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In Europe there are several TV and radio corporations publicly funded (usually by licence fees) which are generally respected for the manner of there reporting. For example:
ARD in Germany, DR in Denmark, BBC in UK and RTE in Ireland.
Are there any media groups, news channels, newspapers available nationwide that have a solid reputation for predominantly ubiased reporting? One that is recognised to be this by all political and social spectrums?
In Europe there are several TV and radio corporations publicly funded (usually by licence fees) which are generally respected for the manner of there reporting. For example:
ARD in Germany, DR in Denmark, BBC in UK and RTE in Ireland.
Are there any media groups, news channels, newspapers available nationwide that have a solid reputation for predominantly ubiased reporting? One that is recognised to be this by all political and social spectrums?
Not that I'm aware of. Coming from the UK, you might think that our publically funded National Public Radio and/or Public Broadcasting Service would be considered fair and unbiased. However, a substantial number of Americans (I am not one of them) will level the charge that they're controlled by the "liberal media" and complain bitterly about the use of tax dollars for what they consider biased reporting.
The best alternative I know of is to try to monitor a couple of respected sources that are at different ends of the political spectrum, i.e., the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
I'm not sure how to prepare you for the level of political rancor, rhetoric and rage we're experiencing now in the US. Many people are disheartened by it, but no one seems to know how to tone it down so it just gets worse and worse. Hopefully as a non-citizen you'll be spared to some extent.
I'm not sure how to prepare you for the level of political rancor, rhetoric and rage we're experiencing now in the US. Many people are disheartened by it, but no one seems to know how to tone it down so it just gets worse and worse. Hopefully as a non-citizen you'll be spared to some extent.
I'm aware that this may well be off topic but it is relevant to section quoted from the post above.
I have to admit that the vitriol that i've seen whilst looking through the C-D political forums at what almost seems to be a hate between those at the ends of the political divide has come as a real surprise to me. I have to admit i've never come across anything like it.
While local media, including print and broadcast, generally have political leanings that are generally fairly transparent, they lack reliability due to careless journalism. There is only one newspaper business still hanging on. I believe that most local radio stations are now owned by the same company. Local talk radio is weighted with the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
This forum seems to be a place for people to work together to get local news stories straight. I look for local news on the Internet. For national news, I like CNN (between frequent commercials). For national politics, I watch conservative Fox until I just can’t take any more and finally retreat to bask the comfort of liberal MSNBC.
Not that I'm aware of. Coming from the UK, you might think that our publically funded National Public Radio and/or Public Broadcasting Service would be considered fair and unbiased. However, a substantial number of Americans (I am not one of them) will level the charge that they're controlled by the "liberal media" and complain bitterly about the use of tax dollars for what they consider biased reporting.
I do tend to refer to NPR as "Radio Moscow," however that isn't to say that I don't find a decent amount on it worth listening to. I prefer the depth of reporting to some of the shortshrift McNews that you get on CNN, Fox...the same exact headlines as are in USA Today.
Often, I will watch the DW-TV network that shows up on Time Warner Cable. My German is only so so, but I can get the gist. Fortunately, they have English programming as well.
The media in the US just continues to become more and more biased, whether it is the print journalism, the TV Cable News Networks, the remaining national commercial TV network News Broadcasts, or the explosion of internet online news commentaries posted by every Tom-Dick-and- Harry. The internet outlets may be the worse, as they all try to portray they have the only legitimate source for the position they portray. The internet sources are terrible as they can be dozens of years old and have been discredited dozens of times. But back they come. Give a few people a rented office, some PCs on which to reconfigure garble, a new name and suddenly you have this reliable source.
Senator John McCain recently commented this current political campaign may be the worse in our history relative to downright underhanded tactics, untruthful claims, and we have not gotten past the primaries yet. And he is less than 4 years from running for President himself.
To me, all I hear about is the liberal, socialistic, left-wing which is going to completely destroy the fabric of this country. And the opposite is what?, the conservative, protect our assets at all costs right-wing? Frankly I am getting sick and tired of hearing all of them perpostulate on their position.
The American people have demonstrated the most compelling degree of compansion and willingness to help disaster victims anywhere on this globe of any nation which has ever existed. Look back at the record, including our willingness to help our two major adversaries in WWII rebuild their countries. Does anyone doubt that without our help they would not be the world class nations they are today?
Today, America itself is being attacked. We have far more poor and working poor in this counry than should ever have been permitted to exist. These people come from the same stock as the rest of us, and they deserve the same consideration. The cost is great, and climbing.
What I am looking for and not hearing, is how to provide for my fellow man who is hurting deeply with this latest recession, home foreclosures, etc. and still provide for my retirement and medical needs. Far as I am concerned no one has a workable solution, so my first reaction is:
. OK put all of the Senators and Congressmen, and all other public employees, on the same system I am on. When you hit 65 you are on Social Security the same as the rest of us, and Medicare. Even though you did not contribute to Social Security or Medicare during your terms, we will be magnanimous and concede you should be credited with the same amount of salary earned, even though you really did not pay in. What a gift!
. As far as retirement benefits, you get 10% per year for each year (very LIBERAL) you were in the Congress or the Senate. But you will not get it until age 65. All of these will be permitted to be accrued into an IRA, but you will be subject to the same rules of age, withdrawal, federal income tax owed, etc. as the rest of us.
Senator John McCain recently commented this current political campaign may be the worse in our history relative to downright underhanded tactics, untruthful claims, and we have not gotten past the primaries yet. And he is less than 4 years from running for President himself.
You (and Senator McCain) must be too young to remember the election of 1828. Now there was an election! One of the most vitriolic, mudslinging campaigns ever. There were accusations of bigamy, sex peddling to foreign dignitaries, gambling scandals, and ordering of executions and massacres.
If I recall, a writer in our own Cincinnati Gazette wrote something about Andrew Jackson to the effect “Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband be placed in the highest offices of this free and Christian land?”
Presidential historians will tell you that most of what was thrown at Jackson was true, but most every thing thrown at JQ Adams was false. So, I guess I get a little frustrated when I see comments that assert that everything is so biased today and this is the worst campaign ever, or the one four years ago, and so on. The fact is, our institutional memory as Americans is so poor, we really don't have any concept of how bad or good things really are.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by t45209
You (and Senator McCain) must be too young to remember the election of 1828. Now there was an election! One of the most vitriolic, mudslinging campaigns ever. There were accusations of bigamy, sex peddling to foreign dignitaries, gambling scandals, and ordering of executions and massacres.
Must have been fun to be a reporter in those days.
...So, I guess I get a little frustrated when I see comments that assert that everything is so biased today and this is the worst campaign ever, or the one four years ago, and so on. The fact is, our institutional memory as Americans is so poor, we really don't have any concept of how bad or good things really are.
Your point is well taken only in the limited sense that our politics have historically been marked by unpalatable and/or offensive behavior. Today an enormous range of customs and behaviors are considered socially unacceptable which were commonplace in 1828. Slavery, child labor and various exclusions from the right to vote are just a few of the first ones that come to mind. That makes comparisons such as yours rather pointless.
Or more succinctly, our standards today have changed.
Last edited by Sarah Perry; 03-20-2012 at 09:35 AM..
Your point is well taken only in the limited sense that our politics have historically been marked by unpalatable and/or offensive behavior. Today an enormous range of customs and behaviors are considered socially unacceptable which were commonplace in 1828. That makes comparisons such as yours rather pointless. Slavery, child labor and various exclusions from the right to vote are just a few of the first ones that come to mind. That makes comparisons such as yours rather pointless
Taking the long view, the thing about the media is that it goes in cycles in terms of responsibility. The thing is that we came off of an era that valued hard journalism more than sensationalism and prior to that era there was the yellow journalism of the late 1800s. Also someone mentioned reporters in the 1820s I don't think media worked that way back then, newspapers were often the work of a very small group of people and were representative of one persons viewpoints - look at Ben Franklin in the late 1700s for instance - objective journalism wasn't even an idea back then. In fact outside of the US and Israel objective journalism is rare, there always is some kind of bias.
The sad thing is to get good news I rely on listening to NPR and balancing its left leaning side with the rational/pragmatic fiscal conservatism of the Economist (something IMO the right in this country has completely lost sight of) and a few other sources like the CS Monitor and an occasional WSJ or NY Times article. I learn more about US issues through European sources than American ones, for instance, when 9-11 happened, I got tired of listening to the "OMG this is just like the movie Armageddon" of the US media and looked at DWTV which was running 24/7 that day on public access for Dayton and showed honest gruesome images of the devastation, the BBC and the CBC, because when that happened a lot of channels shutdown and became international news outlets which IMO were calmer (though the DW-tv stuff was shocking it was matter of factly presented) and more measured in the thoughts they presented. NewsMedia in the US with a loosing audience should stop trying to lower the bar and focus on satisfying the hard core audience who demands good news and is willing to pay for it.
Bringing this back to local news, its really sad when local blogs tell you more than the newspaper does, or focuses on issues that the newspaper doesn't. That and 'if it bleeds it leads' is the philosophy too much, while its tragic, I don't care that a person killed another person, I'm more interested in how much crime there is as a whole and what the city is doing to address the issue.
Last edited by neilworms2; 03-20-2012 at 09:09 AM..
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