Do you believe the media?

[jbooma]

Don't worry this is not a poll :cool:

I was watching CNN last night and they came up with a stunning statistic. According to some pole before 2000 about 40% of the people did not believe all the facts from the News Agencies, this includes print, tv, cable, et...... Since 2000 that percentage has gone up to over 60%. Of course the big reason is the debacle of the handling of the 2000 presidential election.

[Burgold]

I think I treat most articles with a healthy ammount of skeptisism. Heck, even in research articles, there is an amazing ammount of bad writing out there and people saying things they can't justify.

[codeorama]

In the past, I probably would have taken most stories as fact, but now, I am a skeptic. I think the media is sloppy in a rush to get stories and I believe they are slanted, but not necessarily just left slanted, I believe they are slanted which ever way they think will get them more viewers or readers.

[JimboDaMan]

I think most people would give this a partial "yes". They'll beef and moan about "the media", but in the end where else do you get your information? I'd say most people watch or read the news with skepticism, looking for the truth in any report.

Conservatives are funny. They tend to respond to such a question with a "He!! NO!" kind of response. Then they'll swallow whole anything dished up by Fox News or even that gasbag Rush.

[Larry]

I've had a problem with the media for some time. It seems it used to be (or maybe this was just image) reporters lived for thking things politicians said, then going out, doing research, and building a story about what't really going on with the new expressway project. The reporter's primary job was to do research. (They were like the public's "private eyes".)

Now, half the stories on the news aren't about what's happening, they're about people's reaction to what's happening. They don't check facts any more, they just find a celebrity spokesman for both sides of an issue, (every issue has exactly two, clearly defined, sides, right?), and pick a three-second sound bite from each side, and air the two bites unchallenged.

The new standard is: As long as both sides get their spin in, then the story must be "fair".

Examples:

How many stories have you seen saying that the recent tax cut was "half of what Bush wanted".

How many times, when that line was used, did the reporter point out that this tax cut contained every single thing Bush wanted, and that the only difference in the final bill is that Congress is going to have to do it again in three years, whereas Bush didn't want to have to renew it for 6. The tax cut will "cost" exactly the same amount, this year, as what Bush asked for.

How many stories about the tax cut have said that "more than half of stock dividends are paid to seniors"? The statement is true, but it has nothing to do with the tax cut: The vast majority of those seniors aren't paying taxes on their dividends now. The majority of the people who get dividends are seniors, but the vast majority of the tax cut is going to people who's primary source of income is sitting on the beach waiting for the check in the mail.