More than half of Americans say US news organizations are politically biased, inaccurate, and don’t care about the people they report on, a poll published Thursday showed.
And poll respondents who use the Internet as their main source of news — roughly one quarter of all Americans — were even harsher with their criticism, the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center said.
More than two-thirds of the Internet users said they felt that news organizations don’t care about the people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased.
It sure dont take a genuis to know how left-wing the main-stream news media is i mean TIME,NEWSWEEK,NEW YORK TIMES, and other liberal rags nothing but lies
The MSM are long time professional axe grinders for profit…they whore out to whoever can pay them to grind his axe….till now they thought they had a one way communications monopoly on axe grinding,,,then the internet arrived and challenges that monopoly with 2 way communication and diverse opinion
Much of the internet media is run by unpaid axe grinders but at least you can provide ample effective counter argument.
I really can not comment anymore I have not wathched canadian TV news for over a year (Too much socialism rots your brain). I get all my news from internet sources and am much more informed on the issues.
A certain amount of inaccuracy is unavoidable, and I can live with a political bias so long as the perpetrator at least makes himself interesting. What I can’t stand is reading or listening to pureed mush that’s been fed through an audience demographic consultant’s blender and apparently intended for the rest home crowd after a hard night of bingo- hello CBC, G&M, and CTV. Start with the assumption that your audience consists of at least moderately intelligent adults and maybe you’ll stop be flipped off by the same.
-59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased.
Faux News REALLY is the most powerful name in news
Truth, the only MSM news I watch is the business channel. CNBC is CRAP, BNN is ok and Bloomberg is really pretty good. They actually tell you why that stock chart did that thing yesterday.
Nice thing about the biz news, there’s a ticker running right across the screen so you can tell if they’re lying. Editors know this, so mostly they don’t.
Only time they start up the manure spreader is slow news days when the market is happy. Then they put on talking Lieberal/DemocRat heads whose words don’t match the ticker.
Who but a socialist apparatchik would lie to a business audience with the proof of their lying sharing the screen?
I can’t watch the “news” anymore, the urge to throw things is too strong and I like the TV I have.
This helps to explain why the liberal media outlets are failing – people are getting sick of being preached at by moral cowards.
Philan, I think you nailed it actually. TV networks and newspapers are losing consumers across the board.
I simply can’t stand reading the newspaper anymore. I am sick to death of hearing about this weeks media manufactured “crisis”. I have heard enough Britney Spears, Paris Hilton bullshit to make to violently ill. Then after THAT crap I get told by some self important dick columnist or TV personality that I should think in this manner or that. Piss off!
(Sorry for the length of this, but there is a reason. Read on . . . )
CBC AND LACK OF
ACCOUNTABILITY (WHAT ELSE IS NEW?)
This is an abridged version of my correspondence with the CBC after the Avi Lewis/Ayaan Hirsi Ali debacle. One has to actually SEE the drivel they spout to believe it.
It IS true that my first complaint was vague. However, my first response to the CBC added another, substantial and detailed complaint. The reply by a Mr. Youngs was not only the usual self-referential blather, but dishonest as well. That Canadians are forced to pay the salaries of the brain dead surrender monkeys of this decrepit outfit is outrageous.
I’ve referred the complaint back to Vince Carlin, the Ombudsman, an EMPOYEE of the CBC, no less. (But the CBC assures me that “[t]he Office of the Ombudsman [is] an independent and impartial body”. Right.) It’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll not see my point either. (The only thing I can say in the CBC’s favour is the alacrity of its response: quite an anomaly from my previous experiences.)
I make complaints, not for justice, which never happens, but for a paper trail. If the Conservatives ever get a majority, they’ll have lots of evidence from people like me to axe CBC news and public affairs for gross negligence and bias, which altogether contravenes their own guidelines.
FIRST COMPLAINT TO THE CBC OMBUDSMAN:
17/7/07 10:47:45 PM
Sir –
I’m writing to express my utter disgust at the juvenile, disrespectful
posturing of the arrogant and ignorant Avi Lewis during his interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (June 11, 2007). Her mature, intelligent, and gracious demeanour further put the charlatan Lewis to shame.
And shame on the CBC too for its continued abuse of the Canadian taxpayers’ money and intelligence. (I only saw this interview because I watched it on the Internet: I long ago dropped the CBC from my TV viewing because of your–I use that word because you are a CBC employee-left-wing bias and general, “aren’t we the clever ones?” preening.)
That CBC didn’t pull the interview, which nicely demonstrates Lewis’s
incredible lack of depth, intelligence, professionalism, and courtesy, just shows how out of touch the CBC has become. (Didn’t ANYONE notice that the juxtaposition of Hirsi Ali and Mr. Lewis showed him in the worst possible light?)
It’s only my traditional (conservative, Christian) upbringing-a fact Mr.
Lewis would, no doubt, ridicule-that keeps me from letting loose and using gutter language, which would very well reflect not only my very low opinion of this spoiled brat, but also the minuscule, self-serving nature of his character.
Where is the public affairs show on CBC, hosted by an intelligent person with a different political point of view from your usual left-wing-monopoly clones?
P.S. I expect there will be no honest or acceptable resolution to this
complaint–ever. (In over more than two decades, there never has been.) I’ll likely hear from you or one of your staff in many months’ to a year’s time. I know already that the CBC will find nothing seriously amiss with the interview. The CBC’s excuses are always over-the-top flights of both fancy and fiction. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the CBC’s going to play its all too predictable defence of Mr. Lewis. (I’d love to be wrong here.)
FIRST RESPONSE FROM THE CBC:
From: CBC Ombudsman [mailto:Ombudsman@cbc.ca]
Sent: July-19-07 11:03 AM
To: ____________
Cc: Bob Campbell; Heaton Dyer
Subject: Re: Complaint
Dear _____________:
I write to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail, which I have shared with Heaton Dyer, Program Director of CBC Newsworld, along with the request that your concerns be addressed.
Yours truly,
Vince Carlin
CBC Ombudsman
MY SECOND CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CBC (ABRIDGED)
07/19/07 1:02 PM
Thank you for your response.
I’d also like to add to my complaint my utter distaste and sense of offence at Mr. Lewis’s obvious ignorance of and disdain for Christianity and the many Christians who make the world a better place in which to live.
Some Facts:
[I then gave some detailed data from two reliable studies, showing that AMERICAN CHRISTIANS—Mr. Lewis had defamed both Americans and Christians on his show—are far more generous in donating time, talent, and $$ than Canadians and non Christians. I then added the following:]
3) Not only were Lewis’s remarks about Christianity being forced, institutionally, on those who object, utterly without foundation (THAT happens in Muslim countries, in case he hasn’t noticed), his equation of Christianity—in his opinion, validly represented by a minuscule number of fanatics who kill abortion doctors—with the well established Islamic culture of suicide and murder missions is sheer bigotry. (Has Mr. Lewis ever made such distorted, disparaging, and insulting remarks about another religion on air? I don’t think he’d dare, though he seems to think he’s got the right to maliciously trash Christianity and Christians. So, I’ll also add hypocrisy to my complaint.)
Speaking of being forced to support an institution against one’s will, Mr. Lewis might consider the CBC: I’ve been paying—altogether unwillingly—for decades for a public institution which belittles and insults my beliefs and regularly spins comment and the news to do so. Silly me: I thought that bigotry and bias were against the CBC’s code of ethics and professionalism.
Please pass on the above to Mr. Dyer—any relation to Gwynne?—in order for my concerns to be fully addressed.
THE CBC’S SECOND RESPONSE TO ME (QUITE INANE, EVEN BY CBC STANDARDS):
From: Fred Youngs [mailto:youngsf@CBC.CA]
Sent: August-07-07 2:29 PM
To: CBC Ombudsman; ______________
Cc: Bob Campbell; Heaton Dyer
Subject: RE: Complaint
Dear _______________:
Thank you for your e-mails of July 17 and 19 addressed to Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman. As you know, Mr. Carlin asked me to reply.
You wrote to draw our attention to an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the June 11 episode of ON THE MAP with Avi Lewis, whom you consider to be, among other things, “juvenile, disrespectful … arrogant and ignorant.”
Yet despite your strong condemnation, you offered little in the way of specific examples of the shortcomings [sic] you found in the interview, so it is difficult for me to reply in any detail [sic].
As you will know, Ms. Ali is a controversial figure, noted – and hated in some quarters – for her anti-Islamic views. (She wrote Theo Van Gogh’s short film, Submission). Her memoirs, Infidel, were a recent best seller in the United States, and she is currently working for the right-wing American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
It was a short interview (some six minutes long), but Ms. Ali had time to set out her views. On several occasions, Mr. Lewis challenged her. (“There is no Islamophobia,” she said, at one point. Then “Is there anti-Semitism?” he asked, “Is there racism?”). His questions were intended to draw her out, to give her an opportunity to expand on her views. And they did. She went on to explain why she believes there is no Islamophobia. I think it is fair to say that many of her assertions are striking, and Mr. Lewis met them with the questions a viewer might ask. That is what an interviewer does, challenge the guest, put up other opinions – although not necessarily his own – to test his guest’s views.
With respect, I do not share your opinion of the interview. Nor, indeed, it seemed did Ms. Ali, who appeared to understand the interview dynamic, even enjoy the conversation. Certainly, as you may have seen, when the interview ended, she smiled warmly and shook hands with Mr. Lewis.
CBC has an obligation to provide a range of programming that appeals to a broad spectrum of Canadians. Of course, not all of those programs will have equal appeal to all of our viewers. I understand that.
Nevertheless, I certainly regret that you dislike Mr. Lewis. In my experience he is an outstanding broadcaster and journalist on a program viewers consistently told us they enjoyed watching. As you may know, he has hosted several program series on CBC, including most recently ON THE MAP, a fast-paced program described as combining sharp talk, compelling footage and a wide spectrum of passionate opinion. We put a trial version of the program on for a month early in the summer (June) and expect to bring it back likely I the new year.
Thank you again for your e-mails. I appreciated hearing your views. I will also send a copy of our correspondence to those directly responsible for the program and draw their attention to your comments.
Finally, it is my responsibility to inform you that if you are not satisfied with this response, you may wish to submit the matter for review by the CBC Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman, an independent and impartial body reporting directly to the President, is responsible for evaluating program compliance with the CBC’s journalistic policies. The Ombudsman may be reached by mail at the address shown below, or by fax at (416) 205-2825, or by e-mail at ombudsman@cbc.ca
Yours sincerely,
Fred Youngs,
Deputy Program Director
CBC Newsworld
416 205-2967
fred_youngs@cbc.ca
MY RESPONSE TO MR YOUNGS:
Dear Mr. Youngs
I am most definitely not satisfied with this response, which is full of your peripheral, personal opinions, which do not interest me in the least and have nothing to do with answering my concerns.
Your statement that “Yet despite your strong condemnation, you offered little in the way of specific examples of the shortcomings you found in the interview, so it is difficult for me to reply in any detail” is patently false and you know it, Mr. Youngs.
Despite your disrespectful—to say the least—claim to the contrary, I was ALTOGETHER specific re my concerns about Mr. Lewis’s outrageous put-down and defamation of Christianity and Christians—which I explained very clearly. PLEASE SEE THIS EXPLANATION BELOW IN YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE TO ME. [Included in Mr. Youngs’s email response to me was my correspondence to the CBC about Avi Lewis’s anti-Christian slanders.]
I believe that holding up a particular religious group to ridicule, disgust, and condemnation through lies—defining Christians, as a group, as murderers is an egregious falsehood—contravenes the CBC’s own fairness policies. I’d define Mr. Lewis’s comments about Christianity and Christians as hate speech.
Please pass my original concerns to the Ombudsman, as well as my reasons for being altogether dissatisfied with your arrogant, less than truthful, unhelpful response. Along with the Ombudsman’s response to my original complaint, I’ll also expect an addendum: I expect an explanation for your lack of honesty both in describing my complaint and in your failure to address it.
I’ll be sending a copy of this to Bev Oda [Conservative Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women] and to other interested parties. By completely alienating a very large sector of the Canadian public, who are forced to pay your salaries, both by your biased programming and nonsensical dissembling when dealing with complaints, you bring the CBC into serious disrepute.
Sincerely –
It will be interesting to see the spin which Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman, will surely put on this.
The National Post has this item buried in its Weekend Post section, in the travel portion on the page facing the article about Vienna wanting to be the top gay tourist destination in Europe.
The Post used the following headline:
But is it good journalism?”
Which I take to mean “who cares what our idiot customers and potential customers think – we are on a mission of “good journalism!””
No duh.