I was listening to alternative radio on KQED today and the topic was the current state of journalism. There were three major problems or biases discussed in the taped speech that was broadcast:
1. Because of a pursuit of "professionalism", the media can only discuss topics and views that comes from "official" sources. Any journalist who writes based on information from alternative sources can be labeled unprofessional. This means your news most likely comes from the White House, Governor's Mansion, City Council, etc... If the information doesn't come from official sources, then it's not likely to be covered. Worse still, the journalists are usually close to the sources they get their information from and are not very skeptical or critical of the information they get.
2. News usually require a "peg" to be covered. Otherwise, the news may seem biased or partisan. Stories surrounding long-term problems are no longer adequately being covered because of this.
3. Bias of "dig here not there". For example, government malfeasance gets covered but not corporate malfeasance. Enron became a business story instead of a deeper story about the implicit pact between business elites and political elites. It's likely a reflection of media concentration and corporate control.
There's a bunch of other interesting issues discussed and definitely worth a listen.
Here's a link for the streaming m3u of the lecture. It's a long lecture though so be prepared. You can download it at this site.
Comments (1)
Hmm, so you're saying that all the news we get to hear about has been filtered by the government? What ever happened to free speech? Don't we live in a democratic nation, where the news is supposed to be unbiased to all involved? But if news can only come from "official" sources (i.e. the government), then that's one more step in the direction of dictatorship. The governement can already follow you and tap your phone lines without a court order, you can be detained in this country for looking "suspicious" and for that reason only, how many more rights are they going to take away from us? Things used to be done in the name for fighting against terror, but now the administration is taking things too far. The president uses his "power" to push resolutions and bills around Congress, what happened to the checks and balances system? And the polls in the news show that the president and his decisions are still getting a majority approval from the people of America. Who the hell is being polled? I haven't gotten the call asking my opinion. I bet anyone who speaks against the administration has their opinion tossed out and isn't counted at all. The news is, after all, controlled by the government. By the way, staying up a bit late tonight?!
Posted by lisa | December 19, 2002 8:18 AM
Posted on December 19, 2002 08:18