Media Bias?

June 14, 2003 1:11 PM

Whether you like your news right or your news left, there are watchers watching those who report. Anyone have more examples of those who keep an eye on journalists? Does it change anyone's thinking when they discover that the story they read was, for example, written by Jayson Blair, or has the damage already been done?
posted by swerdloff (4 comments total)

I really enjoyed the now-closed magazine "Brill's Content." Our Founding MeFi Father even appeared on the cover.

Fox News Watch is another interesting source of "watching the watchers." And for more politically-oriented news-watching, I turn occasionally to the Media Research Center.
posted by davidmsc at 4:21 PM on June 14, 2003

My problem with a lot of these "watchers", for example ABCWatch above, is that they revel in being biased themselves. What does having an extreme-right wing individual waxing lyrical about a midly-left wing media outlet actually achieve? Not much, apart from inspiring a warm glow in other mildly-left-wing-media haters.

It's hopeless trying to identify bias on a left-wing/right-wing basis. Just accept that bias exists, coz it ain't going nowhere. The focus should be on identifying truth and lies, which is a completely different kettle of fish. And, quite frankly, I doubt many bloggers have the resources to do this - it's rarely useful trying to identify lies at one media outlet by quoting the product of another media outlet. You've got to get down there and investigate the issue yourself.
posted by Jimbob at 5:54 PM on June 14, 2003

Spinsanity is good. They keep their bias out of it better than most.
posted by Tlogmer at 8:11 PM on June 14, 2003

It's tough to find a source that is unbiased. Although any report that agrees with my views is objective, by definition (*grin*).

Who will watch the reporters?
Big Media . Commercial Alert . Consortium News . CSPI . Dismal Scientist . Economic Reporting Review . FAIR . HRW . Media-Alliance . Media Awareness Project . Media Channel (Ownership chart) . Media Transparency . Media Whores Online . MRC . Narco News . News Blaster . News Watch . OJR . Poynter Media News . PR Watch's Spin of the Day . Public i . Public Integrity (State Lobbyists) . Project Censored . Spin Sanity . TNR
-- source
posted by oldmanyoung at 3:54 PM on June 15, 2003