Mall Shooting

[PeppyGPhiB]

Just a few comments...

1. Most journalists and reporters are not like the ones found on CNN, MSNBC or Fox News. Those are anchors, or news show hosts, some of which use material written by others and others just say whatever they want to. The reporters you see on your local news stations are often told when and what to cover, and the same goes for newspaper reporters. Newspaper editors are given more flexibility on what will be covered in their section, but the reporters under them are often handed topics/news and told to do something with the information.

2. I believe the media is fairly balanced. A reporter's job is to question a story and prod for information. One of the ways they do that is by asking (sometimes annoying) questions. Yes, often it is "The Administration" that gets those questions because it is often in the news! Any government agency especially should be prepared to get all kinds of questions from reporters, since as some of you said above, the news media is the only deliverer of that information. Reporters often challenge the subject of any hard news story or investigation...not just Republicans, or Democrats.

Be happy that journalists "dig" the way they do. Many stories are brought to the attention of the media by PR people. A lot of people don't realize it, but what's in your newspapers, magazines and some TV news is often a story that was first suggested or leaked by a PR person. Now, would you rather have just that PR person's spin, or do you want the reporter to go one step further than that by "pestering" to get their story?

3. Journalists don't have the time to do lengthy investigations before reporting each piece of news. Our society is very connected...I get most of my news via the Internet now, while others rely on TV. The newspapers are struggling to keep up with the currency of other news mediums. If they carefully and thoroughly researched each story they reported, it would be uselessly out of date. So, they do the best they can in the short amount of time they're allotted. If they want to dig deeper, they'll address it in a following story/article. If we want to hear news when it happens, we must sacrifice some of the additional research (within reason...I'm talking about breaking news, not investigative reporting which obviously should be carefully researched).

4. ALL people are biased. That means reporters are biased too. Most people have opinions about things, and that often floods over into their work...be it lawyers, doctors, politicians or journalists. It's not necessarily a bad thing...it can positively influence reporting, too. Newspapers, usually cited as more balanced than TV news, are even biased. People who study media, and many who don't, know which newspapers slant to the left and right. If you observe the symantics, you'll see it. We have two major daily newspapers here in Seattle, and everyone knows which is more Right and which is more Left. The differences are slight and the news coverage is the same, but people have their preferences.