Do you trust the news media?

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If you’re like a lot of us, you probably trust the news media when it speaks about things we agree with, but distrust the news media otherwise.
 
I’d prefer one that chose to inform the people instead of acting as a long infomercial occasionally interrupted by the weather.
 
Robert_Sock said:
If you’re like a lot of us, you probably trust the news media when it speaks about things we agree with, but distrust the news media otherwise. You probably prefer news media that caters to democrats or republicans, depending on your political and moral preferences.
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That’s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with trusting the media. This is more agent provocateur nonsense.

Best,
Ed
 
For the most part, no. Because, for the most part, the media is about stupid things celebrities do, and sports figures and ‘strange story of the day.’ Otherwise, depending on which outlet you watch/read, it is biased as all get out.

I read the headlines on the front page of the paper, and if I wake up and don’t see a smoking, crater-filed world outside my window, I get up and go to work. And the two football teams that run the country? The only thing missing are the clown suits and makeup.

Peace,
Ed
 
I try to filter the hard facts from the biased interpretations, and generally assume the former will be basically correct 95% of the time.

Of course even which facts are chosen for reporting is subject to bias, more often the reporter’s idea of what is of interest to viewers/readers than what facts are convenient for their personal ideological point of view, though I’m sure both play a role.
 
To quote a line from a John Mayer song… “When they own the information,they can spin it how they want”…:rolleyes:
 
Not only that, but a friend of mine is a Production Manager for a local daily newspaper. They get to pick and choose what goes in and what does not.

Facts need to be checked against other sources, especially as they regard serious matters. The sources are often not contained in any one media source.

Peace,
Ed
 
Think keenly on this…the alluring charactaristics of the grandiose media is much like a hired grand whore. She’ll dress every way you like, dance, play, and sleep with you and tell you every good thing you want to hear, even proclaim your name in lights if need be. However; say something constructively critical about her and she will stab you in the back the rest of your life. They don’t call the global great media mogul the Great Whore for nothing.
 
My mother was a reporter during and after WWII. She told me that it was the reporter’s responsibility to report the facts, and all the facts - that opinion belonged in the editorial pages.

That no longer happens. The media is biased, and doesn’t report facts that make their side look bad; I’m talking about both liberals and conservatives.

Fact-checking has gone out the window (along with proof-reading, but that’s a different rant).

We all know how our different faiths get misrepresented. That even happens here on the forums.

As an NRA member, I’ve heard about the “Operation Fast and Furious” scandal. Media coverage? nearly non-existent. It is major malfeasance by the ATF that deliberately allowed “straw buyers” to buy multiple guns and “smuggle” them into Mexico. But the media loves to report that American guns have been used in murders there. 🤷

As a conservative, I assume that the news I get from conservative sites is biased, too, with a couple of exceptions. The more ranty it sounds, the less I trust it.

There is no honor in it any more. What gets the headlines is what sells the most advertising - and that is based on how many subscribers/viewers/buyers the news organization gets. And the news media manipulates what headlines get to the front page, based on their own agendas.

No, I don’t trust any of them.
 
I think the wise person is skeptical of the news and view coming from all sources, the one exception being the teachings coming from the official magisterium of the Catholic Church.

In politics and in business, there is lots of lying and misleading going on. Original sin is still out there. Political orientation has nothing to do with sinfulness or holiness, as far as I can see. There are just as many liars and manipulators in both of the major political parties, as far as I can see.

There’s that humorous wall sign that many business have posted behind their counter:

TRUST GOD. ALL OTHERS MUST PAY CASH.

I recently saw the movie “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg. That movie shows that even “Honest Abe” misled the Congress to get the 13th Amendment passed. He told them that there were no peace emissaries from the South in Washington, D.C., and that he did not expect there would be. But in fact, he know they were already there, just a little bit outside the boundaries of the District of Columbia. So Lincoln’s answer was technically correct, but still a lie. He misled the members of the House to achieve a political goal. He lied. I really see no way to justify that.
 
Ruthie_again said:
My mother was a reporter during and after WWII. She told me that it was the reporter’s responsibility to report the facts, and all the facts - that opinion belonged in the editorial pages.

That no longer happens. The media is biased, and doesn’t report facts that make their side look bad; I’m talking about both liberals and conservatives.

Fact-checking has gone out the window (along with proof-reading, but that’s a different rant).

We all know how our different faiths get misrepresented. That even happens here on the forums.

As an NRA member, I’ve heard about the “Operation Fast and Furious” scandal. Media coverage? nearly non-existent. It is major malfeasance by the ATF that deliberately allowed “straw buyers” to buy multiple guns and “smuggle” them into Mexico. But the media loves to report that American guns have been used in murders there. 🤷

As a conservative, I assume that the news I get from conservative sites is biased, too, with a couple of exceptions. The more ranty it sounds, the less I trust it.

There is no honor in it any more. What gets the headlines is what sells the most advertising - and that is based on how many subscribers/viewers/buyers the news organization gets. And the news media manipulates what headlines get to the front page, based on their own agendas.

No, I don’t trust any of them.
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Thank you for that very informative post. Walter Cronkite was a reporter during World War II and after, and was once called “the most trusted man in America.” I’m not saying the other news outlets were bad in the 1960s, but Mr. Cronkite reported the facts in a friendly and appropriately serious way. In the early 2000s, during an interview with Larry King, he was asked what he thought about the media. He decried what he called the “tabloidization” of the media.

And don’t be fooled. The concept of the Mass Market has never disappeared, whether it’s magazines, print newspapers or internet news sites - the more eyeballs you have, the more you can charge for advertising. It was clear that Mr. Cronkite was saddened by the changes in the “news,” but in the middle of the last century, there were hundreds of individuals newspapers and other news outlets. They had three things missing from many media outlets today: 1) Real names and reputations built on those real names based on their accuracy, 2) The reputation of the publication/news outlet itself. It had to earn the public’s trust, and once earned, it was to work to retain that trust, and 3) Real news and investigative reporting. Not 5 minutes of news, followed by sports and weather.

As time passed, massive corporations began buying newspapers, magazines, TV stations and radio stations. At first, each conglomerate was limited as to how much they could own, but that changed to the point where only a handful of giant corporations own most of the global media today. And make no mistake about it, they can and do “kill” stories for a number of reasons. Plus they can be influenced by special interests, and/or the owners’ personal bias, which means their news will be tilted in the direction they please.

No, it’s not all bad, but as a researcher myself, I find that there is, too often, more to the story than what gets printed. It’s not too difficult to get the big picture. The key is not to be passive.

Peace,
Ed
 
**Ruthie wrote: **…There is no honor in it any more. What gets the headlines is what sells the most advertising - and that is based on how many subscribers/viewers/buyers the news organization gets. And the news media manipulates what headlines get to the front page, based on their own agendas…

(I could not edit that in this thing!!! Sorry!)

I am replying: The worst of it is, I am beginning to believe the politicians are manipulating everything so that news about what they are doing is like a soap opera. They debate right up to the deadline so we are all on tenterhooks as to whether we’ll still even hace an economy, then settle at the last minute.

Sheesh, a pox on all their houses!
 
Bartolome_Casas said:
I think the wise person is skeptical of the news and view coming from all sources, the one exception being the teachings coming from the official magisterium of the Catholic Church.

In politics and in business, there is lots of lying and misleading going on. Original sin is still out there. Political orientation has nothing to do with sinfulness or holiness, as far as I can see. There are just as many liars and manipulators in both of the major political parties, as far as I can see.

There’s that humorous wall sign that many business have posted behind their counter:

TRUST GOD. ALL OTHERS MUST PAY CASH.

I recently saw the movie “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg. That movie shows that even “Honest Abe” misled the Congress to get the 13th Amendment passed. He told them that there were no peace emissaries from the South in Washington, D.C., and that he did not expect there would be. But in fact, he know they were already there, just a little bit outside the boundaries of the District of Columbia. So Lincoln’s answer was technically correct, but still a lie. He misled the members of the House to achieve a political goal. He lied. I really see no way to justify that.
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The version I saw in the 1960s was: “In God we trust. All others pay cash.”

Just wondering, but did you fact check that Lincoln lied? Movies that aren’t documentaries sometimes - and I’m not saying that was the case here - take liberties regarding real history.

I study World War II history and trust me, I’ve read and seen photographic evidence of stuff that’s not in the history books. I’m not saying all history book writers distort the truth but things are still being discovered dating back to the Civil War.

Peace,
Ed
 
No I do not trust the media… I do not own nor watch a TV… TV and news papers are about selling and viewer figures… and sensationalizing tragic events… When the 6 O’Clock news started to include soap opera stories , I called it quits…

I have to disagree with Marx… its not religion that’s the opium of the masses… its TV
 
I stopped watching tv news sources. The place I get my news is print or like the internet version of papers. I think for me at least the biggest reason I do this is because when it’s print and not someone saying the news you get no tone. the only thing present is the info they are giving you and even though they could edit it you can till read through the fog.
 
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