Liberal bias at CBS?

Bob · 09-21-2004, 05:42 PM

It turns out everyone on Viacom's board of directors gave big contributions to the Democrats with the exception of one guy. And the one guy gave an equal amount to both parties.

Do you think this affects their judgement in regards to the CBS memos story?

(Viacom owns CBS, by the way)

Nick · 09-21-2004, 06:13 PM

No.

Television media can't afford to be overly biased in this country (except for FoxNews). This was a result of CBS trying to scoop the hell out of every other major news source.

Bob · 09-21-2004, 06:42 PM

You say FOX can get away with it, but also say no one else can? I'd like to hear the difference. [img]smile.gif[/img]

FoxNews is actually very objective in its reporting. But news analysis on that channel is right-wing for sure (not necessarily a bad thing; same as talk radio).

Nick · 09-22-2004, 03:06 AM

They don't report nearly as much as they do the analysis part of it. Their non-news shows are completely skewed to the right, whereas CBS, ABC, (MS)NBC, and CNN are generally more balanced in terms of their offerings, plus both sides are strongly represented on the air.

Reporting bias is shown through what stories you run, how you analyise it, and which talking heads you bring on to discuss it. FoxNews generally picks pro-Bush or favorable Bush stories, buries anti-bush ones, runs insane amounts of anti-Kerry and anti-not-bush stories, and presents only the Neo-Con/Bu****e perspective of cable news.

If CBS had a liberal bias (or any other network), why haven't they crucified Bush nearly as much as Kerry? Why didn't they attack Bush more than Gore? (look up the numbers from various non-partisan watchdog groups...Bush got favorable reporting from all networks in 2000, and has gotten a fairly light treatment in his term with all things considered).

Most of the problems here stems from the complacity of news outlets from there being only 5 major broadcast channels getting their info from an even smaller range of sources, combined with media conglomoration. There's a huge difference between objective reporting in print and objective reporting on the air (tv or radio). Print is purely objective (well, reputable ones like AP, Reuters, etc), whereas broadcast media will always fall prey to delievery, time spent, and a slew of other factors.

Bob · 09-23-2004, 07:42 PM

Hahaha. [img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img] It's a fact that Fox News puts more liberals on than conservatives; they keep track.

The hosts are mostly conservative, but there certainly are liberal hosts too (O'Reilly, Colmes).

Do you ever watch Fox News?

All I know is when I listen to CBS News on the radio, they slant left big time. ABC is not as bad.

Super Shy Guy · 09-23-2004, 09:04 PM

O'Reilly is definitely not liberal.

I think Alan Colmes isn't conservative, but I can't really tell, since he seldom has the chance to talk on his show.

Nick · 09-23-2004, 09:22 PM

Look at the quality of liberals foxnews puts on. They put on top-tier conservatives and match them up to unknown or crackpot liberals. Just the fact that they "keep track" (which I have doubts on their figures due to their and your definition of liberal).

Colmes? Colmes is a joke and a mear yes-man to Hannity 90% of the time and a moderate centrist the rest of the time. O'Reilly liberal? Idiot. Do you ever watch the O'Reilly factor?

FoxNews is great entertainment.

Only radio news I listen to is NPR. Everything else is repetition of what's on TV.

Bob · 09-23-2004, 11:59 PM

They invite people from both the Kerry campaign and Bush campaign on to talk at once. That's what 99% of what their coverage is, so I honestly don't know what you're getting at.

Hannity just repeats the same lines over and over again. Seriously, he has a set of talking points that he absolutely must beat it to death whenever the most remote opportunity arises.

Neither Hannity nor Colmes are good debaters. O'Reilly is a JFK liberal, and actually has a lot in common with who Kerry was before he had to beat Dean in the primary.

Koga · 09-24-2004, 03:41 AM

It's pretty sad that you should even have a debate like this, where every non-conservative is automatically a liberal and vice versa.

Nick · 09-25-2004, 03:27 PM

Its the style of coverage, the presentation of the coverage, and the overall structure of the news shows that put the bias behind it.

Glad someone else doesn't like Hannity.

For some reason, Hannity/Colmes is a higher rated show than CNN's Crossfire, even though Crossfire is a better show overall.

O'Reilly doesn't strike me as a JFK liberal as much as he strikes me as more of a Conservative Independant.

09-25-2004, 04:43 PM

Liberals will claim media outlets are slanted to the right, conservatives will claim media outlets are slanted to the left. That's just the way it is, and always will be regardless of how hard they try to be balanced.

Super Shy Guy · 09-25-2004, 06:28 PM

Yeah, Tritoch, that's something I've always thought. It's like... liberals are more sensitive to material that they disagree with, but are immune to material they agree with because they're used to it.. or something. Same with conservatives. I dunno how to explain it.

I hate most conservative pundits. I don't really know of a lot of left pundits besides Al Franken (who rocks). (I don't really consider Michael Moore a liberal pundit, but even if he was, I don't really have an opinion on him since I've never read any of his books or seen any of his movies. He did say some things at the RNC that amused me though)

Bomby · 09-26-2004, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by *The Master*:
You say FOX can get away with it, but also say no one else can? I'd like to hear the difference. [img]smile.gif[/img]

FoxNews is actually very objective in its reporting. But news analysis on that channel is right-wing for sure (not necessarily a bad thing; same as talk radio).

Their reporting is very slanted to the right, also. They always go out of their way to portray Bush as a hero and report every single negative thing Kerry says or does. It's spread to other stations, too. A man who used to work on the Donahue show claims that when he first started, there would always have to be an equal number of people on each side, one liberal, one conservative. When FoxNews became popular, they changed it, so they'd have to have one liberal and two conservatives, one anti-war and two pro-war, etc. My sources? Something I saw on public access.

09-21-2004, 05:42 PM	#1
Bob Junior Member Join Date: Sep 1999 Posts: 295 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 3,822.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 4,322.00 Donate	It turns out everyone on Viacom's board of directors gave big contributions to the Democrats with the exception of one guy. And the one guy gave an equal amount to both parties. Do you think this affects their judgement in regards to the CBS memos story? (Viacom owns CBS, by the way)

09-21-2004, 06:13 PM	#2
Nick Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 10,606.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 11,106.00 Donate	No. Television media can't afford to be overly biased in this country (except for FoxNews). This was a result of CBS trying to scoop the hell out of every other major news source.

09-21-2004, 06:42 PM	#3
Bob Junior Member Join Date: Sep 1999 Posts: 295 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 3,822.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 4,322.00 Donate	You say FOX can get away with it, but also say no one else can? I'd like to hear the difference. [img]smile.gif[/img] FoxNews is actually very objective in its reporting. But news analysis on that channel is right-wing for sure (not necessarily a bad thing; same as talk radio).

09-22-2004, 03:06 AM	#4
Nick Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 10,606.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 11,106.00 Donate	They don't report nearly as much as they do the analysis part of it. Their non-news shows are completely skewed to the right, whereas CBS, ABC, (MS)NBC, and CNN are generally more balanced in terms of their offerings, plus both sides are strongly represented on the air. Reporting bias is shown through what stories you run, how you analyise it, and which talking heads you bring on to discuss it. FoxNews generally picks pro-Bush or favorable Bush stories, buries anti-bush ones, runs insane amounts of anti-Kerry and anti-not-bush stories, and presents only the Neo-Con/Bu****e perspective of cable news. If CBS had a liberal bias (or any other network), why haven't they crucified Bush nearly as much as Kerry? Why didn't they attack Bush more than Gore? (look up the numbers from various non-partisan watchdog groups...Bush got favorable reporting from all networks in 2000, and has gotten a fairly light treatment in his term with all things considered). Most of the problems here stems from the complacity of news outlets from there being only 5 major broadcast channels getting their info from an even smaller range of sources, combined with media conglomoration. There's a huge difference between objective reporting in print and objective reporting on the air (tv or radio). Print is purely objective (well, reputable ones like AP, Reuters, etc), whereas broadcast media will always fall prey to delievery, time spent, and a slew of other factors.

09-23-2004, 07:42 PM	#5
Bob Junior Member Join Date: Sep 1999 Posts: 295 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 3,822.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 4,322.00 Donate	Hahaha. [img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img] It's a fact that Fox News puts more liberals on than conservatives; they keep track. The hosts are mostly conservative, but there certainly are liberal hosts too (O'Reilly, Colmes). Do you ever watch Fox News? All I know is when I listen to CBS News on the radio, they slant left big time. ABC is not as bad.

09-23-2004, 09:04 PM	#6
Super Shy Guy Banned Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: the seven seas Posts: 8,969 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 9,004.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 9,504.00 Donate	O'Reilly is definitely not liberal. I think Alan Colmes isn't conservative, but I can't really tell, since he seldom has the chance to talk on his show.

09-23-2004, 09:22 PM	#7
Nick Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 10,606.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 11,106.00 Donate	Look at the quality of liberals foxnews puts on. They put on top-tier conservatives and match them up to unknown or crackpot liberals. Just the fact that they "keep track" (which I have doubts on their figures due to their and your definition of liberal). Colmes? Colmes is a joke and a mear yes-man to Hannity 90% of the time and a moderate centrist the rest of the time. O'Reilly liberal? Idiot. Do you ever watch the O'Reilly factor? FoxNews is great entertainment. Only radio news I listen to is NPR. Everything else is repetition of what's on TV.

09-23-2004, 11:59 PM	#8
Bob Junior Member Join Date: Sep 1999 Posts: 295 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 3,822.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 4,322.00 Donate	They invite people from both the Kerry campaign and Bush campaign on to talk at once. That's what 99% of what their coverage is, so I honestly don't know what you're getting at. Hannity just repeats the same lines over and over again. Seriously, he has a set of talking points that he absolutely must beat it to death whenever the most remote opportunity arises. Neither Hannity nor Colmes are good debaters. O'Reilly is a JFK liberal, and actually has a lot in common with who Kerry was before he had to beat Dean in the primary.

09-24-2004, 03:41 AM	#9
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,093 Thanks: 104 Thanked 173 Times in 116 Posts Points: 105,750.41 Bank: 19,215.78 Total Points: 124,966.19 Donate	It's pretty sad that you should even have a debate like this, where every non-conservative is automatically a liberal and vice versa.

09-25-2004, 03:27 PM	#10
Nick Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 10,606.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 11,106.00 Donate	Its the style of coverage, the presentation of the coverage, and the overall structure of the news shows that put the bias behind it. Glad someone else doesn't like Hannity. For some reason, Hannity/Colmes is a higher rated show than CNN's Crossfire, even though Crossfire is a better show overall. O'Reilly doesn't strike me as a JFK liberal as much as he strikes me as more of a Conservative Independant.

09-25-2004, 04:43 PM	#11
Banned Join Date: Dec 1969 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 7,732.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 8,232.00 Donate	Liberals will claim media outlets are slanted to the right, conservatives will claim media outlets are slanted to the left. That's just the way it is, and always will be regardless of how hard they try to be balanced.

09-25-2004, 06:28 PM	#12
Super Shy Guy Banned Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: the seven seas Posts: 8,969 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Points: 9,004.00 Bank: 500.00 Total Points: 9,504.00 Donate	Yeah, Tritoch, that's something I've always thought. It's like... liberals are more sensitive to material that they disagree with, but are immune to material they agree with because they're used to it.. or something. Same with conservatives. I dunno how to explain it. I hate most conservative pundits. I don't really know of a lot of left pundits besides Al Franken (who rocks). (I don't really consider Michael Moore a liberal pundit, but even if he was, I don't really have an opinion on him since I've never read any of his books or seen any of his movies. He did say some things at the RNC that amused me though)