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From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: To tim sevener re media bias
Message-ID: <498@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 09:25:41 EST
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Posted: Tue Feb 26 09:25:41 1985
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> from Ken Arndt: 
> Gee, how come all the smucks who read those rags you know so much about and
> watch the T V don't agree with you??  
> 
> Do yourself a favor and ask ONE other person if they think there is a liberal
> bias to the news.  I mean, my word man, the press jokes about it.
 
"Truth is not decided by an opinion poll"
That is point number one. Point number two is:
"What poll are you citing?"
The final point is that lacking evidence, it seems you feel forced to 
appeal to prejudice. 
 
It is one thing to have an opinion that the press has a "liberal bias".
(I think it would be easier to prove a status quo / conservative bias).
It is another thing to prove it or present evidence of it.
I have presented very concrete evidence: the actual political endorsements of
the nation's newspapers.  Those endorsements are *overwhelmingly* conservative!
Thus I would argue there is a *conservative* bias in the nation's press.
This conservative bias is represented in the very mechanism by which "news"
is made as described by Hans Gerth. (I forget the exact title of his book)
"News" is largely created by leaders of bureaucracies and organizations.
Thus, the President for example, as leader of the largest bureaucracy has
enormous power to shape the news.  Members of the cabinet as well have
great access to the media.  Members of the cabinet are overwhelmingly chosen
from the upper class.  Domhoff's book, "Who Rules America", documents 
the upper class origins of cabinet members.
This does not mean there is a "conspiracy", nor does it mean that the upper
class is of one monolithic opinion.  But it does mean that coming from
backgrounds of wealth and privilege (and generally owning quite large
chunks of it while holding office) these people are very prone to protect
such wealth and privilege.  They are also prone to represent their own
bureaucracies- thus Caspar Weinberger so crassly defends the Pentagon budget.
People who are *not* heads of some bureaucracy or organization just do not
get access to the media.  Thus such groups have resorted to demonstrations
and other means to attempt to get their views across.
Earlier you said groups could always get access to the media: according to
a "Currents" show on Sunday nite on the local PBS station *even if they
PAY for commercial airtime groups can be denied access to the media*!
It is entirely up to the networks and station managers to determine if
a commercial is "too controversial"- according to Peter Sandman of Rutgers
on this show, networks and station managers *have* refused to air commercials
for the United Auto Workers and other groups.
 
I would like to see you refute the hypothesis that the media has a
*conservative* bias.
       tim sevener   whuxl!orb
 "That nut said the Earth is round- but we *all* know the Earth is *flat*"