Why do conservatives complain about media bias?

OpportunityCost said:

Listen carefully: I have not defended Fox, I will not defend Fox, I know they have their bias, but I also know other outlets have bias as well.

My contention is that bias is costing them market share and profit because they all arrive at the same conclusions and are using group think rather than critical thinking because of their similar mindsets and approach to about anything political. I am speaking about most major media outlets. Fox is an exception because their biases run the other direction.

Food for thought: if one of the major networks started reporting from a conservative point of view, what would happen to their market share and viewership?

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I believe at certain times all of the media sources reported from a conservative point of view. During the onset of the Iraq war the major media sources were cheerleaders for the war. None of them questioned Bush's motives or speeches. It was the most disgraceful act of collective journalism in American history.

Tuatara said:

I believe at certain times all of the media sources reported from a conservative point of view. During the onset of the Iraq war the major media sources were cheerleaders for the war. None of them questioned Bush's motives or speeches. It was the most disgraceful act of collective journalism in American history.

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Oh . . . wow.

Tuatara said:

I believe at certain times all of the media sources reported from a conservative point of view. During the onset of the Iraq war the major media sources were cheerleaders for the war. None of them questioned Bush's motives or speeches. It was the most disgraceful act of collective journalism in American history.

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I agree completely

KevinKohler said:

So what you're saying is that maybe our news shouldn't be subject to market forces?

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For some things, no. It's like education. It shouldn't be subject to market forces, it should be subject to facts. The purpose of education is to educate, not indoctrinate. When it starts to indoctrinate, the whole point is lost. News reporting is the same. The media should be required to report the news in a fair and unbiased manner. If they want to have a commentary show that spins the news as well, that's fine, but reporting the news needs to be unbiased.

Cephus said:

For some things, no. It's like education. It shouldn't be subject to market forces, it should be subject to facts. The purpose of education is to educate, not indoctrinate. When it starts to indoctrinate, the whole point is lost. News reporting is the same. The media should be required to report the news in a fair and unbiased manner. If they want to have a commentary show that spins the news as well, that's fine, but reporting the news needs to be unbiased.

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State run media? Some agency that determines what is biased and what isn't? Good luck

Tuatara said:

I believe at certain times all of the media sources reported from a conservative point of view. During the onset of the Iraq war the major media sources were cheerleaders for the war. None of them questioned Bush's motives or speeches. It was the most disgraceful act of collective journalism in American history.

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Until they went the other direction in a hurry. I feel like we are talking past each other. I honestly don't care that they have a bias, I am arguing that the bias is starting to cost them viewers and money. That's all. Please say something along that vector if you could.

Tuatara said:

I believe at certain times all of the media sources reported from a conservative point of view. During the onset of the Iraq war the major media sources were cheerleaders for the war. None of them questioned Bush's motives or speeches. It was the most disgraceful act of collective journalism in American history.

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And it is because that is what the people wanted (I'm not defending this...just saying market forces took effect). If ABC thought it could have made more money at that time with a liberal slant they would have. The market dictates the bias

vegas giants said:

State run media? Some agency that determines what is biased and what isn't? Good luck

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I have no interest in state run media, which I figure would be every bit as biased as private media. But there was a time where TV stations were required to provide a certain number of hours of educational content as a consequence of having an FCC license. There ought to be a requirement that all news stations, over-the-air and digital, must provide a certain number of hours of bias-free news coverage per day. How that would be accomplished, I have no idea, but it's a nice idea anyhow.

Cephus said:

I have no interest in state run media, which I figure would be every bit as biased as private media. But there was a time where TV stations were required to provide a certain number of hours of educational content as a consequence of having an FCC license. There ought to be a requirement that all news stations, over-the-air and digital, must provide a certain number of hours of bias-free news coverage per day. How that would be accomplished, I have no idea, but it's a nice idea anyhow.

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I agree its a nice idea...the only problem is who gets to be the judge

News has never been unbiased. All the way back to the American Revolution, we've had partisan news papers pandering to supporters and hyperbolicly slandering their rivals, in that case the loyalists vs the rebels. I do think the "mainstream" media which funnily never seems to include the obviously conservative ratings king Fox news is overwhelmingly staffed with liberals or left of center types and this creates an inherent bias. There is no grand plan to shape America into a liberal socialist state. Its just the aggregate of a lot of people with unconscious bias that over time pushed the right wing views away which promoted even more introduction of bias into the news as now you are being fair when your two considered sides are left of center and very left wing rather than left and right. The problem really came in when conservatives didn't seek out journalists that shared their bias, but gravitated to radio hosts and personalities that don't care about journalistic integrity. It seems like conservatives largely rejected the idea of media altogether. When the National Review, WSJ, Washington Times, etc are decried as being in league with the evil globalists, who does that leave to get news from?

OpportunityCost said:

Until they went the other direction in a hurry. I feel like we are talking past each other. I honestly don't care that they have a bias, I am arguing that the bias is starting to cost them viewers and money. That's all. Please say something along that vector if you could.

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I don't have any stats that shows viewership ratings but I know many who are tired of the mainstream media and are seeking their news sources online. Sensationalism which we get from the mainstream attracts certain viewers and detracts others.

According to The Intercept podcast I listened to today...

Rachel Maddow's show is the #1 show in news right now...

Harshaw said:

Why couldn't they have?

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I explained it before. You can't consistently reach millions of people while appealing to a very limited set of biases. Even if your source is Fox News, that doesn't detract from the legitimate pieces of journalism they do because people would easily just switch to another source.

Do you have any evidence that suggests enough people want biased news to affect the market's outcome?

Roycarn said:

I explained it before. You can't consistently reach millions of people while appealing to a very limited set of biases.

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Really? 'Coz MSNBC and Fox News do just that, weekly:

MSNBC also ranked No. 1 in overall audience in primetime, averaging 2.437M viewers. FNC had the second largest primetime overall crowd: 2.405M, besting CNN’s 1.648M.

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Do you have any evidence that suggests enough people want biased news to affect the market's outcome?

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See above.

Do you have any evidence that they want unbiased news? That's the assumption you based your premise on. If you want your premise to succeed, you need to support it.

Harshaw said:

Really? 'Coz MSNBC and Fox News do just that, weekly:





See above.

Do you have any evidence that they want unbiased news? That's the assumption you based your premise on. If you want your premise to succeed, you need to support it.

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Harshaw said:

Really? 'Coz MSNBC and Fox News do just that, weekly:





See above.

Do you have any evidence that they want unbiased news? That's the assumption you based your premise on. If you want your premise to succeed, you need to support it.

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I think you're right. Both MSNBC and Fox News have are skewed to the right or the left in terms of what stories get aired and what commentary gets put on them. Whether or not you count either as "mainstream media" depends on your opinion, but undoubtedly they have clearly gotten massive ratings despite that criticism. Yet at the same time, I find it had to believe that most pieces of journalism from either organization are rife with consistent, systemic bias that violates the standards and ethics of journalism.