WP: Two Views of the Same News Find Opposite Biases

[Ignatius J.]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300512.html

Given how often we hear claims about the bias in american media on this site, I thought it would be fun to bring this up. Most interesting of all to me was the following comment:

"Partisans, it turns out, don't just arrive at different conclusions; they see entirely different worlds . In one especially telling experiment, researchers showed 144 observers six television news segments about Israel's 1982 war with Lebanon.

Pro-Arab viewers heard 42 references that painted Israel in a positive light and 26 references that painted Israel unfavorably.

Pro-Israeli viewers, who watched the very same clips, spotted 16 references that painted Israel positively and 57 references that painted Israel negatively.

Both groups were certain they were right and that the other side didn't know what it was talking about.

The tendency to see bias in the news -- now the raison d'etre of much of the blogosphere -- is such a reliable indicator of partisan thinking that researchers coined a term, "hostile media effect," to describe the sincere belief among partisans that news reports are painting them in the worst possible light."

So the next time you start decrying fox news as a propaganda machine, be careful, you just might be a partisan hack yourself!

[Larry]

Oh, I've had a little psychological theory for years that you can tell a lot about someone by looking at what that think about other people.

(I came to that conclusion after two different people, in the same week, complained to me that some other person "always wants to get the last word". My conclusion was that a) The only people who keep score on how mant times person X tries to get the last word, are people who want to get the last word. And therefore Both people, when complaining about someone "wanting the last word" were in fact describing themselves.)

(I'll also point out the number of threads here complaining about "the media" not respecting the Skins.)

This is also why I really enjoy, for example, the folks who're convinced that, say, the entire Democratic party is purely driven by a hatred of George Bush and a desire for unlimited political power, and that they will ignore any reality that stands in the way of their aquisition of such power.

[Dallsux]

Oh, I've had a little psychological theory for years that you can tell a lot about someone by looking at what that think about other people.

I think you suck. :nana:

:jk:

[Destino]

Like I've been saying for years. The wingnuts on the right all think the media is liberal. Go ask democraticunderground what they think and suddenly they'll sound just like the right wingers.

Right wing: CNN = Communist News Network

Left Wing: CNN = Corporate News Network

Reality: Both above groups are bat **** crazy.

[Mass_SkinsFan]

This isn't just a political or media-oriented issue. It's a natural human reaction. We see the things we want to see and ignore the things we don't want to see. That's why we always notice how many of a certain type of vehicle are on the road when we're looking to buy that type of car, or just have. It's why we all notice certain things in society more often when we've discussed them or heard about them on the news recently. It's just more noticable in the arenas of politics and the media.

[Larry]

I think you suck. :nana:

:jk:

And as I've explained: Often, people who react a certain way towards others, are actually describing themselves.

(Or, another way of phrasing "Larry's Law": In general, people tend to assume that the world is full of people like themselves.)

Edit: I intended to make this post a PM, as a counter-joke. But I've decided that the second paragraph is worth making public, anyway.