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Originally Posted by DeltAlum
It may just be that we have a basic difference here on what it "mainline" or "mainstream" media.
I don't consider any of the cable networks to carry as much weight as the "traditional" on air networks or print media.
I'm pretty sure it is still true that ALL of the cable news networks combined don't match the ratings of the lowest on air networks when it comes to news coverage.
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You may be quite right, and I certainly can't speak to what most people do. But I can say that I grew up on the Huntley-Brinkley Report, and I don't think I've watched a network newscast in at least 20 years, except
maybe on 9/11. I couldn't even tell you who the anchors on NBC or ABC are -- I only know about CBS because of all the hoopla about Katie Couric. If I watch the news on TV, it's CNN or Fox.
Most people may not be like me. On the other hand, most of my friends with whose viewing habits I am familiar are like me, I think, if for no other reason than we are eating supper with our families when the network news is on and we know we can catch cable news later. (And we listened to NPR on the way home from work.)
As for ratings, I wonder if it's comparing apples to oranges -- network news is a thirty-miunte-a-day shot. Cable news is pretty much constant. So should the viewers for the network's 30 minutes be compared to CNN or Fox's total viewers in an evening?
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Originally Posted by shinerbock
To be honest, I don't even care that the media is biased. I mean sure, I'd love an unbiased news org, but I don't see that happening soon. However, I do wish we'd be more open about who is biased and which way they're biased towards.
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Exactly. As has aptly been stated . . .
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Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
ALL people are biased. That means reporters are biased too.
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I'd much rather reporters or news organizations be upfront about biases so that the reader/listener/viewer can take those biases into account, instead of the fiction of objectivity. (Note, I'm not saying that reporters don't do their best to be objective. I'm just saying that real objectivity can only really happen in a perfect world, which we don't live in.)
I heard an interesting pro-con story on journalistic objectivity a few months ago on NPR's "On The Media." It seems to be an debate going on among journalistic types.
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Originally Posted by Alphagamuga
For every Watergate, you've got hundreds of Anna Nicole or Britney stories.
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I have been astounded, and yet not surprised at all, to see what Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren -- both of whom cover legal goings-on -- have been doing the last week or two. It has been constant Anna Nicole. Meanwhile, what Scooter Libby trial in DC?
