Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site loral.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Liberal media bias Message-ID: <566@loral.UUCP> Date: Wed, 17-Oct-84 15:41:24 EDT Article-I.D.: loral.566 Posted: Wed Oct 17 15:41:24 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 21-Oct-84 10:04:52 EDT References: <160@rlgvax.UUCP> <> <558@loral.UUCP> <290@whuxl.UUCP> Reply-To: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) Distribution: net Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA Lines: 103 Summary: [] In article <290@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes: >I am in total agreement that the shift from newspaper reading to TV as the >major source of most people's news is a bad thing. I would argue that it is >precisely this shift that accounts for Reagan's popularity... No doubt Reagan has used television to cast himself in the most favor- able light - what politician hasn't, as far as possible for him/her? Nevertheless, among the persons I know who support Reagan (and there are many), it is precisely his policies that we find appealing. I'll refrain from further discussion here to keep the focus on the subject, and discuss Reagan's policies in other postings. >I do not think the electronic media are liberal--let's look at the Iranian >hostage situation as the perfect example--every day for months they began >their broadcasts with "the 100th day of the hostages". Since we have deployed >Cruise missiles we are only ten minutes away from nuclear war--do we hear >every broadcast begin "this is the 300th day our country is ten minutes >away from nuclear war"? I can't agree with these examples. The holding of the hostages in Iran was not a partisan issue, with conservatives opposed and liberals in favor. In the second case, such a statement is obviously pure opinion (one with which I don't agree BTW) and is of an entirely different order of magnitude that the slanted articles I referred to in my original posting. I was not pointing to the statement of opinion as fact - though it does happen - but rather how the network news tends to report real facts selectively, and with sequencing, juxtaposition and packaging that place a coloration on the story which is definitely liberal. I should mention that I am discussing primarily the networks' news. Local news services are much like local newspapers, reflecting the tastes of their owners and management. >TV news reporting is not necessarily liberal OR conservative--it is >shallow and sensationalist. I am very disappointed with the local >New York TV stations--every broadcast leads off with some fire or accident. >I would estimate such coverage is half of their broadcast time. >How does that inform people on anything important? It is much easier for TV >to focus on the sensational and visually dramatic than to analyze general >issues. They could do actual research and provide some facts and figures- >but that would take too much work and TV stations have far fewer reporters >than newspapers. Hence it is always easier to just send a cameraman out to >some accident to take some gruesome footage. Other than the first phrase of the first sentence, I agree. >> Second observation: since it was a nightly event to see the steelworker >> Joneses in Pittsburgh tearful and fretting when things were going sour, is >> it not equally appropriate to interview the same or different families when >> they return to work? >this is a good example of what I am talking about. >I don't think that focussing >on particular cases informs us about the general issue of unemployment. >Barry Bluestone is an economist who has done statistical studies of hardhit >industrial areas. He found that most of those former steelworkers and other >bluecollar workers laid off ARE going back to work--to jobs like McDonald's. >The major increase in employment in this economic recovery has occurred in >precisely such low-level service jobs--NOT in good jobs. (tho some autoworkers >and others have been recalled-- I will not deny that fact) >Unfortunately the number of Americans reading newspapers has been steadily >declining for years. >Tim Sevener >whuxl!orb Actually, a substantial number of autoworkers have been recalled - it is the low-key presentation of these stories that lead many to believe that the number is relatively small. One of the points of the above is that it may be true that steelworkers are often re-employed at lower levels. The cast made on the news is that this is a failing of the government (read: Reagan administration) and that some other kind of federal policy would change that. No mention is made of the fact that labor demand in heavy industry is declining with more effi- cient manufacturing methods, automation and robotics, and changing tastes of consumers in automobiles and other similar outputs. There simply will prob- ably never be the need for steelworkers that there once was, just as there is little demand for stagecoach drivers. Times change, and labor demands shift. Now the shift is toward technology and service, and away from the smokestack sector. To look at the network news, you'd think Reagan was responsible for it all. More points: Reagan cut school lunches (actually, cut the amount of INCREASE from earlier proposals). How was it reported? School lunchrooms, mostly in low-income areas, with lovable urchins devouring their meals. What about the other side: middle-to-upper income family children eating their subsidized lunches, or just as often, dumping large portions of them and buying Twinkies. That was as much a valid and real part of the discussion, but it was NOT part of the TV news. Against this background, one refreshing exception stands out: the PBS McNeil/Lehrer report (maybe it's MacNeil, I'm not sure...) which (usually) scrupulously maintains a policy of allowing persons from both sides of issues a forum, and questioning is a highly objective manner. -- [ I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet ] Ray Simard Loral Instrumentation, San Diego {ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard