I need to find proof of media bias

[Kare]

I am writing a paper in school about the media being biased, but of course I need some concrete proof from an unbiased source. Am I asking too much trying to find this, or is it out there?
I'm not trying to be lazy about research I just hope some one knows of a good source tehy can direct me to. :) :)

Thanks to anyone who posts

K

[NMDemDist2]

1. Accuracy in Media

http://www.aim.org/ they are a conservative site and

David Brock's Media Matters for America is the liberal site http://mediamatters.org/

between the two you should get a good flavor

and here's a list of both sides http://www.causecommunications.com/forgetus/watchdog.html

[JeffR]

2. Have a look at Media Matters

http://mediamatters.org/

[ThomCat]

3. There is no such thing as an unbiased source...

Simply good research methodology.

Check out Eric Alterman. He does a great job of documenting concervative bias in the media with lots of well-sourced facts.

Work backward from his sources if you want to see what he was looking at.

Check out Media Matters (www.mediamatters.org). They've documented that right wing guests outnumber everyone else on talking-head shows.

[Kare]

8. I noticed that

when I initially started looking. It's not like the media comes out and says that
they are biased, even though we all know they are.

I have to take this from both sides and give conflicting viewpoints,
but I think that there has been much much more said about the "liberal" media
than the conservative media. No one says (at least where anyone can hear) that
the media is conservative biased.

[ThomCat]

13. When you evaluate claims that the media is liberal

remember this classic sarcastic post.

.........

We have to face it, the anti-conservative bias in America has reached monumental proportions. Don't believe me? Just look at these facts!

1. The Nation is used as a primary source every day by C-span’s Washington Journal, while the Weekly Standard is never even quoted.

2. Guests like Noam Chomsky appear regularly on the cable tv networks, while conservatives such as Pat Buchanan are silenced.

3. David Corn produces his own TV show, while Robert Novak is marginalized.

4. The most listened to radio show hosts are Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, and Stephanie Miller. Try as they may, conservative hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity can’t find stations willing to carry conservatives.

5. Liberal programs dominate the lineup at the top talk radio station in the country (WABC) and the top news network in the country (Fox News).

6. Prominent liberals control all major tv media outlets.

7. Anti-war liberals such as Maureen Dowd and Judith Miller consistently attacked Bush’s motives leading up to the Iraq war.

8. All of Armed Forces radio’s political content is liberals. Conservatives are consistently barred from AFR’s airwaves.

9. Liberal news sources owned by liberal cult leaders, such as the Washington Times, are quoted without disclosure of their ownership.

10. Conservatives never appear alone on a segment on TV, while liberals often appear alone. When there is a conservative, typically there are two-three liberals to counter the lone conservative.

11. While Bush’s alleged lies are trumpeted in the media, the events leading up to Clinton’s impeachment were ignored and dismissed.

12. Liberal pundits such as Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower appear daily on cable news networks, while Dick Morris and Ann Coulter are silenced.

13. Liberal billionaires such as George Soros buy up 100’s of thousands of liberal books to drive them up the NY Times Best Seller list. There is nobody on the right that does the same.

14. Attacks on the patriotism of conservative war heroes such as Dick Cheney and Rick Santorum are tolerated, without a response from conservatives.

15. Rumors on liberal web sites are peddled as fact in major media, while news items on drudge.com are panned.

16. Atheist liberals have unfettered access to Tv, and in fact have their own national TV networks, but no conservative Christian has access to Tv.

17. The DNC mobilizes liberals to write identical letters to the editor about issues of the day, called “Astroturf”. Conservatives do no such thing.

18. Issues important to liberals such as the “living wage” and Socialized healthcare dominate the debate in the press.

19. The funerals of dead soldiers, used to push the anti-war liberal cause, are broadcast daily across the country.

20. While no one was punished for the memos "proving" that George W. Bush skipped out on his guard service, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were quickly ostracized and couldn’t gain access to major media.

21. The liberal media tells conservative Hollywood stars such as Vince Vaughn, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwartzenegger to "shut up", while liberal stars like Barbra Streissand, Tim Robbins, and Alec Baldwin are given the respect that a full time politico would receive.

[ThomCat]

14. If that last post doesn't make an impression, then...

Take a look at this one. :)

The media is librul becuase because Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Brit Hume, Tony Snow, G Gordon Liddy, Dr. Laura, Michael Medved, George Will, Ollie North, Robert Novak, Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingrahamn, Peggy Noonan, William Safire, Andrew Sullivan, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Bernard Goldberg, The Washington Times, Bill Krystsol, David Frum, Brent Bozell, Charles Krauthammer, David Horowitz, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Fred Barnes, William Bennett, Lawrence Kudlow, Steve Forbes, Dennis Miller, Matt Drudge, Byron York, Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting, Clear Channel, the National Review, The Heritage Foundation, The Hoover Instutution, The Weekly Standard, The American Enterprise Institue, The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), The Cato Institute, The Club For Growth, The Federalist Society, NewsMax, TownHall, The NY Post, FreeRepublic.Com, any number of Christian Funamentalist ministers, and the NRA, told me so

(if the media is so liberal, then where are all the supposed liberals in the media?)

[Kare]

15. That's pretty good...

I don't know if I could count the actual liberal
media sources.

you could count

John Stuart
Cobert
maybe KO but I tend to think he's impartial

the daily show and Cobert report are mainly satire so it could just be called comedy, countdown seems to be fairly unbiased.

I only watch those programs so I am probably missing a few, I have heard good things about a couple others but also bad. Is there another glaringly obvious liberal media outlet?

[Ammonium]

4. There's a huge monopoly

Do some research into who owns NBA, ABC, Fox, and CBS and what party they were giving donations to in the past election.

It might also be note worthy to point out the basic monopoly on tv and radio. Specially clearchannel, viacom, and Fox.

[Kare]

6. yes I've already considered that

I have heard a few things about who does own the stations and of course that will help alot.

[Iris]

5. perhaps you could find out which corporations own which news outlets

Like GE owns one of the big three - NBC?

Then, look for stories that might conflict with their goals as a corporation in other media outlets. See if they've been reported in the outlets owned by GE.

[Ksec]

7. Just watch Fox

The network has just trashed journalist ethics.

[Kare]

10. I hear that watching fox is a form of punishment

Instead of life in prison they sentence you to watch 300 hours of fox news.
It's supposed to cut down on prison populations, after about 5 hours
people are swallowing their tongues or their heads just explode.

:sarcasm: in case you needed to be told

[SoonerShankle]

9. Here's a list of both right and left wing watchdog groups from...

the University of Texas School of Journalism. Hope this is helpful...

media watchdog groups

[SoonerShankle]

11. Or try...

Columbia Journalism Review cjr.org

Talk about a wealth of information...

Click on the journalism tools link.

[Kare]

12. Thanks

That might be pretty helpful.

:) :)

[Gabi Hayes]

21. try Robert McChesney, at Uof Illinois

he's written several books on the subject, including Rich Media, Poor Democracy.

or Mark Hertsgaard's seminal, On Bended Knee, about the media's supplication to Ronald Reagan.

try these pages, for starters
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/McChesney/Robert_McChesney_page.html
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/index.html
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/Media_Main_Page.html

zillions of links, many academically oriented, so your teacher will be impressed by their "seriousness!"

[Kare]

24. Thats great thanks

Anything from another university would be way cool and of course look good in my references :)

[Gabi Hayes]

29. sure....some radio, dealing w/media+politics

McChesney's show at UofI
http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/


radio show at Northwestern...my favorite
http://www.thisishell.com/index.html
http://www.thisishell.com/archives.html
http://mejeffdorchen.oblivio.com/
http://mejeffdorchen.oblivio.com/archives.html

I'll bet you could interview either host

[Chiyo-chichi]

16. Joe Conason does a good job debunking the

liberal media myth in his book Big Lies. Maybe not an "unbiased" source, but he uses sound reasoning & evidence.

[Kare]

19. Thanks

I'll have to look into that

[Gabi Hayes]

25. don't forget 'The Hunting of the President,' along with Gene Lyons, or

Lyons' 'Fools for Scandal,' both about the media abetted witch hunt for Clinton.

both eminently readable

[bigwillq]

dupe

please delete

[bigwillq]

17. Congrats on 100 posts!

And welcome to DU! :hi: :toast:

[Kare]

18. I didn't even notice Thanks :)

I don't sit and count mine like some people I could
name in my home, or post alot to get my count up.

Cool is there like a 100 posts club I get to join now?
:) :)

[bigwillq]

23. Good luck with your project.

:hi:

[Kare]

27. With all the sources I have now...

I don't know how I could go wrong.

Thanks alot to everbody

:grouphug: :yourock:

[Cleita]

20. Here's a website about Ruppert Murdoch, the Australian

media mogul who brought us tabloid, right winged biased news.

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=122948

[Emit]

22. Here, try some of these links

http://www.outfoxed.org/

Watch the movie, OutFoxed, from above link. It may be available at the video stores.

~~~~~~~~

Also, The Big Ten: http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

What's Wrong With This Picture?
Mark Crispin Miller

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020107/miller

~~~~~~~~

Tentacles of Rage
The Republican propaganda mill, a brief history
LEWIS H LAPHAM / Harpers Magazine v.309, n.1852, September 2004 1sep04

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Republican-Propaganda1sep04.htm

~~~~~~~~

Check out Robert Kennedy Jr. on the media:

http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/LettersToEditor/1019.html

From his book, Crimes Against Nature, here's an excerpt from Salon (You will likely have to get a free day pass to read the entire thing). It's a must read:

http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2004/08/24/rfk_jr/index_np.html

Pay particular attention to what was significant about Ronald Reagan abolishing the Fairness Doctrine in Kennedy's piece.

~~~~~~~~

Here's a bit of history on the Fairness Doctrine, and the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act (yes, signed by Clinton) (I'm not too familiar with this site, so I can not say whether I agree or disagree with any opinions it states -- seems it is trying to find "unbiased" answers, though, based on things I've read there, including this article): http://www.americanvoice2004.org/askdave/21askdave.html

There actually may be many better sources out there for info on the Fairness Doctrine and the 1996 Telecommunications Act and how those contributed to our corporate-owned biased media today. This was just one of the ones I read in the last month or so, and I think the history timeline seems accurate.


Anyway, hope this helps some?

On edit, check out Eric Altermann's book, What Liberal Media? http://www.whatliberalmedia.com/

[cosmicdot]

26. mediatransparency.org and more

"Media Transparency tracks the impact of conservative philanthropy on the media, both through a database of grant information and through original research."

"A discussion of the history and influence of conservative philanthropy on the shaping of public attitudes on a variety of subject areas; includes links to reports related to conservative philanthropy, and links to other significant commentary on the subject."

http://www.mediatransparency.org/


nice chart showing corporate ownership
http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtml
http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/

Report: "If it's Sunday, It's Conservative
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602140002

a post with an interesting list
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=825462#825589

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

28. Proof??? You Want Proof??????

Here's the only proof ya need:

1. We went to war with a sovereign nation when we weren't provoked, and an overwhelming number of americans supported it.

2. The NSA is engaging in an illegal wiretapping program. Half the country supports it.

3. Far too many americans believe that 9/11 is exactly as the government says it was.

4. A majority of americans believe their votes were counted last election.

5. An overwhelming majority of americans have no idea that ohio's vote was contested.

6. A majority of americans have no idea what DSM means.

7. A majority of americans believe that abu ghraib abuses were just due to a few bad seeds acting on their own.

8. A majority of americans believe that the patriot act, holding prisoners indefinitely, and being spied upon actually protect them.

9. Far too many americans still believe the war on terror is real and tangible.

10. Far too many americans think the democrats don't have a plan.

11. Far too many americans think the democrats are weak on national security.

12. Far too many americans actually believe that speaking out about the war aids the terrorists.

13. Far too many americans believe that the tax cuts are a good thing.

14. Most americans have no idea what depleted uranium is or why they should care.

15. Most americans think white phosphorous is only used in classroom experiments.

16. Most americans are still not in the streets demanding the impeachment and removal of every single criminal in this administration.


Now, there are far many more but this is a start. Granted, the administration itself is responsible for all of these things. But none of these things would've been attainable if the media was actually responsible and did its job. Ya want proof? There's your proof.

[oblivious]

30. NYT: Report Faults Video Reports Shown as News

By DAVID BARSTOW
Published: April 6, 2006

Many television news stations, including some from the nation's largest markets, are continuing to broadcast reports as news without disclosing that the segments were produced by corporations pitching new products, according to a report to be released today by a group that monitors the news media.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/business/media/06video.html?ex=1301976000&en=076d1af75385c3c1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[Emit]

31. This kinda goes along with your reference

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2205/Fake_TV_News_Widespread_and_Undisclosed

A blockbuster new report details how corporations use local news shows to sell their message
Who’s behind your news? Without disclosure, you just don’t know if the report you’re watching about a corporation was secretly funded by and produced for that corporation.

That’s what the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) found in their groundbreaking exposé, “Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed.” This multi-media report is the culmination of an intensive, ten month investigation by CMD. It provides the most extensive account to date of how corporate-funded video news releases – fake TV news – are routinely aired, without disclosure, as though they were independent news reports.

~snip~