Beranard Goldberg’s “A Slobbering Love Affair” is a MUST for anyone who loves this country. He pulls no punches. How should YOU view the nightly news?
Get your news from several sources: When it comes to hard news, not opinion, watch conservative Fox News and find a liberal news channel you like. The real story is not always on the ground but lies in the media** spin. Yesterday, one channel showing an uneventful TEA Party rally called it an “ugly demonstration” and spoke of racism, hate and violent tendencies; yet also talked of the Arizona mini-riots as “semi-peaceful” expressions of their frustrations with “a police state” and unconstitutional laws and racism. FOX, however, labeled the situations as my eyes and ears perceived them: one demonstration was peaceful and law-abiding the other was not with policemen being pushed and one hit in the back of the neck by a thrown water bottle. Semi-peaceful or semi-violent?
Look for evidence of neutral, objective and also biased reporting in 90% of the political stories. WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? HOW? WHY? should be all covered neutrally. If any account goes deeper, then at least two different (opposing) viewpoints should be fairly expressed, if not the report is biased. Reporter questions should simply elucidate greater detail, not push an agenda.
Notice adjectives and adverbs reporters employ: ABC talked about the “polarizing” speech of conservatives congressmen and the TEA Party but never once used the adjective “polarizing” to describe what the administration and Reid and Pelosi were doing (even though almost 60% of the country hated the bill and the methods used to propel it), therefore a biased report.
Fourth, always remember “the word is not the thing”: reform is NOT just change. So when someone labels some change “reform,” ask yourself “mere change” or will it actually improve things? And if you personally haven’t read and understood the 5,000 page bill, perhaps the best and most honest answer is, “I don’t know” (neither do congressmen who also haven’t read it).
Ya’ll live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
** the channel “spun” the two stories differently, and obviously inaccurately by taking comments only from Democrats on both stories . . . only exposing one side shows you which way the station’s preferences lie
