Category: News and Views
If any of you listen to talk radio, which is dominated by conservative blusterers, they are bound and determined to convince you that the news media is biased against their point of view and tends to be liberal. If you listen to more liberal talk shows, if you can find them, they might claim or at least imply that the opposite is true. Now, for those of us who might be observant but not necessarily polittically informed or have a definite point of view, it's mighty confusing when everybody's saying basically that they are a small voice amongst all kinds of opposition. So what's the truth, and I mean the real truth, not the truth that's supposed to convince me to think your way. I'd like to hear especially from those of you who are outside of America but might take an interest in our news media and talk shows, but anyone's welcome torespond of course. Now, I always thought the news and media were biased toward what would make hte stations and networks the most money, be it liberal, conservative or indifferent. However, it confuses me when probably 98 percent of radio talk shows are full of loud-mouthed conservatives who go on about liberal bias when they practically dominate talk radio. Is it denial?
Hmm, it depends what you mean by "truth", what about, the war in Iraq, the middle east, American politics?
I mean, I usually read news using BBC or Scandenavian news sites. I've seen a very strong anti-U.S. centiment arise because of the war on Iraq and the very arrogant behavior that the U.S. has been displaying, but even at that I think the news might be biased against the U.S. CNN often does not cover topics embarressing to the U.S. .. I've noticed this and it's interesting but, then aga, I think sometimes the foreign media concentrates too much on the U.S. negative things while there are good things going on here.
The truth, if you will, is that everyone's biast. An uncle of mine told me how much he hated America. I asked him how many times he's been here .. he said "never" I asked him a couple of basic questions about the country and the people, he didn't nkow any answers .. and he still thinks he has the right to dislike the country? That's sad, that's just as arrogant as being a loud-mouth conservative.
The point is really that you can't pass jugdement (you can, but you shouldn't) on things you don't know. If you're interested in something you have to study it, look at both points of view and create your own opinion, because there is not going to be much neutral material availible.
If you're curious though you can go to www.factcheck.org .. they keep a neutral overview of politics and the ellections and stuff .. it's pretty cool.
cheers
-B
I think the answer to this one lies in the fact, certainly in this country, that if you're upset about something, you're more likely to equate it with woolly-minded liberalism. For instance, in this country, 'liberal' is a term cast around to describe all sorts of things such as political correctness, tolerance or encouragement of varied lifestyles, or perhaps those who take a leanient view on imigration. I don't think it's as bad over here as it is in the US. In this country, of course, we have the non-commercial BBC who are not dictated to by the market, and the commercial stations are under strict obligations as to their news and current affairs under the Broadcasting Act, and under the guidelines set out by the office of communications who are the regulatory body in this field. This country also has other derogatory terms, people often talk of Tory bias particularly concerning the press, and usually people say that they're fed up with political correctness if what they're about to say is so obviously going to offend a lot of the population. The problem with your question, if I may say so, is that you don't make clear what you mean by a conservative. I'm a Conservative with a capital C i.e. a member of the Conservative party, but I'd be interested to know whether when you refer to loud-mouthed conservatives, you mean that your talk-show hosts are bigots or narrow-minded people with a zero tolerance stance on everything, or whether you have another definition of conservatism. I certainly don't associate conservatism, with a small and a large C, with the characteristics I've just outlined.
Not really sure of the textbook definition, but I think a conservative is one who believes strongly in traditional values and traditional ways of doing things. They don't care much for change. I think another term would be right-wing, as opposed to left-wing who are more liberal. You're right in that liberals are seen as being more about being socially conscious, concerned with the environment, tollerance, and the dreaded political correctness. I guess my ideas are more toward the liberal, but I ahve to take it issue by issue and see waht my opinion is or if I really care. I hope this isn't too incomplete. If it is, I suppose you could do a bit of Google searching or sample a bit of U.S. talk radio if there's any streaming.
No it wasn't a textbook definition at all just something I cobbled together of my own accord so don't worry. You've cleared it up now anyway. I think in terms of tradition you are partly right, as we do wish to preserve tradition whenever possible, but we're also the ones who advocate reform when it is necessary. It was the Conservatives in Britain who pushed through the great reforms of 1832 to parliamentary procedure, and Conservatives who gave women the vote shortly after the first world war although a lot of them don't seem to bloody use it now! At the recent Conservative party conference, Tim Collins who is the shadow education secretary i.e. the equivalent of the education secretary only in opposition, said that 'Conservatives win when conservatives are different' and he was probably right as to the whole ideology there. Conservatives, whether with a small or large C, care about the environment in britain more than any other group of people I think. AS for talk shows, you're right in that I think right-wing is probably a very accurate way of describing the views of talk show hosts in the mainstream. I'm pretty right-wing myself in that I'd like Britain to move away from further integration with the European Union, and withdraw from the European Union if our European neighbours wish to press on with this nonsense, and I'm in favour of longer prison sentences, the patient's passport in the national health service etc. Those are viewes which would be considered right-wing in britain, but they're also views that the majority of people seem to share over here. I therefore think that to a greater or lesser degree, most of the British public is right-wing, which probably explains why the Labour party were only able to form a government when they took some significant steps to the right under Tony Blair's leadership in their period in opposition prior to 1997. Where does that leave us with bias? Well my theory is this: talk show hosts in Britain (I can't speak for the US at this point) know that a lot of us are right-wingers, and that some, particularly in the more senior population, hold views that are certainly anti-the current multi-cultural politically correct madness. So talk show hosts conceentrate these attitudes, take the extreme view all the time, and decide to be as controversial as possible, for there's nobody who likes rising to a bit of controversy more than someone on the left of the political scene. It makes for good listening. If you ever listen to a talk show on the BBC, by contrast, you'll notice that they are far more middle-of-the-road, as the commercial factor is of course taken out. That said, they still pull in the listeners by the truckload. It's fine having talk shows take this position in my view, prpovided this attitude doesn't proliferate into news coverage which should, at all times, remain strictly neutral and serve an informative purpose in the main, and an analytical one as a supplementary provided, again, that the analysis is impartial.
I'm afraid some of that went over my head, as although I keep my ear to the ground about politics, I don't really know much about it. Also I think we've strayed a bit. I kind of wanted the views of people outside the US on the US media if they're able to listen to news or talk radio, because we are being told that we have either a liberal or conservative bias to our media, depending on who you hear it from, and I'd be curious what the actual truth is from an outsider if possible. I say actual truth, because it seems many right-wing talk show hosts say they're telling the truth, but then they spend most of their shows pointing out all the flaws of those who don't think, act or believe the way they do. That's not truth, just a sales pitch for the right-wing idiology.
Yes I apologise if we've gone a bit far from the point due to my previous contributions, so I'll try and state the point I was making in a rather more convoluted manner yesterday more briefly today and relate it to your media. I've heard American talk show hosts from time to time and I think that how they operate is very much dictated by the commercialism that bedevils your broadcasting. talk show hosts are there to make money for their radio stations, so the best way is to take a really extreme view and get people to call in and listen to adverts while they're on hold, then come on and shout the talk show host down as best they can. If the talk show host is rude to them, or expresses even more loud-mouthed conservatism, so much the better, people love listening to someone who offends them! The American talk show hosts I've heard over the years are particularly good at this sort ot thing, and I must confess to finding it entertaining.
I've come to realize that talk show hosts, even though they tell us they're some kind of renegade voice telling us a truth that's being kept from us, are just entertainers and clowns. It's all about drawing in listeners so they can hopefully listen to the ads and buy things that support the shows. And yes, it seems many people like to see somebody insulted or brutalized on the air, long as it's not them I suppose. I probably wouldn't trust any of these jokers with the weather forecast! Hahahahahaha! But they all go around moaning about how their side just isn't heard when the reality is they've got 99 percent of the airtime. That's the biggest joke of them all.