Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: $Revision: 1.6.2.14 $; site uiucdcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!renner From: renner@uiucdcs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Whoa! WHAT propaganda campaign? Message-ID: <29200150@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 26-Sep-84 17:33:00 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.29200150 Posted: Wed Sep 26 17:33:00 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 28-Sep-84 04:38:00 EDT References: <592@hou5a.UUCP> Lines: 38 Nf-ID: #R:hou5a:-59200:uiucdcs:29200150:000:1972 Nf-From: uiucdcs!renner Sep 26 16:33:00 1984 > The way that propaganda is practiced in our country is by omission. > No, our newspapers are not controlled as they are in Guatemala or the > Soviet Union, but editors have a tendency to downplay news which is > harmful to the image of "America the Good" and upplay news which promotes > "Russia the Bad."... - Jordan Pollack (pollack@uicsl) Not all of this "propaganda" has a conservative aim. I see much more evidence of liberal bias in the news media. As an example, consider the great attention given by the news media to the "ketchup is a vegatable" controversy of 1981. At the time I figured it was blown out of proportion. Now it appears to have been fabricated. For details, read Paul Dolber's article, "Ketchup for Lunch," excerpted below: > From the National Review: > "The Washington Post's news writers and columnists had been waging > an uproarious food fight with the Reagan Administration over the > lunches served in the nation's school cafeterias... Then some > killjoy Post editorial writer decided to look into the actual facts > about the Administration's school-lunch proposals, and found that > the critics were telling some whoppers... " > - Paul Dolber (paul@phs) Sure looks like the Big Lie to me. Say it loud and often, and it will be believed. Perhaps this incident was motivated by a desire to sell newspapers and TV commercials at the expense of reporting the truth. And perhaps it was politically motivated. One might suppose that Jordan and I see different forms of media bias because we have different political beliefs. I believe that there is some truth in this. However, it is instructive to examine the professed political beliefs of reporters and editors as a group, including their voting record. The large majority with "liberal" beliefs thus revealed renders implausible any theory of a "conservative conspiricy" within the news media. Scott Renner ...ihnp4!uiucdcs!renner