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Originally Posted by OvenMaster
We trust(?) news agencies who tell us what's going on. They add their biases, cleverly edit content, etc, but basically it's pretty rare to have any stories checked for accuracy before they're presented to the public for their consumption. How can this be done?
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Man oh man. Most here won't believe this, but that's simply not true. Facts are checked and bias is avoided by most. I'm not going to get into a huge discussion about it, but the Republican Party and FOX News have lied to you all. There is undoubted *some* small liberal bias in many outlets. Most journalists are well educated and live in big cities. So they tend to be like most people of that description- more liberally minded. I'm sure some of that creeps into their reporting. It really is impossible to be completely objective.
Having said that, it's a much, much, much smaller issue than FOX would have you believe. They've taken anecdotal evidence and used it to paint a picture that's not true. In reality, they created the idea of intentionally going into a story with a bias. No other major news provider does that. And by yelling so loudly that they're all liberal FOX has created a "chilling effect" in the industry.
It's a lot like you guys who complain that you can't say anything bad about Obama or you'll be branded a racist. Slip up for a second and say anything that's slightly biased to the left and the phones ring off the hook. Slip the other way, nothing. Not a peep. It's become almost impossible to be "fair and ballanced" because people are looking for a liberal bias. And you'll always find what you're looking for. But swing it the other way, no one cares. The result is you get more right leaning bias on the air than left. And journalists always have the "FOX effect" in the back of their minds.
And with all this the perception that there is liberal bias is stronger than ever. Grrrr. It's like lowering taxes to historically low levels only to be met by tea parties.