Via Tyler Cown of MR, here is a link to an interesting project involving a UK journalist working the crime beat in Baltimore.
For fans of The Wire, obviously.
Showing posts with label Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media. Show all posts
Poniewozik on Bias and Reporting
James Poniewozik of Time comments on the state of bias in the modern mainstream media. His last few sentences sum up what I was attempting to convey about Stossel and my support for him and his style:
Pretty plainly, Fox News is full of conservative opinion hosts, while its news wing has fixated on anti-Obama causes célèbres from ACORN to the tea-party protests. (Equally plainly, the White House is not concerned about fighting the bias of, say, MSNBC hosts who agree with it.) But Sean Hannity's Republicanism, Beck's populism and Mike Huckabee's Christian conservatism are very different — as are, say, Rachel Maddow's progressivism and Chris Matthews' Democratic insiderdom. American politics has civil libertarians and Wall Street conservatives and social-justice moralist-populists and much more.
Pretty plainly, Fox News is full of conservative opinion hosts, while its news wing has fixated on anti-Obama causes célèbres from ACORN to the tea-party protests. (Equally plainly, the White House is not concerned about fighting the bias of, say, MSNBC hosts who agree with it.) But Sean Hannity's Republicanism, Beck's populism and Mike Huckabee's Christian conservatism are very different — as are, say, Rachel Maddow's progressivism and Chris Matthews' Democratic insiderdom. American politics has civil libertarians and Wall Street conservatives and social-justice moralist-populists and much more.
And they all, in these unsettled times, have various issues with the centrist establishment — which has its own permutations and camps. All of this promises wild and interesting times for journalists to cover, but they won't be able to do it from the neutral center. Because there isn't one, and there never was.
News and opinion have merged into one product whether we like it or not. At least Stossel admits this.
Stossel and the MSM
John Stossel on the double-standard of the mainstream media.
Stossel is far and away my favorite member of the MSM. There are two reasons for this.
One, he is the only member of the MSM that is a true and true free-marketer. This is unlike the clowns on Fox News who trumpet free markets when in comes to Wall Street and the broader economy, but then feel only the federal government is capable of handling and regulating the horrors of drugs, gay marriage and the like.
Secondly, Stossel takes a novel approach to his reporting, which he talks about at the end of the linked article. He admits his bias. And he reports based on his biases. But he never hides them. I find that admirable.
There is no doubt in my mind that bias runs rampant throughout the MSM. We can continue the charade and pretend these reporters are doing the nation a service with their objectivity. Or we can admit our biases like Stossel and let the market determine who is providing the most valuable reporting.
Stossel is far and away my favorite member of the MSM. There are two reasons for this.
One, he is the only member of the MSM that is a true and true free-marketer. This is unlike the clowns on Fox News who trumpet free markets when in comes to Wall Street and the broader economy, but then feel only the federal government is capable of handling and regulating the horrors of drugs, gay marriage and the like.
Secondly, Stossel takes a novel approach to his reporting, which he talks about at the end of the linked article. He admits his bias. And he reports based on his biases. But he never hides them. I find that admirable.
There is no doubt in my mind that bias runs rampant throughout the MSM. We can continue the charade and pretend these reporters are doing the nation a service with their objectivity. Or we can admit our biases like Stossel and let the market determine who is providing the most valuable reporting.
Obama and Fox News
Over at The Nation, John Nichols makes an excellent point about the Obama Administration's current feud with Fox News:
Obama should sit down with Fox reporters and anchors and do interviews. That does not mean that the president has to put up with the emotional wreckage that is Glenn Beck. But there is no reason why he shouldn't go another round with Bill O'Reilly (as Obama did during the 2008 campaign) or sit down with Chris Wallace (as Bill Clinton did).
Obama should sit down with Fox reporters and anchors and do interviews. That does not mean that the president has to put up with the emotional wreckage that is Glenn Beck. But there is no reason why he shouldn't go another round with Bill O'Reilly (as Obama did during the 2008 campaign) or sit down with Chris Wallace (as Bill Clinton did).
If the Fox interviewers are absurdly unfair, the American people will respond with appropriate consternation. On the other hand, if they are aggressive and pointed in their challenges, Obama will rise or fall on the quality of his responses. His aides, if they have any faith in their man's abilities, should bend over backwards to accept some Fox interviews. They should also accept an invite from PBS' Bill Moyers, who would pose tougher – and, yes, more informed -- questions than the Foxbots.
Now who says leftists don't love markets?
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