Filed Wednesday, February 11. 2009
Sometimes the only way to avoid media bias is to turn the channel or drop the subscription.
There has been so much discussion about media bias and the lack of journalistic integrity in the last election coverage that people are turning to alternative news sources, changing channels and logging onto the Internet. There’s actually a site where you can see the worst reporting of 2008. I’m surprised that doesn’t get more attention, but why would the media want to draw more rage upon itself? Many newspapers are also feeling the surge of people seeking out more objective opinions and reporting than what they have offered. People are turning to the Internet and other sources as some papers are on the verge of bankruptcy while others (including the Chicago-based Tribune Company) have already declared Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection. Relatively new sources like the Drudge Report have become a go-to source instead of the more traditional news outlets. People have more choices and are exercising those choices. The Lack of Chicago Media It’s really interesting when you can get more details and perspectives from a blog than you can from the more traditional news sources. A great Chicago example of this is the Second City Cop Blog. It provides a more realistic (though sometimes caustic) review of Chicago police, crime and city issues. It has broken more than one substantial story in the last year and the traditional media “experts” have had to try to catch up. It’s also interesting to see that some of the reporters in the major Chicago papers don’t investigate much any more and just read the blog as a resource to get their story and details. That seems to be a fairly consistent complaint within the threads of this blog. It’s time for a revamping of the major Chicago media. If you talk with them, they would say they’re doing an excellent job. In reality, though, they leave a lot to be desired. Credibility No Longer on the 6 p.m. News It’s interesting to note that people aren’t tuning as much into the standard “news programs” any more. While ABC, NBC and CBS are all wondering what happened, many viewers are looking at cable news and all those expanded news coverage channels. Do you even watch the local news any more? I don’t. How much of it is actual news and how much is fluff? Out of 30 minutes, you have about six minutes of commercials, eight to 10 minutes of sports, six to eight minutes of weather and about five minutes of real news with the rest dedicated to some special fluff tidbits like a health corner, recipes, cool gadgets, smart pets or some other trite piece. It’s even worse on the national news with biased anchors who have lost credibility with some to the point that a good portion of viewers have now turned to The Daily Show on Comedy Central as their source for national news. Major news anchors have lost credibility with the average viewer. So does that mean that Jon Stewart is a “trusted name in journalism”? He is, according to a 2007 Pew Research Center study. He tied for fourth with Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Anderson Cooper. The latest media credibility mistake was reporting on the woman who swam the Atlantic. She didn’t really swim what they claimed in most of the major media outlets. One skeptic in a comments section observed: Another great job of reporting! How many times in the past 10 years has some story gone over the wire without being checked out just to get the “scoop”? Do they actually have journalism schools any more? There is a definite shift in where people get their news today. There are more sources that are biased in their reporting, too. With blogs, various video-based sites like YouTube and other social networking tools, the demise of the traditional news sources is here. Carlinism: Especially in today’s economy, people want real answers from reliable sources. Last modified on 2010-07-31 09:18
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