Sorry but I have to agree with DeltAlum... I try to watch as many news sources as I can (so I can form my owni opinion), and while I realise all have their own bias... FOX is one of the worst offenders when it comes to promoting a particular angle (MSNBC is pretty bad sometimes too). Most of the other stations make an attempt to try and stick to the middle of the road and have both "Liberal" and "Conservative" views and reporting - CNN has Lou Dobbs and Bob Novak (asshole) for example.

With the Nick Berg case (and the war in general) FOX has always jumped on the "Al Queda" bandwagon... even though other credible newsources have reported the questioning and detaining of Saddam loyalists (inculding a relative) FOX kept pumping the "Al Queda" viewpoint of the administration... despite the fact that Al Queda was not mentioned in the tape at all either.

I have to figure out how to convert myself first. Although I'm not sure what I want to convert myself into.

Honestly, I think over the past few years, the Conservatives have been the "noisiest" -- noted by the Rush like radio shows and all of the religious cable shows/channels. I think we're beginning to see some backlash to that at this point as even some of the more moderate of those on the "Right" are affected by events in Iraq.

Truth is that there is no real answer to this perceived difference in news organizations (with the exception of FOX who, I must say again, has an obvious ((Republican)) agenda) because unless the reportage is pretty much exactly in line with our own leanings, it will always seem slanted one direction or the other.

I noted that again yesterday, CBS (Leslie Stahl from 60 Minutes) admitted to "holding" a story at the express request of the Government involving the alleged spying of (elder moment, can't remember the name) the man who we were paying $300,000 per month to advise us on the war and post war. If that network leaned left, there's no way that would have happened. In fact, they take huge amounts of flack for allowing the government to "censor" thier journalistic efforts. I call it being a good citizen. Recall that they did the same thing -- two weeks in a row -- on the Prison scandal.

When viewer or listener phone calls, e-mails and letters on a given topic are pretty well divided between complaints and compliments, which is almost always the case, you have to figure that you're doing a reasonable (nobody is perfect) job. When you work in a newsroom, pretty much everyone fields these phone calls -- and that's been my experience over these many years.

Well, I certainly didn't mean to write this much. Getting on now with the weekend.

Hope you all have a good one.

[B]
Berg seems limp just before the beheading. It is not clear if he was moving after the time skip in the tape. While on the ground, Berg's body didn't seem move except in response to the captors movements

I didn't watch the video, however, if he was beheaded from behind (which is kind of what I'd imagine happened), one of the first things that would have been severed would have been the spinal cord. That would explain the lack of struggle -- instant paraplegic.

I have to disagree... unfortunately it isn't a instant event unless it is a substantial event (ie. axe.. sword), but sawing away with a knife will not induce the state seen in the video

Haven't seen the video personally. Don't want to.

Was just a thought :D

This is somewhat morbid, but, assuming everything actually happened as we saw it (no film editing or faking) then perhaps the reason that Berg went limp and there was little blood afterwards is because he died or something, perhaps of shock. I know if I were in a POW situation and my captors were about to lop my head off I'd die of a heart attack before anything happened.
I do think it's curious about the orange jumpsuit. I'm sure one day we'll find out the truth.

Going back to the news organization slant thing. I know a registered Democrat who works for Fox News (there are a few here and there.) She said it's not so much the slant of the stories as it is what stories they choose to report in the first place. Example - John Kerry's war record vs. protests vs. voting on the Iraq conflict is fair game but G.W.'s national guard participation is not discussed.

On the beheading. I absolutely refuse to watch the footage but I heard there were a few other issues such as a lack of blood and the executioner wearing a gold ring which would have been forbidden. I have no idea what to make of all of this and who knows if we'll ever find out.

Interesting that we have a Canadian on this thread telling us that Fox is so biased, etc.
Fox cannot get picked up in Canada, and some at Fox, like Bill O'Reilly, complain about it to no avail.
CNN remarks - note the only person who is called an "asshole" is Bob Novak. The conservative.

Note to Canadians: Thanks for playing, and no offense, but MYOB on our politics. Go rent a Michael Moore video about how to buy gun ammo at a Canadian Wal Mart, OK? It's called Bowling for Columbine. See how YOU get your ox gored by a fat lying sack of sh!t and let us know how that works out.

The rest of you Fox bashers - did you not learn in college in Government 101 that we as citizens have an obligation to listen/read news from different sources and to use our somewhat educated minds to understand and judge on our own?

So Fox presents stories about certain things and not others? HOW is that different than CNN and MSNBC? Let's see how they handle this hot potato - Kerry asking if the "training wheels fell off" when hearing that Bush took a spill on his bike during mile 16 of a 17 mile ride? That would be the Kerry who recently took a spill on his own bike. And the same Kerry who fell while skiing and blamed his fall on a Secret Service agent whom he then called a "son of a bitch". I think that was covered on all three of the cable networks, but I just wonder if Fox's presence - as the number ONE cable news network - forces the other two to report things they might not like to do otherwise.

Almost 80% of the news staff at CNN voted Democratic in 2000. Think about it. I guess if 81% voted Republican over at Fox, we've got incontrovertible evidence of bias at Fox. Yeah, that makes sense.

Actually, I suspect the "training wheels" comment is a play on words since, as I recall, the President recently used the same phrase to talk about the turnover of power to the new Iraqi government.

Non unusual in an election year.

Well, not to nitpick, but it's also forbidden to behead people like that.

Ummm... actually you can.. it's called a satalite dish (alot of Canadians actually have "illegal" American ones). Also for those that don't have access, a number of programs discuss the media and it's presentation and interpretation (TVO, CBC, PBS) and FOX unfortunately figures highly in the obvious bias department (content, coverage, graphics). Before you blow a gasket... yes the programs (well CBC) does critize it's own coverage of events..... Finally the reason why FOX News isn't available (legally) in Canada is it can't meet the broadcast standards as laid out by the CRTC.

Guess what YOUR politics do matter to us as you are our main economic, cultural, political partner. With the amount of coverage that US domestic and foreign politics recieve up here, you'll find that most Canadians are very informed about US politics...... okay I don't get your last comment... Please explain....

Weren't you the one who quoted Fox word for word but couldn't name the anchor? Basically saying you don't watch Fox but copy and paste what you find on the internet?

As for the topic, I find it funny how people with no forensics or medical backgrounds are talking about things they don't know.

-Rudey

Actually I'm horrible with names... :) But seriously I have trouble remember the names of sources that I do find tolerable.

As for the topic, no I don't have a background in forensics (other than watch ing CSI) but unfortunately I have had the displeasure of witnessing the effects of a beheading... and it's evidence...

A) You remember exact words of a quotation but not the name? I don't even remember exact words.

B) Everyone now has the misfortune of witnessing the effects of a beheading.

-Rudey

A) No seriously I have trouble remembering names... I still have trouble remembering the names of my room-mates from 10 years ago (well lastnames). As for remembering the exact words... yep I remembered a whole four or five words strung together... not like a whole paragraph...

B) I still have my doubts about it... but I was refering to personal experience not video.