Not so much. H/t to Smyke.
Look, I'm not saying the media isn't biased. It just isn't a Liberal/Conservative split. Think more status quo and meth-fueled daily news cycles.
Also, Jay Rosen.
Afterthoughts: I think one large reason for why the media can be so hard on parties like the CPC is that it just happens to be the party in power, and it's hard not to compare to a previous years-long Liberal administration. I don't think I qualify as a journalist - I'm barely qualified to be a commentator - but speaking personally I like to think I would be as hard on any other administration as I am on this one. The reason why I don't rag on the NDP all the time, say, is that they haven't done anything except function as an opposition party. And that's great if you want to write about opposition.
But when it comes to stimulus spending, or unnecessary regulations, or regulations that are necessary but which aren't in place, or any number of stupid moves and scandals, the governing administration is, by default, going to be the one that gets in the most trouble. And so, if you want to write about stimulus spending, unnecessary regulations, regulations that are necessary but which aren't in place, or any number of stupid moves and scandals, criticizing the government is what you're going to be doing. That is, unless you want to spend your time as an apologist for the administration.
I'm already on record as not wanting to vote for the Conservative Party of Canada. I wish that wasn't the case. I wish I could give them my vote - Hell, I'm helping them campaign on the ground in my riding because I'm friends with the local team. But as a barely-qualified commentator, I'm still going to rag on the Conservatives. I'm going to do that for as long as they're in power. And if the Conservatives aren't in power, I'll rag on the next guys, and the guys after them. And I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of other commentators - unless they're apologists or outright party hacks ( and that applies to any party ) - think along the same lines.
It's nothing personal. We just hate everyone's guts.
8 comments:
Statis Quo? Not so much. They seemed perfectly happy to endorse the CPC when it was the opposition.
I think media companies are just happy to endorse anyone who wants to unquestioningly loosen business regulations and lower corporate taxes. One of the unacknowledged problems in Canada is that most of our media companies are only owned by a handful of people and it's not surprising at all to learn that those people favor the party that favors the rich.
You know, I am usually a defender of free speech but it's shit like this that makes me not confident that these organizations wouldn't outright lie on their news coverage if the CRTC didn't let them.
There is a huge discconnect between the 'offficial endorsement' and non-biased reporting.
When the Liberals were in power, it was almost impossible to get the MSM to not minimize the misdeeds and scandals of the 'party in power', as you put it. Yes, they reported the scandals - but only when they had to and then only very poorly. There was none of that desire to get at the bottom of the story - rather, it was to burry the story.
There is more to this than appears on the surface - and it all has to do with the last point your professor mentioned: he suggests that the role of a journalist is not to report facts but to explain to people how to understand them by couching them into a story, a narrative. THIS is the attitude which has ruined journalism: we journalists are smarter than our readers, so we must feed them info that has been spun so that they would understand it 'properly'!
THAT is what ruined journalism, turned it from 'reporting facts' to 'engineering public opinion'!!!
Statis Quo? Not so much. They seemed perfectly happy to endorse the CPC when it was the opposition.
Hmm...interesting.
You know, I am usually a defender of free speech but it's shit like this that makes me not confident that these organizations wouldn't outright lie on their news coverage if the CRTC didn't let them.
That's certainly fair enough.
THIS is the attitude which has ruined journalism: we journalists are smarter than our readers, so we must feed them info that has been spun so that they would understand it 'properly'!
Yes, exactly. A lot of what passes for journalistic balance and ethics is pretty much a joke. I don't think that's necessarily because of a problem with journalism itself, or with journalistic ethics. It's just that in order for ethics to really work, people - like journalists - need to act with some relative goodwill.
In other words, you can obey the letter of the law while still abandoning the spirit of it...
You're right -- media bias is not a Liberal/Conservative split.
But I disagree that it's a corporate/populist split either. The bias is actually Left against Right, with the MSM (especially entities such as the CBC) 100% in favour of anything politically supporting Left special interest, irrespective of Party affiliation.
Evidence? I can't think of a single MSM news item -- in my lifetime -- that has been seriously critical of "progressive" Left special interest. Can anyone else?
The bias is actually Left against Right, with the MSM (especially entities such as the CBC) 100% in favour of anything politically supporting Left special interest, irrespective of Party affiliation.
Interesting point, Ricardo.
Evidence? I can't think of a single MSM news item -- in my lifetime -- that has been seriously critical of "progressive" Left special interest. Can anyone else?
I can. It actually happens quite often. Just since the election I've seen an article on an NDP candidate that forged her candidacy papers. Another one critical of the Ontario government's "secret wage hike agreement" with its public sector unions. There's an article titled "NDP deputy leader doubts existance of Bin Laden photos". Another one titled "the Liberal Culture of Defeat".
If you can't see criticism of the Left in the mainstream media, you just aren't looking hard enough.
Oh, and if the bias is Left against Right then why did almost every major newspaper in the country give their official support to the Conservatives? Please, I want to know how that's possible.
I'm not denying that the mainstream media isn't critical of the right. It's just not true that it doesn't criticize the Left.
Post a Comment