The Lazy Dumbass theory of Media Bias

[bryant69]

I commented on this in another thread, but thought i would expand my comments here.

Most people in every field are lazy dumbasses. Hence, most reporters, editors and whatnot are lazy dumbasses.

Conservatives have a very low opinion of the reporting profession, and so treat the reporters like lazy dumbasses. They spoon feed reporters story after story, and the lazy dumbasses in the media take the stories and run with them. Liberals are not as good at this, perhaps, in part, because we have a nobler view of the reporting profession.

I don't believe that, without any other influence, reporters are naturally pro-Republican. I do believe that they are lazy dumbasses, who are easily swayed by Republicans, and who, being lazy dumbasses, don't want to double check the line they are being fed. And of course, they are well aware that if they do double check, they will get accused of "Liberal bias."

Bryant
Check it out -> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[FSogol]

1. I agree 100% n/t

[Benhurst]

2. From my experience as a congressional aide working with the

press, I would mostly agree with what you are saying; but I would also point out that reporters work for very conservative corporations.

As for the airheads of broadcast news, they are highly-paid corporate whores who will do anything to protect their wealth and position.

[npincus]

3. agree- Geography is barely taught in our PS system

and these dumb-asses couldn't find their way around a map unless it had a celebrity's pic or a missing honeymooner on it.

F*cking, stupid, pathetic, lazy, spoiled DUMB-ASSES.

[unpossibles]

4. in my opinion as a photo editor

the field attracts people of all stripes, but I feel that in many situations the righties were more likely to speak their mind (ie: show their bias) where the lefties were more likely to not show it. As you said, we try to avoid the appearance of personal bias.

the whole "liberal media" is just one tine of the fork which attacks information and education in general; if you make people not trust their sources of information about the world, they are far easier to manipulate for lack of being informed. Look at the WMDs/Iraq/911 connection if you don't believe me.

It's straight out of Orwell, except that the RW saw it as a playbook instead of a warning.

[Warpy]

5. College prepared lazy dumbasses

Before the 1950s, reporters were likely to start out as stringers, working class folks who wanted to write and who would get paid by the story for things that were actually published. They worked their way up in the business, from chasing fire trucks and ambulances and interviewing anyone and everyone when the circus came to town to being handed actual stories to investigate and write on. If they wanted to progress in the field, they went to night school and got post secondary education, but the basic news business was purely a working class endeavor.

Now it's kids who get out of J school. They know how to do research online or in a library, but they don't know how to chase ambulances or knock on doors. They haven't been prepared to ask a question and then cling to the process of getting an answer with the pit bull tenacity that true reporting requires.

Watch old B&W movies from the 30s through the 50s and look at how reporters are portrayed. Contrast that with the newsroom of today, everyone professionally groomed and decorum carefully observed. That's the difference right there. They look like lazy dumbasses because they haven't been prepared for real world reporting.

[Scribe]

6. Is your doctor a lazy dumb ass? How about your mechanic?

Your proposition that "Most people in every field are lazy dumbasses" is highly questionable, I hope.

[Kolesar]

10. The first chair violinist in the Cleveland Orchestra...

[Scribe]

13. Are you saying the violinist is a dumb ass or your doctor?

[Kolesar]

14. No ... eom

[afrosia]

11. Both of mine are lazy dumbasses!

[sendero]

7. It's not only laziness..

... it is the fact that news is now a profit center when it used to be managed as a public service.

In fact, broadcast licenses are ostensibly issued "in the public interest" and broadcast stations had to demonstrate that fact to get their licenses renewed. Their new organization was part of the package to make the FCC happy.

Then came cable and satellite and broadcast licenses became less important. Then came Reaganism and as the culture of greed enveloped the country, the networks began to focus more on making money and less on reporting actual news.

Developing good news programming not only requires energy, it requires cash. Since Americans are just as likely to tune in to bullshit feel-good crap as real news, there is no ratings/ad-revenue penalty for doing crap news. So crap news is what we get.

[Scribe]

15. You've got a good point but Reagan had little to do with it.

It really wasn't any better in the years before news became a profit center for broadcasting. When broadcasters viewed news as a necessary but losing proposition, news was terribly under-funded. The FCC wasn't interested in the quality of the product aired just in the length of it.

When news became profitable, marketing people got involved and changed the style but never added content. Instead, corporations utilized your last point ("Americans are just as likely to tune in to bullshit feel-good crap as real news") and the information from the market researchers to make news broadcasts what they are today.

There is one other critical point, of course. News ratings went up. News became a profit center because Americans watched the crap and liked it. Somebody famous once said something about never UNDER-estimating the taste of people?

[Beetwasher]

8. I Disagree, The Left and Dems Spoon Feed them Stories Too

They blastfax their talking points and spin to the media just like the right does, and yet, most stories end up w/ the REPUB frame and it's the Repub talking points and frames that get the most play.

Yes, there are many lazy dumbasses out there, but decisions are being made for instance, to paint Dems as "having no plan" regardless of how many blast faxes they get describing the Dems plans, decisions are being made paint BOTH parties in congress as EQUALLY corrupt, regardless of the facts. Why is it when a Dem is accused of corruption you get party affiliation IMMEDIATELY, but when a Repub is CONVICTED you often have to dig through the story to find their party affiliation buried? And while there ARE many lazy dumbasses there is also Fox news, whose reporting cannot be dismissed as mere lazy, dumbass journalism. They have a very definite agenda, as does Rush Limbaugh etc. The right has built a deliberate propoganda and disinformation network SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of BIASING the media. You can't ignore that and it IS bias.

No, you are wrong. There is an institutional, corporate bias in the Traditional Media that is biased towards Repubs and it is a real bias, not just a mere symptom of laziness, otherwise, it would be very easy to correct; just spoon feed them as much or more than the other side, and yet that DOESN'T work.

[afrosia]

9. A truly good media should always maintain neutrality

However when they do this they end up being called too liberal by the right; usually because they don't scream "GO TEAM!!!" when there's a war going on. Instead they try to investigate both sides of the story.

Personally I would like a MORE neutral media that just presented me with facts rather than opinionated crap like the kind I spout all the time.

[Kolesar]

12. Your job is to write polite letters to the reporters

I have had a few pleasant email exchanges with reporters when I wrote to them to report technical details that they missed in an article.

[Skidmore]

16. I have only two words to say.

Miles O'Brien