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December 30, 2007

What's Really Going on is Worse

Jay Rosen's current essay demonstrates one of my central contentions about complaints of liberal or conservative bias in the news media: The press is often thought of as a unified voice with a distinct political bias. This simplistic thinking fits the needs of ideological struggle, but is hardly useful in coming to a better understanding of what journalism is or ought to be.

I get many complaints--usually from right-wingers, but not exclusively so--about my media/political bias page because the complainers usually fail to read it carefully. I do not claim there is no political bias in the news media. I do claim that such charges are usually simplistic, nearly always politically motivated, not at all interesting, and not useful to truly understanding what journalism is, who journalists are, and why?

Think about what Rosen presents: Journalists may be far more motivated by front-page bylines and contention for contention's sake than by political motives. I gotta tell ya: That's a far worse a situation--in terms of journalism fulfilling its primary purpose--than political bias of any kind.

This is why I roll my eyes whenever I encounter the attitude that "Everyone knows the news media are ____." And I ask myself: Just how dumb is this person, or just how politically motivated?

Recent coverage of media bias on Rhetorica:

How Not to be Dumb
Nothing Like Clarity...Sort Of
Feel My Pain



Posted by acline at December 30, 2007 10:46 AM | | Spotlight