What is your Opinion of the Media?

[PabloZed]

One of the unfortunate parts of having too much freetime is watching too much tv. And what I have come to absolutely hate is the lack of intelligence, balance, and professionalism in the US media. Perhaps this is what one should expect from cable tv and the quest for ratings, but isn't the public entitled to more facts than opinions?

What has bothered me recently has been these tv hosts who will quote or refer to some unnamed source and cite it as fact. For example, on the night of the inauguration a "reporter" was inside the armed forces ball and said on the air, "I was talking to some soldiers and what they want most from the new president is to be able to finish their mission in Iraq." I personally called bullshit when I heard it and the reason I could is because there was no source for the statement. Just the word of a biased employee of an untrustworthy news organization. Where is the journalistic code that requires named sources for material, particularly material that is either controversial or subject to question?

One other disturbing trend is for the media to be owned by corporations so that the message reflects the interests of the corporate owner over journalism. General Electric owns NBC, CNBC and MSNBC and News Corp owns Fox, the Wall Street Journal and FoxNews. The concentration of power combined with corporate ownership perverts the news they present. Hopefully, the new Justice Department and FCC will investigate this monopolization of opinion.

 

[sunoftheskye]

They are too often scape-goated.

 

[kevbo]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-8TiSGgTM[/ame]

 

[backpacker]

The only media that is even somewhat unbiased are the half an hour nightly network news shows. None of the cable news networks come anywhere close to be unbiased or fair. You have Fox News on one end and CNN and MSNBC on the other. Their agendas are so obvious that it's sickening. They have all talking heads on the shows who often aren't any more qualified than I am to be discussing the topic. I rarely watch any of the cable news networks anymore.

 

[Kulindahr]

My biggest problem with the media is that it's dominated by large outfits. What the Founding Fathers thought of as a free press was independent newspapers in every city, with a whole realm of viewpoints represented. That would be far healthier for the Republic than what we have now.

 

[Kulindahr]

What's my opinion of the media? Hmmmmm. Ummmmmm. Let me think......

I've shitted stuff I had more respect for.

Now I can go to bed laughing.

 

[star-warrior]

You should all feel warm inside as you hate foreign media even more, especially those from countries you despise.

 

[PabloZed]

Here is what is interesting - no one defended the media as "unbiased and truthful." So we are mostly in agreement, but yet we allow it. I believe one reason the media sucks so bad is that people are chosen to appear on tv based on looks, not skill and intelligence. In other words, cable is full of attractive idiots.

 

[Kulindahr]

You should all feel warm inside as you hate foreign media even more, especially those from countries you despise.

 

[lathan]

Tired of the media. They spin and make things up for views. It's all about the money, money, money.

 

[MoufOfKhaos]

Well someone is just necrotizing the forum today...