Article

2005-08-18 Fifth Column

NYT: Fair? Balanced? A Study Finds It Does Not Matter

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Posted by .com 2005-08-18 03:04|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I thought the report was interesting and surprising. I would have expected Fox to influence voting patterns towards the right. Not least because many people are no longer getting their news from the Leftist media and its biased viewpoint.

Posted by phil_b 2005-08-18 05:10|| 2005-08-18 05:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Research has found, for example, that Fox News is much more likely than other news shows to cite conservative think tanks and less likely to cite liberal ones.

Wow. From what I recall of the study, that's not what it found at all. Instead, the other networks almost exclusively cited liberal groups -- Fox wasn't "less likely" to cite them, just more likely to cite the opposition.

Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford 2005-08-18 07:28|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-08-18 07:28|| Front Page Top

#3 Fair? Balanced?It doesn't Matter.

Ok, then, why have the First Admendment?
Most western based democracies don't seem to have that one written down as a fundamental part of their rules of government, nor interpreted as such by those who sit for life in robes and remain unaccountable to the people.

Posted by Thravimp Chaving2669 2005-08-18 09:02|| 2005-08-18 09:02|| Front Page Top

#4 They'll just take this as liscense to be as biased as they want.

If, however, bias does not affect voting patterns (not convinced of that), then maybe its because people are too far gone down the path of not trusting what they are hearing anyway (and thus are not influenced by it).

Posted by Laurence of the Rats">Laurence of the Rats 2005-08-18 09:03|| http://www.punictreachery.com/]">[http://www.punictreachery.com/] 2005-08-18 09:03|| Front Page Top

#5 that's why the NYT, LAT, et al are losing readers by the droves, huh?

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-08-18 10:26|| 2005-08-18 10:26|| Front Page Top

#6 Actually, this shows a coupel of fairly reasonable conclusions that thhe NYT resists:

1) Fox uses more conservative commentatrya nd sources - but its that's a very low bar they set, given that the liberal viewpoint is the basis for 90% of the MSM and NYT especially. So if Fox is anywhere near 50-50 in sources (Fair and balanced), then it is much more likely to use conservative sources than the NYT. Thats like saying sugar is much more likely to be sweet than a lemon.

2) No effect on the votes? Demographics include a broad spectrum? Then they appeal to a broad range of people, and induce no bias in thier viewers. NO suppositions about psychology needed. Just report the fact - the outcome.

No, NYT, you're wrong and so are your lefty "researchers".

Foxnews simply is "Fair and Balanced" - which leaves you and the MSM unfair and unbalanced (which is why they refused to state the obvious best conclusion of the research).

Posted by OldSpook 2005-08-18 10:42|| 2005-08-18 10:42|| Front Page Top

#7 Campaign contributions from FOX news employees showed the majority of their money went to the Democratic party. It was just that the percentage was not as astoundingly high as other "unbiased" news organizations (90+ percent).

Posted by ed 2005-08-18 11:00|| 2005-08-18 11:00|| Front Page Top

#8 "They found that Fox had no detectable effect on which party people voted for, or whether they voted at all."

MSM has a false impression that "fair & balanced" means that people will immediately goes to the Right. The truth is that all the American people is asking for is an unbiased report, so the people can make up their own mind.

The American people are sick of being regarded as retarded people by the MSM, which is one of the reasons that people across the world think Americans are utterly stupid.

We have the best scientists, researchers, engineers, and doctors in the world. Yet, MSM feels that spoon feeding is in order, which insults the intelligence of everyone.

In a selfish kind of way, I like this study. I want the MSM to stay exactly the way they are. Now that there are alternatives, I want to watch the slow rotting death of the MSM. Even Hollywood doesn't want to have anything to do with them and that's food for the gods.

Posted by Poison Reverse 2005-08-18 17:08|| 2005-08-18 17:08|| Front Page Top

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