Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Media Filter

I find this election the most interesting ever, and I may even post a few things on it.
Therefore, I figure I should mention how I filter the news (we all filter news, we are all biased, those that say they are not are the worst).

First off, I believe that there are 3 laws of news that all mainstream media follow, rather like Asimov's 3 laws of robotics:

1. "Sell Product." This means attracting eyeballs and ears. Get people to listen, watch , or read your news any way you can. Decency, accuracy, objectivity, and intelligence be damned.

2. "Promote the Democrat party and liberals, but denigrate the Republicans and Conservatives." The American people, and indeed the world, must be made to love and admire the Democrats and hate the Republicans. Were it not for the need of profit, this would be law number 1. So, Democrats and liberals are only made to look bad if law 1 requires it (such as the coverage of Slick Willie's sexual peccadilloes).
BTW, Fox News follows this second law too, only in reverse.

3. "Inform the public." This is way down in the order importance. Laws 1 and 2 are in constant conflict and the source of much agonizing, with law 2 triumphing often as not.
Law 3 is an afterthought.

OK, so generally it goes like this:

If there is news about a Republican/Conservative doing something wrong, the actual transgression was only half as bad as it is reported to be, and pretty much all evidence of wrong doing is reported at length.

If there is news about a Democrat/liberal doing something wrong, the actual transgression was at least twice as bad as reported, and much detail is left out.

Again, Fox does this in reverse.

Well that's how I view the news. So now you have some understanding of my world view.

Like that means something.

2 comments:

R.A. Porter said...

I think you need to move your Third Law down a few pegs. You've forgotten:

3. If she's blonde and missing, devote all resources to the story.

4. If she's a celebrity and drunk, call in the pundits.

(I could be wrong. My suggestions for Third and Fourth Laws could just be variations of your First.)

2old4this said...

Yep, your points were bundled into law 1. Sex and violence sell!