Conservatives, do you agree that a free press capable of independently questioning authority is vital for democracy? (legal, polls)
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There are right-wing media outfits, too. How many conservatives are there in the land? Get your own media platforms if you feel under-served. Big money opportunity!
But for God's sake, quite sniveling about how the press is an enemy of the people because it does not conform in all ways to your own bias. That's stupid.
Media does not have to be - nor has it ever been - free of "bias." That's why you're supposed to be an educated adult to interpret disparate sources of information as objectively as possible and form your own opinion.
A Free Press doesn't have to conform to my bias.
It just has to not blatantly conform to it's bias.
Especially if it wants to paint itself as some type of champions of the people.
I find this thread hillarious after 8 years of people AND EVEN Obama, Hillary etc. complaining about the bias of Fox news. Suddenly now there is no bias and of course bringing it up is some sort of horrible thing? Lol I agreed with Obama and Hillary before, of course Fox is biased.
I support a free press but let's not be fools. The "free press" is owned by mega corporations and must make ratings in an increasingly competitive landscape. As such, most are biased, some more heavily than others.
That being said, despite Trumps whining, all those news organizations are still raking him over the coals on a daily basis.
So frankly, I think the complaints about hindered free press are largely projected and political in nature.
I wonder if there is any profession in the world that people have less confidence in than the media.
Maybe lawyers, but people generally like their own lawyers, whereas who in the world trusts a journalist?
When people are interviewed, they are scared that the person interviewing them is going to take them out of context and hurt them in an article (or the editor is going to screw them).
And how about the reporters that chase people on the street? They get away with it, but they are stalking, harassing and assaulting people.
I cannot think of a profession that people trust less than the media.
A little history can help here. At the time of the founding fathers, in France before and during their revolution, presses were violently destroyed by the authorities when those publications published issues that were not government approved. Editors and writers would be imprisoned and sometimes executed.
Fast-forward to modern France where a lively free press exists. There are publications across the entire gamut of political affiliations, as well as a few news services which strive for more of a middle ground. No one expects all news outlets to have the same point of view. They all get along relatively peacefully, outside the clearly terrorist attacks which have followed some issues.
I don't understand why people get so outraged about the conservative and liberal biases of the mainstream media. They are a business, just as the newspapers were hundreds of years ago. Having a free press means that the journalists can do their jobs without impediment, and especially without the threat of imprisonment or death for their published works. It does not mean that every publication must tell the same version of events.
Triangulation for the truth is a bit like calculus--the more publications you read and view, the more closely you will approximate the truth. (Loved that term!)
Personally I watch the BBC World Report, the CBS Evening News, the PBS Newshour, Washington Week in Review, and sometimes Firing Line. I rarely watch other networks and I almost never watch the "celebrity journalists." I listen to NPR. My print media includes our local paper ($50! cough!), the New York Times (only $15), the Reuters and AP wire service apps, the BBC, FoxNews and NPR apps and several professional blogs, some with a political bent and some not. I also watch French news on France 24 and AFP regularly, which seem to be unbiased reporting. I don't listen to talk radio or read political blogs.
I am what you would call a news junkie. I'm also a confirmed independent, so I steer away from news media with an extreme bent like ABC, NBC, and Fox news networks. CBS is barely tolerable. It helps that I rarely get emotional about what is going on in the news. I can criticize anyone I chose because I'm not invested in a particular view of things. It's liberating.
Or do you believe that only a media that says nice things about you and Donald should be allowed and all others who ask inconvenient questions are "enemy of the People?"
Funny that's exactly what liberals believed when Obama was president and shutting out Fox. Now liberals think only democrat activists that say negative things about the president should be allowed to ask questions and whine and wail about attacks on "the free press" when ONE obnoxious so-called journalist is kicked out.
Or do you believe that only a media that says nice things about you and Donald should be allowed and all others who ask inconvenient questions are "enemy of the People?"
A better question to ask, is how many conservatives want a democracy, in the first place?
Or do you believe that only a media that says nice things about you and Donald should be allowed and all others who ask inconvenient questions are "enemy of the People?"
Today's press is butthurt over losing the 2016 election and is super biased against Trump and all Republicans and has been for decades...it's our duty as those seeking truth and accuracy to fight their lies and I thank God Trump is taking them head on.
It just has to not blatantly conform to it's bias.
Especially if it wants to paint itself as some type of champions of the people.
And what is "it's" bias? Any bias that isn't the same as yours?
Here's a thought for you conservatives so worked up about the media: if you don't like it, form your own media outlets.
You already have FOX, Breitbart, Infowars. What percentage of the public do you make up? Quite a damn lot. So there should be enough for people to vote with their ears / pocketbooks and create more outlets with your viewpoints instead of trying to limit other existing ones you don't like.
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