Which media outlets...

[CliffnDallas]

They are all biased. It just depends on the direction.

 

[hairic]

Yeah, I don't care if a media outlet is biased. I have a brain that I'm not afraid to exercise every few years, so for me I value media that exposes me to a solid volume of stories. I can take it from there. Corporate news doesn't give you many stories, as they have to insert fluff to keep a larger, less informed audience. Means they aren't a good source to me.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

Thanks for the response all and please keep them coming.

I understand that there are no media outlets that are completely free of bias. As long as you have the human element, it is bound to be subjective some way, starting from which issue/topic they decide to cover. I also understand the influence of money, i.e., advertising/sponsorship.

They are all bound to be subjective to some extent, thats why I underlined most in 'the most objective' in my original thread.

I guess I view objective a little differently.

You can have one station and if all they have is one point of view then they would not be objective.

But if you have a station that has hard core Right and Left, then it would be objective. There is no way in this day and age will you get an anchor that will just give you the facts of a story and leave it at that. Just won't happen.

But what you can find is an outlet who will present both sides whether from a right/left firebrand or from simple reporting.

Which is why I made my case for Foxnews.

I neglected to answer regarding radio because I don't think there is one that is balanced. The vast radio market is occupied by conservative talk show hosts. The others that are doing news or political talk are either liberal (Air America which is bankrupt now) or so called middle of the road. Those two segments are a very small slice of the pie.

These markets are driven by ad dollars and thrive because of popularity. (Not making a political point here) but the facts are the facts. There is a reason the top four syndicated radio programs in the country are conservative shows, because they have the vast majority of listeners.

 

[ethiostar]

I guess I view objective a little differently.

You can have one station and if all they have is one point of view then they would not be objective.

But if you have a station that has hard core Right and Left, then it would be objective. There is no way in this day and age will you get an anchor that will just give you the facts of a story and leave it at that. Just won't happen.

I don't think your definition is much different than mine and i'm not looking for an anchor to give me the 'facts', unless we define the 'facts' simply as reporting what took place. Here is what i said in the OP...

"...they present or report on various issues, provide opinions from as many sides as possible, and avoid, as much as possible, persuading the audience to one particular perspective."

 

[MetalHead]

I will say this about Michael Moore....

He usually is somewhat entertaining. I think he slants his movies like no other, distorts reality, and doesn't give credence to the other side at all.... and at times, when watching his movies, I get the strange urge to punch my TV in some disturbing hope that he would actually feel it....

But.... at some point in his movies, always, I find something that entertains me. His latest movie about Capitalism, despite the sheer gimmick of showing up on Wall Street asking about derivatives, showing up at banks asking for the bailout money back, the citizens arrest stuff, and the attempt to have a meeting with the CEO of (whomever, i forgot)... I found it amusing. Completely a gimmick? Yes. But who wasn't rooting for him to "arrest" the CEO's of companies that screwed us royally?

You ate the cheese.

 

[Chief]

I was a news junkie in the 1990s, but I rarely watch it anymore. I did follow the presidential election very closely, like I always do.

I don't know of any that are really balanced and unbiased. Everyone knows that Fox leans to the right, but I think most of the others lean to the left. MSNBC, the New York Times and and NPR are way, way left, IMO.

 

[theogt]

The most objective are Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal (non-opinion). Both are objective because they are business oriented and there's no reason to be slanted when reporting business. When reporting about business, people want the facts and just the facts, no slant. This lack of bias bleeds over into their reporting for non-business news.

But of course, the WSJ opinion section is biased toward conservatives.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

I was a news junkie in the 1990s, but I rarely watch it anymore. I did follow the presidential election very closely, like I always do.

I don't know of any that are really balanced and unbiased. Everyone knows that Fox leans to the right, but I think most of the others lean to the left. MSNBC, the New York Times and and NPR are way, way left, IMO.

I wouldn't say they lean Right as much as they give both sides. The others that you mention very rarely provide both sides. If leaning right means giving equal time to both sides then you may be right.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

I don't think your definition is much different than mine and i'm not looking for an anchor to give me the 'facts', unless we define the 'facts' simply as reporting what took place. Here is what i said in the OP...

"...they present or report on various issues, provide opinions from as many sides as possible, and avoid, as much as possible, persuading the audience to one particular perspective."

You're right. I misinterpreted your interpretation. Apologies.

BTW, I love the TB Avatar.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

The most objective are Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal (non-opinion). Both are objective because they are business oriented and there's no reason to be slanted when reporting business. When reporting about business, people want the facts and just the facts, no slant. This lack of bias bleeds over into their reporting for non-business news.

But of course, the WSJ opinion section is biased toward conservatives.

It does, for the obvious reasons. As for the news section, I think it is the most down the middle publication out there.

 

[ethiostar]

I wouldn't say they lean Right as much as they give both sides. The others that you mention very rarely provide both sides. If leaning right means giving equal time to both sides then you may be right.

I doubt many people would agree with those statements.

 

[ShiningStar]

I doubt many people would agree with those statements.

They can disagree all they want but O'Rielly is about news, Van Susteren and I believe Geraldo are both very liberal. I know Napalitano is a Libertarian as is Glenn Beck , so while it might slant conservative, you get a Liberal, or at least social liberal commentery is many of their hosts.

 

[silverbear]

One website that is completely unbiased is Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball... Sabato is a political science professor at the University of Virginia, and has gained a national reputation for accurate analysis of elections... he doesn't post a lot of stuff, but if you read what he does post, you'll get an accurate feeling for the prevailing mood of the electorate...

If that mood favors the Republicans, that's how he'll call it, and if it favors the Democrats, he'll let you know that too... if he has a personal political preference, I can't tell you what it is... IMO, he gives you an academic's analysis of politics... here's a link to it:

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/

Another good site for helping you make up your mind for yourself on an issue is PollingReport.com... that's a website that compiles most if not all of the polls available, breaks them down into a wide array of issues, and lists them all in a chart form so that you can see for yourself the prevailing trends... they use conservative pollsters, liberal pollsters, and middle of the road pollsters...

Neither are really news organizations, they're just unbiased political websites... I learn a lot from both of them...

 

[Doomsday]

Fox News is the only one I can stand to listen to. They obviously swing to the right but at the same time they at least try and give both sides of the argument. Cant say the same about the other news outlets, they are blatant in the bias in my opinion.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

I doubt many people would agree with those statements.

Actually many people would, and do agree with those statements. If you take a look at their ratings, you can see that CNN, MSNBC andHL News have been very. People are tuning out in huge numbers from their networks and are turning to Fox because they can get both sides of a story.

The numbers don't lie.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Actually many people would, and do agree with those statements. If you take a look at their ratings, you can see that CNN, MSNBC andHL News have been very. People are tuning out in huge numbers from their networks and are turning to Fox because they can get both sides of a story.

The numbers don't lie.

I had a long winded post wrote out but decided not to post it after giving it some thought. I don't want this to turn political and I don't want to argue with someone that is clearly in denial about a station that is clearly right leaning biased as much as another station is left leaning biased. If you claim diversity I would only argue that the most diverse show on the news networks would be morning Joe on MSNBC and there is no way I would claim that msnbc does not lean left.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

MartyBTV doesn't seem to lean towards either political party.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I had a long winded post wrote out but decided not to post it after giving it some thought. I don't want this to turn political and I don't want to argue with someone that is clearly in denial about a station that is clearly right leaning biased as much as another station is left leaning biased. If you claim diversity I would only argue that the most diverse show on the news networks would be morning Joe on MSNBC and there is no way I would claim that msnbc does not lean left.

Sometimes it's good to just let the wind out when no one else is around!

 

[Maikeru-sama]

MTV

Honorable Mention: VH1

 

[Cajuncowboy]

I had a long winded post wrote out but decided not to post it after giving it some thought. I don't want this to turn political and I don't want to argue with someone that is clearly in denial about a station that is clearly right leaning biased as much as another station is left leaning biased. If you claim diversity I would only argue that the most diverse show on the news networks would be morning Joe on MSNBC and there is no way I would claim that msnbc does not lean left.

Denial, thy name is Brainpaint!

Primetime spots are given to Liberal hosts on Fox news. Geraldo and Greta just to name two of them. At MSNBC you have Mathews, Olbermann and Madow.

So really? And he wasn't asking about "Shows", he was asking about stations, outlets specifically.

For every conservative you name on msnbc I can name at least two liberals on Fox News.

It's shame your long winded post wasn't posted. Because if you can't discuss the bias in media without the blinders of partisanship, then you are doomed to allow it to fester.

Is there right leaning people on Fox? Yes. Is there Left leaning people on Fox? Yes.

But when discussing the overall direction and preponderance of views, Fox news gives more equal time than CNN, HL News and MSNBC combined.