Pairing "biased" media

[Joel S. Berson]

Victor's suggestions are useful.  And I must remember the Boston
Herald, the newspaper of record in my (and my friend's) metropolitan
area, and accessible--at least the day's issue--to her
students.  (It's remarkable how few libraries hold copies of the
Herald beyond a few days or weeks.)

But I'm hoping first of all for bias, apparent or hidden, in
"reporting"; I'll turn to "opinion" second.

The simplest assignment might be to say "Find the same event reported
in the Herald and the Globe, and compare".  Or maybe PM (alas;
although there's a new biography of I. F. Stone) and the Daily News.

Joel

At 7/11/2009 01:17 PM, Victor wrote:
>Hmmm... Fox vs. CNN is not really a fair comparison of *bias*. CNN may
>appear neutral on average, but that does not mean that that they are
>uniformly neutral. Lou Dobbs is always a great source of xenophobic
>bias, so it's not exactly "opposite" from Fox. The same is true of
>NYT--depends on topic and human subject, although columns usually show
>bias (see below). For the most part, however, CNN may appear biased (to
>the left) only to those who regularly watch Fox News.
>
>On the other hand, if print sources are desired, Washington Times and
>WSJ editorial page are great sources of bias in one direction. Boston
>Herald and NYPost columnists are also a good source of bias on the
>right. On the other side, most (but not all) columnists in the Boston
>Globe. NYT is one of many who try to balance their editorial content.
>Once you know who the conservative columnists are (and exclude Maureen
>Dowd from consideration), the rest can be used for left-leaning bias.
>
>Generally, there are several sources that collect "conservative"
>columnists. The two largest (and largely overlapping) are Townhall.com
>and JewishWorldReview.com--BYO regurgitation receptacle. I can't really
>think of a comparable source on the left. Of course, if you really want
>deteriorating prose and constant insults, there are always blogs.
>
>    VS-)
>
>Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>Also Fox vs. CNN.  Fo also goes out of its way to bash the N.Y. Times
>>whenever possible.
>>
>>You have to be very observant to ascertain that Fox and CNN are reporting on
>>the same country.
>>
>>JL
>>
>>On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 9:05 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>A friend wants to teach a session on bias in the media in her ESL
>>class.  She would like to have pairs (one or more on each side) of
>>media outlets (or whatever they're called) that have diametrically
>>opposed biases/slants/opinions -- television, newspaper, and magazine
>>pairs.  Particularly outlets that let bias creep into their
>>reporting, as opposed to those that try to keep opinion separated and
>>identified.
>>
>>For example, Fox News vs. (I think, but I do not watch it) MSNBC.
>>
>>Suggestions welcomed.
>>
>>Joel
>
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