Today’s Discussion Question

Only if he/she lets that view come out in their journalism.
Everyone has an opinion, but unless you are doing editorials or a blog, the opinions need to stay out of your work.
And this needs to be worked at because you can intend to be unbiased and still do things, like over cover one side, or be quicker to hop on negative stories when it involves the other side.
So, no, a journalist’s beliefs don’t make them biased. It’s their reports that make them biased.
McCain and Palin, for instance, have absolutely nothing to do with the couuntry being on the wrong track. Both are so far removed from the policies of Bush and the liberal controld Congress that to weigh them down with these characterizations is completely unfair.
Anyone who thinks McCain means four more years of Bush hasn’t reviewed McCain’s platform.

Republicans are not fair to the media, they are pushing hard on the media, because the media reports what people says in their families, communities and workplaces. Wbush-Cheney-McCain and the former Republican congress have brought America on her knees and media has the moral responsibility to report that somber status of the affairs in the US. Remember that media is part of the major pilars of a democracy and a republic.

McCain and Palin, for instance, have absolutely nothing to do with the couuntry being on the wrong track.
That just doesn’t hold water there bud. McCain voted with Bush 95% of the time. His record doesn’t lie, when he bothered to voted at all, 95% of the time he voted with Bush.

McCain is Bush warmed over. McCain does not believe Bush policies are wrong, only that they were mis-handled. McCain promotes the same Republican crap that has been shoved this country’s throat the last 20 years. His choice of Palin, a social conservative appeasement to his base, illustrates that.

The McCain campaign has put the media in an impossible situation. In an effort to cover up their unvetted, unqualified VP selection – they have decided to call any and all questions regarding Palin or her background as “sexist”. Obama says families should be off limits and the Mccain campaign cries foul when the pregnant daughter is mentioned. Why is it okay to exploit the other children, but that one “is private”? The kids are either “off limits” or they are not. Palin can’t have it both ways and get mad at the media for not placating her.

The republicans control the media.
they use the media to get an onslaught of attacks out.
then the liberal media runs scared when the republicans push them around.
(example: kid gloves on Palin allowing the sexism push to back them off while allowing overkill of personal attacks from republicans)

George Bush a governor for 8 years, supposedly had “executive experience”, and look where that got us! Maybe that should not be such a criteria for one to be a President and must look to other attributes and characteristics like intelligence, wisdom, judgment and temperment in picking our presidents. The ability to put people first before party and the ability to unite Americans and not divide us.
For Instance, McCain is a big gambler, loves the gaming tables at Las Vegas, which media was well aware of and are just now coming out with after his gamble of the Sarah Palin pick. Is this not a characteristic which should have been made known beforehand. I think the American people have the right to know that McCain has this Vice and whether they want a President who does not have the fortitude to withstand the gaming table!
GOP through the unveiling of Sarah Palin are trying to sell us a bill of goods and mislead the public like they did about the Iraq War! There were no WMD’s and Sarah Palin is not the Reformer and the Experienced Leader they are trying to portray her — sell her as. When did we Americans start Confusing a staged event (drama) with Reality, the truth for a lie!
Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln were not Governors and therefore allegedly had no Executive Experience and yet they were our greatest Presidents!
Republicans belittle community organizers which is a public servant because they do not believe in serving the Public only the wealthy. To be a President means to be the greatest of Public Servants.
GOP Family Values? Yet for 10 years they voted no to the minimum wage for working mothers and families and only after Democrats gained control was minimum wage passed! Yet every year they make sure they get their Raises!
GOP Family Values: Yet they will not approve an affordable health care plan for all Americans, yet they have great health care for themselves. That would be too much like a government give away but its ok for them to get the government give away.
GOP loves to talk about putting country first, prosperity, the flag and in Reality they do nothing but talk and leave out the action. They have fooled Americans for years with talk and no action on behalf of the people. For years under GOP rule the country has declined in economic promise for the everyday families, college education has soared and unreachable for many young people who are intelligent and eager to learn. GOP knows that an intelligent public means they cannot get away with their lies for a higher education trains one to “think for themselves”. They do not want people to think but to follow them blindly. Like sheep going to the slaughter! We must not let them sell us this empty bill of goods again.
It is time for us, those who care deeply for this country, to Expose the Myth, the lie and the deceptions of the Republican party. Pull the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz and expose them for what they are frauds and pretenders, who really have no answers at all.
For instance I heard one GOP opertive say after Sarah Palin’s speech “When we need leaders the most they step up? Really they read a prepared speech on a teleprompter in front of an adoring crowd and this makes one a leader? We Americans have to stop letting these GOP operatives sell us these empty bill of goods and fill our heads with lies which are not based on reality or truth! We must see clearly the path ahead and not be lead down the wrong path, like Iraq where Bin Ladin does not live. We are at a fork in the road. Can you see the two paths — one keeping you on the same path of illusion, fear, war and spiraling poverty — the other to increased, peace, prosperity, good health and unity. We must choose correctly!

Perhaps you and the media may be misinterpreting the statement: “…80% of the American people think this country is on the wrong track.”
You (and the media) seem to think this means that people are against George Bush and want liberal, Democrats to run the country. This is not correct thinking.
10 people can have 10 different ideas of what it means when they think America is on the wrong track.
Many think Bush did not push a true Reagan-Conservative agenda while in office. Bush allowed too much govt. spending and too much govt. in our lives.
Do not assume that this 80% “wrong track” vote is for a liberal, Democrat party agenda or politicians.

katherine’s point above is correct, but the even larger point is that media should be antagonistic to those in power — their bias should be on behalf of the polity, period.
this is the problem with the up-is-down-ism of the latest palin reax from camp mccain: the very real criticism coming her way is the direct result of the campaign vetting her after the fact. this is, and should be, a very bad quality precisely because it is the exact same behavior of the last eight years (i.e. wing it and hope nobody notices; should they notice, play victim to some conspiracy).
don’t relent, jake.

McCain`s judgment is still under question for chosing a VP with no experience and is directly connected to Alaskan separatists.
This is a so called reformer who likes to fire anybody that disagrees with her.

This is a so called reformer who likes to fire anybody that disagrees with her.
Posted by: Keith | Sep 4, 2008 9:05:11 AM
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Bush-Cheney ’08!!!

80% of the American people do not think this country is on the wrong track. I have no idea where some of you network reporters get your information and facts, do you just dream up random statistics in your sleep? Us middle class people in mainstream USA are proud of our country and are fully supportive of ANY leader who is elected by the citizens of this great country, unlike the out of touch mainstream media who are cooped up in their New York City or DC offices falsly reporting what they think us normal people want to hear. Come here to Ohio and work in a factory and see what its like outside NY and DC and you will see why we support McCain and Palin.

The media’s coverage of this presidential campaign has been, in the words of Governor Rendell, an embarrassment. I couldn’t agree more. The media has been so afraid of appearing racist that they haven’t asked Obama the tough questions. Hillary was put through hell by the media, Obama got the kid glove treatment. MSNBC has been so bad that no one in my family/friends will watch it anymore. I know people who have stopped reading Newsweek or NBC. More people in my own circle are listening to talk radio and Fox News. When I can tune into Fox News and get more objective news coverage, then something is wrong with the media in this country.

It is a tight line to walk discussing some of Plain’s policies, excluding her family. Last night she used her special needs child to show her staunch abortion stance and stated a falsehood about what she will do for parents w/kids w/special needs. She cut those Special Needs programs 62% in Alaska. Also, Palin is adamantly opposed to any form of sex education programs. While her daughter’s pregnancy is “private”, one has to be able to explore the potential failed policy of her mother that helped get her there. She also line-item vetoed funding for teenage parental assistance in Alaska.

Short answer, no. Our country is really on the wrong track. Why do you think the Ron Paul Rally happened. Unfortunately, Obama and McCain are very similar with Obama being slightly better. Both dems and reps have been bought by corporations. Paul, Nader, Kucinich, Gravel, etc. would have done right by the people.

The big winners in this presidential campaign are going to be Fox News and conservative talk radio. People like myself, who never before tuned into conservative stations, are now listening to what Hannity, etc. have to say. Yeah, they’re biased. Yeah, some of their opinions are wacked out. But they also point out things that the MSM ignores, or tries to hide. New Fox and talk radio viewers/listeners aren’t going to go away after this election. I’ve become a real Hannity fan, even if I laugh at him sometimes. Same with O’Reilly. They sure do beat the Obama ####### at MSNBC and CNN.

I thought their feeling were supposed to be left behind at the door and not come into their reporting. At least for the reporters, editorial folks would have a different standard.
But here’s another question, if three times as many people in the media identify themselves as liberal, does that make them bias?

I want to see Palin on Meet the Press and other than Fox (the Republican Bastion). I need to see how she is without her handlers. Why doesn’t McCain want her to meet the press? Instead he is beating up the press, so she will only get softball questions. McCain is playing the sexist card. Wake up America, we are in crucial times.

It depends. Journalists should represent the facts as the facts, and their opinions as opinions. We all have our point of view, so we should all be honest about it.

I want to see Palin on Meet the Press and other than Fox (the Republican Bastion). I need to see how she is without her handlers. Why doesn’t McCain want her to meet the press?
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The McCain camp says she will not be doing MSM interviews except for neocon radio and Fox Comedy. Not kidding.
A canned candidate. God love America!

Here’s how bias works:
How many times do you hear that “wrong track” point. How many times do you hear about the Democratic Congress’ lowest polling in the history of the institution?
The bias is not mentioning facts, it’s in mentioning only SOME facts.
Like, for example, the press is currently pounding the point that Palin uses speech writers. Just like ANY other politician….

Man, if yu haven’t figured out this questioon, you’ve gt to take journalism 101.
Don’t be confused between your sex orientation and your requirement of going to men’s room – your own plitical association and you obligation of objectivity can coexist.
However, zerobama does not seem to get it.

For Mothers on the blog, is it possible for a woman to hold on for 11 hours after the breaking of her water before delivering? This beats my imagination!
Something is not right and it is a matter of time that the truth will come out. I trust the bloggers.
Posted by: owen jacob | Sep 4, 2008 9:39:03 AM
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When MY water broke with my second child, my OB/GYN made me immediately go to the hospital. Not in an hour or so. IMMEDIATELY. The risk of infection is VERY high. Palin would be high risk due to her age and she was carrying a baby with known birth defects. A very complicated pregnancy.
With these known facts, Palin would travel 11 hours, leaking fluid and exposing the unborn child to hundreds of people carrying millions of germs. She could have gone into full blown labor at any second, multiple births speed up the birth process considerably.
As a woman and a mother, I question her judgement on this. Her actions were needlessly reckless.

I will admit I have been a political junkie during this election and am very unhappy with the news media being so prejudiced for the democrats–they need to report the news and not be the news–we don’t want to hear their views–Obama was never vetted fully-only his associates-I think the media is and was afraid to say anything negative about him for fear of being labled “racist”.
He is simply unqualified to be a president of this great country–he and his wife have taken of the advantages, and have not given back at all.

Sammy,
According to Gov.Palin, she is a Washington outsider. But if you have been around for a while, you will know that that speech of hers is 100% Washington-scripted.
And to think that it was not just a Speech Writer that sripted the speech, but President George Bush’s Script Writer.
And to hear her throwing stones at Washington? Isn’t that the height of hypocricy and deceit.
You need to get into the heads of the Politicians to know their thoughts. Everything you heard her spewed were not her thoughts but the thoughts of the establishment who are desperate to paint her in good light and who ended up making so much mockery of her with that hateful, juvenile and infantile Speech.
You need to enter major new sites to know the kind of bile that have been poured on her since that Speech.

McCain did NOT say that Palin wouldn’t be doing interviews except at Fox and conservative media. LOL
Posted by: Ron | Sep 4, 2008 9:49:21 AM
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This is per a McCain camp statement.
LOL right back at ya!

Jeanne from Michigan -
Since everything is on the net these days, you shouldn’t have difficulty proving that McCain said Palin would only do Fox and right wing media interviews.
Can’t do it? Didn’t think so.

Jake, this is a great question.
It seems to me that the media has an aversion to the facts these days. It has ceased to be the source of fair coverage, researched analysis, and researched facts. It has become the plaything of the politicians.
If the media could spend just a few minutes in a reasoned analysis of why the country is on the wrong track, then it would not appear biased. If the GDP is falling, in other words, the media is not at fault for reporting that.
It seems that such facts and figures are only reported in isolated segments, such as the business news. Their relationship to political platforms is left out of the analysis and voters are left to their own devices. The fact of the matter is that most voters do not have the time to do the analysis for themselves.

Jeanne from Michigan -
Since everything is on the net these days, you shouldn’t have difficulty proving that McCain said Palin would only do Fox and right wing media interviews.
Can’t do it? Didn’t think so.
Posted by: Ron | Sep 4, 2008 10:01:01 AM
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Joe Scarbourogh (a lib shill, LOL)reported memo from the McCain camp this morning.
You like to jump to conclusions, don’t you? McCain is you guy then!! He claimed that Iraq was to blame for the anthrax attacks, LOL!! Jump, Johnny, jump!!!

It seems the GOP Leaders know how ignorant their members are.
The Speeches I have heard so far are filled with outright distortions and falsehood.
“Know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Jeanne – you’re cracking me up.
You do know that when Clinton signed the Iraqi Liberation Act in 1998, Joe Biden and a slew of key Dems including Gore, Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy talked about the dangers of WMD.
Or maybe you didn’t know that. If you can’t lie, you can’t push your agenda. Carry on. It’s most amusing.

“It seems the GOP Leaders know how ignorant their members are.”

The libs are charging that McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time.
Has it occurred to anyone that Obama has voted 100% of the time with a Pelosi/Reid Congress which has historically low 9% approval ratings?

“The Republican that stood up for John Kerry adn slammed the swiftboating was none other than John McCain.”

Of course not. What is unethical is when this shapes how members of the media cover the issues. It’s ok to have personal biases, but you need to approach questions objectively as a journalist, particularly when the issues are not “black and white.” Also, when things become personal – as they were when the media attacked Clinton (and now Palin), I think this is beyond unethical. All of the praise given Obama, and the horrific treatment of Clinton showed a level of media bias that I have not seen in my 40 years on the planet. I was shocked to the highest level.

Sharing facts in no way indicates bias. Couching facts in an opinion or consistently repeating certain facts that favor one side more than the other (subtly pounding home the message) is the very definition of bias. Expression and body language can also create bias when delivering the spoken word. For example, Andrea Mitchell looked like someone stole her puppy when she was interviewing Giuliani last night. Her frowning face and slumped shoulders screamed to the world that she could not get out of there fast enough.

Interesting question, Jake, but I’m not sure what the answer is. What I do know is that the American media were complicit in heading the country down the wrong track in the aftermath of 09/11. They bought the Iraq b.s. hook, line and sinker. The media didn’t really wake up to the realities of the Bush Administration until Katrina demonstrated its stupefying, inarguable incompetence.
If 80% of Americans think the country’s headed in the wrong direction, I think that media serves the nation best by focusing on those issues that got them to that point of discontent, e.g., jobs, health insurance, personal and national debt, foreign policy, and energy independence and what the candidates are going to do about them.
The media doesn’t serve the nation well when it’s over focused on the horse race and under focused on the issues. There’s too much repetition of talking points and too little analysis as to whether they’re true or false. Campaign’s now routinely get free advertising by simply distributing ads to the talking heads who obligingly air them and yak about whether or not they’re “effective.” How about devoting some time to discussing whether or not they’re true?

Everybody reports with a bias, it is human nature. The job of the journalist is to recognize their own bias and report the facts regardless of whether they suit their bias or not. Similarly, if a reporter does report with bias it is important to indicate some aspect of the “other” side.

“Wrong track” can indicate a lot of things…is it political, moral, religious, environmental? It is a generic question. One could think we are “on the wrong track” because Bush is pres and not McCain or Obama…One could think the democratic Congress is putting us on the wrong track, or that a republican congress has and will…One could think that we are not Christian/Islamic/Wiccan/Atheist enough…One could think that we are polluting to much…etc. etc.
The question allows people to fill in their own pet concerns.
That said, Bush probably has a lot to do with the 80% figure, given his approval ratings…however, if the proper follow up question is asked: “which candidate will be more likely to put the country on the RIGHT track,” the answer is split, right?
So, Jake, your question makes the false assumption that “wrong track” = “elect Obama,” When it is just as likely to mean “elect McCain”

“The Presidency of the United States is not a bully pullpit for a televangelist.”

To some degree it does mean the media is bias. There was a time when one did not know who the media was for or against. Now it is so blatant;Fox News is definitely biased towards Republicans and MSNBC is biased towards Democrats. However, this year, the Country is in such turmoil,it must be hard to simply sit back and watch without putting your two cents in. CNN is the better of the three cable news networks, a CSPAN is better than them all.

How about if a hypothetical media member doesn’t share that view, does that mean he or she is biased for thinking the status quo needs to be maintained? Bias either way isn’t reflected in communication if you simply stick to the facts.

On so many levels, Palin is just like Bush — unfortunately (for her), that’s not a very favorable comparison.
Palin is great for rallying the conservative base of the party, the 20% who still approve of Bush (and think the country is on the right track) — the people in the convention hall. Another 20-25% are persuadable Republicans. Not too sure how far Palin’s message travels beyond that 40-45%. Outside the likely Red States, does she really affect the 15% undecided in the middle? I’m not too sure. We’ll see.
The McCain/Palin camp are not reformers; they are hypocrites who can only deliver more of the same. They have no new ideas; they are ideological extremists who share the same extreme ideas as Cheney & Bush. Their “Ownership Society” is really an “on your own” society, where a right-wing administration will threaten your civil liberties and take away your choices.
I should hope the last 8 years would have taught the American people a few lessons about trusting glib, faith-based, anti-government politicians with the heavy responsibility of the US Government and US leadership in the free world.

Bias for a reporter isn’t a matter of sharing a view, it’s a matter of how things are reported and deciding what’s worth reporting. How fairly different sides are heard and investigated. I listen to NPR. How many man-hours have they used investigating Palin in the last few days versus the number spent on Obama’s ties to Ayers or his removal of his opponents from the ballot when running for state senate. Have they spent one minute on those things? That’s bias.

Members of the media are human. They have views, and no one should expect a journalist to be 100% objective 100% of the time. But a journalist should at least strive to be that way. That’s all we ask, but we should warn you that no matter what, you guys will never make all of us happy all of the time!
Personally, I feel editors today have shown far more obvious bias in journalism than writers have. Editors are coming up with headlines like “Candidate X Challenges Candidate Y On…” when someone they agree with goes on the attack, but then go with “Candidate Y Assails Candidate X” when it’s the other way around. Editors are also choosing to show flattering pictures of their guy and awful ones of the other guy.
This goes both ways depending on the news outlet. You can always tell a paper’s slant by the headlines before you even read the story, and that is not the writers’ doing.

Right on, Jake. You see the problem. If you acknowledge the facts in front of you, you’re going to acquire what the Republicans call a “liberal bias.”
You see, the facts have a liberal bias. They indicate that we can’t bankrupt our country via tax cuts for the rich, and spend all of our time, money and prestige in unnecessary wars.
So if you acknowledge that the war contributes to the deficit, then you have a liberal bias. If you suggest that evolution has a great deal of scientific support, you have a liberal bias. If you think FEMA should be headed by a trained administrator, rather than by the former head of an Arabian horse association, you have a liberal bias.
I could go on….but why bother? It only shows my bias.

I’m probably as far to the left as anyone here, and while the facts may in fact have a liberal bias, I am saddened by the blending of news and commentary to the point that it becomes difficult to tell them apart. Ultimately it hurts everyone.
I have to point out the FoxNews program titled the “Strategy Room” as an unrepentant example – but everyone does it now.
But then,… i’m old

The media is totally biased. Sometimes by suttle remark sometimes more blatant.
Obama was vetted by the media by using his campaign’s talking points.How about his time at Columbia they refuse to discuss this. Since you guys are so good at investagative reporting what went on then?