What some see as a *bias* is to others "objective reasoning".
When example after example of liberal bias in the media is shown, when numerous studies have been conducted agreeing with the premise that a liberal bias exists in mainstream journalism and others refuse to see what is obvious. Objective reasoning is called into question. Reasoning is an interesting thing, it is affected by our mental models, and some of our most deeply held assumptions about the world around us, and it's one of the reasons so many find this place of reading and writing so interesting.
Recently, I challenged Steven with a simple question. If liberals (or Democrats), believed an equal amount of biased coverage existed in mainstream journalism, wouldn't Democrat supporters launch a website similar to media research center in order to make their case?
I received no reply.
Now, it could be that Steven was writing his next FA piece, or busy with his family and other interesting life adventures, or it could be cognitive dissonance.
We may never know. :)
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Bush “Divisive,” But Dean a Uniter Who
“Brings People Together”
George W. Bush campaigned in 2000 as a “uniter, not a divider.” But in what may be a preview of the prism through which the networks will see the 2004 presidential campaign, ABC’s Terry Moran on Sunday described Bush as a divider, labeling him a “divisive President” and a “divisive figure.” CBS’s Bob Schieffer similarly portrayed Bush as a divider, calling him “a polarizing politician,” who though as Governor did bring people together, now “seems to have become someone that you either love or you hate.” But Schieffer hailed Democratic candidate Howard Dean as a uniter.
Hosting Face the Nation, Schieffer trumpeted how Dean “is a hit at this point” because “he seems to be the first Democrat who's found a way to bring new people into the process here. He's found a new kind of participatory politics....Dean has gone into the Internet and begun to bring people together.”
Moran filled in on Sunday for George Stephanopoulos as host of ABC’s This Week. As if it’s solely President Bush’s fault that some people don’t like his policies, in formulating questions, during a segment with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Leon Panetta, Clinton’s former Chief-of-Staff, Moran twice tagged Bush as “divisive.’
Moran observed: “For many Americans, this is a divisive President. Is he vulnerable in the manner in which he seems to polarize people’s opinions?” (Panetta chimed in: “I think that is the case.”)
Moran soon repeated his theme: “This President on the world stage. When he was elected, I think few would have expected him to be, within three years, the dominant figure in the world, a leader that everyone else has to reckon with essentially. And there as well, it’s hard to argue with the notion that he is a divisive figure.”
Over on the December 28 Face the Nation on CBS, regular host Bob Schieffer, during a roundtable with Time magazine’s Karen Tumulty, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz and New York Times columnist David Brooks, admired how Dean is bringing people together, citing a left-wing New York Times columnist as the source of his insight:
“I tell you, this is not, what I'm going to say is not an essay on why I like Howard Dean, but it's, I would say this is why I think that Howard Dean is a hit at this point, and that is he seems to be the first Democrat who's found a way to bring new people into the process here. He's found a new kind of participatory politics. In this television age, where we kind of took the campaigns out of the community and put them on television and made television kind of a passive event, Howard Dean has gone into the Internet and begun to bring people together.
“I think the story we have missed. I think Frank Rich of The New York Times may be the first person who caught on to this. It's not that he has raised money on the Internet that's been important to Howard Dean, but the fact is, he's brought these people together. They now feel like they're part of his campaign. They're talking to each other. They're driving places, to campaigns, where he's not even there. They feel like a part of it. It's almost like the old ward heeler politics back in Chicago, where people felt they were a part of something. And he's the first person in a while who's done that, and I think whether you like Howard Dean or hate Howard Dean, you have to admire him for doing that. And in the long run, I think that's very good for politics.”
Minutes later, however, Schieffer expressed concern about how Bush is a polarizer: “Let me ask you, Karen, because I know your magazine did, kind of did an issue on this, and that is George Bush as a polarizing politician. George Bush ran -- and George Bush as Governor was the kind of politician who did seem to bring people together -- but yet he seems to have become someone that you either love or you hate.”
Maybe that’s at least partly attributable to how the news media portray his policies and hold him, not those who dislike him, responsible for how some dislike him.
mediaresearch.org |
