors and bosses tell them to, since most of them will sacrifice their ethical position personal beliefs to stay employed and to get ahead in a very competitive business.
@de_machina
How is saying "Dude, this war was based on a LIE and it's costing us thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, and it's fueling Sunni/Shiite violence and American hatred." liberal? There's not a single liberal thing about that argument. Liberals want to spend MORE government money, not LESS.
Please do not substitute "liberal" for "democrat". Not every single little thing the democrats care about automatically become part of the "liberal agenda" and--though this may sound downright RADICAL--there are actually MORE THAN TWO POSSIBLE POLITICAL POSITIONS in the world.
I think you may be associating non-NPR programs with NPR news. A Prairie Home Companion is produced by American Public Media (APM). APM does not produce NPR news (meaning programs like All Things Considered, Morning Edition, etc). Most likely, you're listening to your local public radio station that airs programs in addition to NPR news. Whatever Garrison Keillor says is not the editorial opinion of NPR.
I had to look up the initialism LGBT (I learned something new on /.!). I can't say I've heard NPR news reports that PROMOTE gay issues. Does reporting on the gay marriage controversy imply an endorsement? If yes, then Fox News is guilty as well.
NPR is the only news outlet I've ever heard that actually provides in-depth news reports. I especially enjoy when they cover Supreme Court cases by reporting on the dialogue between lawyers and the justices.
As for voter fraud reporting, here's just one link I found on the NPR site http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=6444162/.
As far as being left or right, I prefer to think of myself as independent. I don't subscribe to any extreme or narrow minded agendas.
Self awareness - try it!