Comments on: OMG I Agree with Nick Denton

by: Aias

Fri, 09 May 2008 03:54:35 +0000

CC, i absolutely agree about the wisdom of choosing the blog as your platform of choice to dissiminate what you know. i find it strange that people cling to this quaint idea of a bias free media. Any one who took even some basic courses in sociology, philosophy or film studies, would surely have come across some version of this epistemological conundrum.

ps, thanks for the bk invite and i wouldnt mind one for profy either!

by: Grendel

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:20:23 +0000

On NPR news and analysis are clearly delineated. There’s a news segment where it’s just the facts, and there’s segments where they bring people in to give analysis and opinion. Never the twain shall meet.

It’s the same in major newspapers. There’s news, and then there’s the editorial sections. Sure, there’s some bias in news coverage depending on the source. I disagree with the common assertion that it’s a “liberal” bias, as I tend to think that major news organizations are as liberal as the multi-national corporations which own them, but there’s bias.

The difference is, if you let the analysis and bias become part of the story, you’ve got no requirement to be grounded in the truth. That way leads to Rush Limbaugh, and Rush Limbaugh leads to hate… or whatever Yoda said.

by: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:11:06 +0000

Grendel, that’s not true. First of all, the majority of the “news” that’s ON NPR is made up of shows with analysis and people giving opinions! In addition, you don’t think there’s a difference between the news you get on Fox, the news you get on NPR and the news on, say, BBC America? Everything already HAS a slant, it’s just how obvious it is to the consumer.

by: Grendel

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:05:59 +0000

I think there’s a place for both news and analysis, but there’s more of a need than ever for some outlets of unbiased news. Sometimes you need a steady signpost in the turbulent waters of opinion to bring you back to the dry ground of fact. Analysis can get too far removed from fact, and journalists and bloggers LOVE to make the story about themselves (most likely because they didn’t get enough attention from their parents) so it’s important to have an anchor out there to keep the discussion from drifting away.

Questions to ponder:

If everyone wants slanted and pre-analyzed news, why does NPR exist?

If everyone likes a cacophony of voices, why do people pay large sums of money for noise-canceling headphones to filter out the background?

Pre-digested analysis and opinions may be good for some, but some of us prefer to think for ourselves.