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"Shocking" Study about U.S. Media Bias | by DesertRat66 | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
| Odd research angle, that. |
by jdelphiki |
2005-12-19 08:15:58 |
I tend to agree with their findings, but I question the methodology they chose to use and the conclusions at which they arrived.
The entire study is based on the relative accuracy of the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), which "tracks the percentage of times that each lawmaker votes on the liberal side of an issue." The article said it's a standard guage for measuring the "liberalness" of a lawyer but as a baseline, it seems subjective because the ADA defines what is or isn't the "liberal side of an issue".
Moreover, it seems even odder that liberalism is the only yardstick they use. Why is that? Are conservative issues too hard to define and quantify? Are liberals so black-and-white in their thinking that their political choices can be used as a reliable litmus test on which research can be based?
Maybe the ADA's standard really can be used to accurately guage lawmaker's political leanings, but it seems decidedly unscientific to use such a subjective marker as the foundation for legitimate research.
Next, I was disappointed with how the researchers evaluated bias in the media. Counting the number of times a media outlet uses a conservative or liberal source to back up its reporting probably does provide a view of which outlets are hedging their "facts" with obviously biased sources, but it doesn't show the whole picture.
The much more pervasive bias that occurs (and here, I slip into my own conjecture) in the media is woven into the subtext of what a media outlet chooses to report, what they choose to ignore, and the tack they use to approach the subject. People don't believe that Fox News is conservative because of the number of times they "source" conservative think tanks. They believe they're conservative because of how they approach conservative/liberal issues. Same thing (in reverse) for the NY Times or other media outlets deemed liberal.
The true test for bias is how a media outlet hedges its own objectivity and the study didn't even come close to touching that, in my opinion. |
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[ Reply ] |
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Additionally... | by Kickstart | 2005-12-19 08:36:22 |
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Moving goalposts. Absolutely correct. | by jdelphiki | 2005-12-19 08:43:24 |
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Say! They're scoring based on artistic merit! | by kahuana | 2005-12-19 08:47:42 |
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Don't forget diving! (n/t) | by jdelphiki | 2005-12-19 08:51:00 |
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Diving... diving... no... boxing is a sport. :-) (n/t) | by kahuana | 2005-12-19 08:52:07 |
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Boxing a sport? | by jdelphiki | 2005-12-19 08:54:28 |
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Don't the judges score the dives? :-) (n/t) | by kahuana | 2005-12-19 08:56:33 |
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Yep. | by jdelphiki | 2005-12-19 08:59:31 |
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Seconded | by Spiff | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
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