From: Hermit (hidden@lucifer.com)
Date: Sat Aug 03 2002 - 13:17:21 MDT
Casey, no news is "unbiased," and indeed I'm not sure it should attempt to be, because that results in a news source that lies continually in the assertion that it is even handed - sometimes actively (as in US TV news) - and sometimes passively (as in the case of most newspapers and magazines).
Simply selecting which stories get chosen (are perceives as "interesting" or "important") for distribution is also a form of bias (e.g. a Jewish death is much more likely to be reported than a Palestinian death by NPR). What I think is required - and look for - is that bias be explicit, and that a news distributor differentiates between opinion, surmise and fact. This allows me to determine the perspective of the author and seems to be beyond any American based news source (outside perhaps of the excellent Declan McCullogh but then, he has a very narrow focus of interest). Perhaps this explains the lamentable lack of capability on the part of most US consumers to differentiate between fact and opinion (or propaganda), or to realize that there are usually more than "two sides" to a story.
All of this should go some why towards explaining why I read a wide range of sources whose biases I know - but I tend to quote principally from The Guardian - on the grounds that they do a more than adequate job of presenting a broad range of global news offering both facts and a good analysis of the same while differentiating between them. Where they differ most from American sources (and many British sources too), is that they understand the nuances caused by the fact that each country has its own peculiarities and slants, and do an excellent job of conveying "the feeling on the ground" along with the news. Their bias is quite clear, and using them continuously allows one to become used to it. They speak from a center liberal perspective and, refreshingly or infuriatingly (apparently), dare to analyze issues which appear sacrosanct to American sources and consumers. For a quick, generally fair opinion, when time is constrained, they are probably the best English language news source.
Regards
Hermit
---- This message was posted by Hermit to the Virus 2002 board on Church of Virus BBS. <http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=51;action=display;threadid=25928>
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