I thought I'd link this article, which is a nice summary of media bias (focused on the New York Times) when it mattered.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-times-it-ain%e2%80%99t-a-changin%e2%80%99/


A little piece of it here:

QuoteLeff's exhaustive account of this ignominy makes it clear that the Times considered it more important to seem objective than to tell the whole truth about Nazi genocide. In a letter written at the time, Sulzberger explained that he had to remain "disassociated from active participation in any movement which springs from the oppression of the Jews in Germany" so as not to compromise "the unprejudiced and unbiased position of the Times." In other words, he was holding up as a journalistic ideal a neutral stance toward the extermination of millions. Amoral though this insistence on "objectivity" was, however, even it seems to have been largely a cover for something else — namely a simple failure of institutional courage. Reading Leff's book, one gathers that if those in power at the Times chose to systematically mute the facts about the Holocaust, it was largely for no more profound reasons than that they, like their counterparts today who sugarcoat Islam, didn't want to endanger their position in the cultural elite, or even risk, say, a modicum of discomfort at the occasional dinner party. It was more important to them to maintain their own status, not to mention the newspaper's reputation, than to fully and honestly report the facts about a historically unprecedented act of monstrous evil.

...reminds of the story about the head of CNN looking the other way 10 years ago when he and his reporters KNEW there were atrocities going on in Iraq - but he didn't want jeopardize the fact that CNN had a news bureau in Iraq.

- Ed C.

"Times chose to systematically mute the facts about the Holocaust, it was largely for no more profound reasons than that they, like their counterparts today who sugarcoat Islam"

So, saying anything positive about Islam is equivalent to whitewashing the Holocaust...?

"Well, not all Moslems are terrorists, you know -"
"ZOMFG! u r must be a NAAAAAZIIII!"

Indeed, gleichmann, this is an excellent example of media bias - though perhaps not in the way the authour intended -  since this sort of shit flies without many people noticing.

Nice catch, Kyle Aaron.

Quote from: Koltar;219586...reminds of the story about the head of CNN looking the other way 10 years ago when he and his reporters KNEW there were atrocities going on in Iraq - but he didn't want jeopardize the fact that CNN had a news bureau in Iraq.

That event was also mentioned in the article.

I also personally recall the Killing Fields and how it was completely ignored until the movie brought it into national view. That faded rather quickly however and never inspired the questions it should have in many circles.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;219591"Times chose to systematically mute the facts about the Holocaust, it was largely for no more profound reasons than that they, like their counterparts today who sugarcoat Islam"

So, saying anything positive about Islam is equivalent to whitewashing the Holocaust...?

No Kyle, positive things about Islam are perfectly fine when they are true. I'm sure there were positive things about the National Socialist Party too.

However when the reporting focuses on on those but passes over lightly (or not at all) the Islamic riots in France, Islamic no-go zones for police and other services in the UK, Honor Killings, Beatings of Gays and Jews in the city streets, and other such things in favor of 'Postive Stories' and or casting the blame on white racism- then we have a problem.

I'm betting you didn't even read the article. If you did I'm betting you dismissed it out of hand without even trying to confirm the smallest sections of it.

Quote from: gleichman;219603No Kyle, positive things about Islam are perfectly fine when they are true. I'm sure there were positive things about the National Socialist Party too.

I hear tell the economy was good. And something about the trains running on time in Italy rings a bell...

Well that was certainly clear eyed and objective :rolleyes:.

It is sort of interesting that there are no citations or links here, either to the crime stats, who's perpetrating them, or to particular articles.

That being said, this Virginia, is why it is a good idea to pay attention to diverse sources of information, because they are all going to, on some level, get it wrong either through being dumb or malice.

Either one comes usually from bias, not wanting to risk employees/sources, or wanting to keep open a profitable business line.

Every single news organization gets something wrong, ignores something important, or spins shit.  The Times is no different.

Well, pretty firm agreement from me that commercial big media sucks and that they often sell out to get a story.  

Quote from: Koltar;219586...reminds of the story about the head of CNN looking the other way 10 years ago when he and his reporters KNEW there were atrocities going on in Iraq - but he didn't want jeopardize the fact that CNN had a news bureau in Iraq.

Damn straight.  

There were many people complaining about the suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan before 9/11 -- including the abuse of prisoners under Saddam Hussein and the oppression of women and destruction of culture under the Taliban.  In my experience, they were almost certain to be labeled bleeding heart liberals, and they were typically ignored.

I'm not sure where you get your news from Brian, but we don't have Islamic police no-go zones in the UK.  One senior CoE clergyman claimed such, but nobody agreed with him (it got a lot of press, but no real support, he had no evidence for it you see).

Comparing Muslims to Nazis is ludicrous incidentally.  I grew up knowing muslims (like most Brits do actually) and went out with a girl from a muslim family for near on a decade, most muslims really are just folk like anyone else - much as one would expect really.

Muslims in France historically have actually had some pretty good reasons to riot, it has not always been a minority friendly country.  There's also a natural tension as France is not multicultural, it's aggressively secular, which can lead to internal issues with the more devout of the muslim community - tensions which are then exacerbated by anti-Arab discrimination.

As a rule, I tend to avoid telling Americans what America is actually like and what is happening within her borders.  On the basis of these posts, I'd suggest possibly you do the same with respect to Europe, your sources do not reflect our reality.

Every news outlet has bias, to greater or lesser degrees.  Fox is unusual not because it's right wing, plenty of news outlets globally are that, but because it is avowedly partisan.

Most news outlets strive for objectivity, but fail to fully counteract their own biases.  Fox embraces its biases.  But to be honest, US network news generally is shockingly bad.  US news generally isn't much to write home about actually, the US has many great things about it, but the news media not so much.

Quote from: jhkim;219723There were many people complaining about the suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan before 9/11 -- including the abuse of prisoners under Saddam Hussein and the oppression of women and destruction of culture under the Taliban.  In my experience, they were almost certain to be labeled bleeding heart liberals, and they were typically ignored.

Funny, I recall a completely different experience. The Clinton adminstration for example denying most of the reports or down playing them.

Odd that.

Quote from: Balbinus;219727I'm not sure where you get your news from Brian, but we don't have Islamic police no-go zones in the UK.

I'm well aware of the official denials.

Quote from: Balbinus;219727I'm not sure where you get your news from Brian, but we don't have Islamic police no-go zones in the UK.  One senior CoE clergyman claimed such, but nobody agreed with him (it got a lot of press, but no real support, he had no evidence for it you see).

In Gleichman's world, Europe is already politically and culturally dominated by extremist Muslims.

Quote from: Balbinus;219727Comparing Muslims to Nazis is ludicrous incidentally.  I grew up knowing muslims (like most Brits do actually) and went out with a girl from a muslim family for near on a decade, most muslims really are just folk like anyone else - much as one would expect really.

But, but, but who would we hate then?  Who would we have to fear?  The chinese maybe?

Quote from: Balbinus;219727Muslims in France historically have actually had some pretty good reasons to riot, it has not always been a minority friendly country.  There's also a natural tension as France is not multicultural, it's aggressively secular, which can lead to internal issues with the more devout of the muslim community - tensions which are then exacerbated by anti-Arab discrimination.

Not to mention massive economic disparities.  Young men tend to riot when they aren't allowed to compete fairly for jobs or find decent housing with the rest of society.

Speaking of biased news outlets... I occasionally read a blog not to long ago (now and again, actually) which happened to be written by an insider in CNN. Now fired because of his blog.

He had... interesting.... things to say about the behind the scenes things wrt CNN itself, more open after his firing of course.  And he was avowedly liberal, which makes it more interesting. Did you know that CNN 'grooms' their male anchors, at least in part, to appeal to gay men?  

Not that I think that has anything to do with news, but it is a curious factiod.

At the end of the day this is what I like about the 'blogosphere', even as I don't particularly participate in it (The CNN guy was a rare exception).  As we no longer have to rely on massive instituitions which feel a need to 'groom' their news for reasons ranging from political bias to selling commerical airtime, and we also no longer rely on purely school trained journalists (who yes, probably know quite a bit more about journalism in general, but also tend to inherit a purely liberal bias from their instituitions... they share the same lenses when processing information, if not absolute)... we have a return, at the end of the day where you can read news KNOWING the bias is there, and can easily find the exact same news story presented from the opposite side. I think this is a good thing.