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Dark_Believer t1_j92u5ql wrote

I believe that one of the biggest challenges\causes in regards to news bias is how news is made profitable compared to the past. Different demographics want different news sources because of their own internal viewpoints. Advertisers sponsor news agendas for their demographics targets. Watch the types of commercials and brands from Fox news vs MSNBC. They are different audiences, both politically, and what they buy.

Unfortunately due to money and people wanting news that confirms their existing biases it is difficult to get "fair" reporting. I don't think news has ever been fair and bias free in the past, but it appears be be getting worse, and thus public trust is dropping in news truth.

It would be nice if journalists could still be fairly paid, but we could get rid of all advertising associated with news specifically. I don't think that there is any realistic way to do this however without radical government overreach that I would personally disagree with.

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hOprah_Winfree-carr t1_j94zby6 wrote

It's a consequence of the "attention economy." Extremely low overhead to content creation led to both a saturation and dilution of content, and, at the same time, a shortening of attention spans. It's a race to the bottom in terms of quality reporting. There's a vicious cycle that goes something like, distracted populace is attracted by sensational content, creates an economic demand for pandering and sensationalism, populace comes to expect sensationalism and pandering and reject quality reporting.

What got branded as the post truth era is really more of the post nuance era. Every piece of journalism must fall to one side or the other of some ideological line of narrative, or it's like a 3rd football team that no one has ever heard of running onto the field and making a touchdown in the middle of a tie game; it merely confuses and enrages the fans.

We're to the point now where a large percentage of people can't even comprehend any information or point of view that can't be shoehorned into a recognizable narrative. You can watch them get stuck in a loop of, "so what you're trying to say is..." until they succeed in placing it securely into one camp or another, or finally decide in frustration that this new information is useless to them and therefore meaningless

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ilhahq t1_j957my4 wrote

Well, here in Germany, every household pays a tv tax of 18 euros. This goes to media channels, including news. One of the purposes is to decrease bias.

Perhaps there are studies checking the efficiency of such a measure.

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Good-Candidate3044 t1_j95burn wrote

We have the tv license in the UK, 150 odd a year that funds the BBC who are the most bias news source in the world. Is the version you guys have over there working? Ours certainly isn't.

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thirdender t1_j95ekmg wrote

The BBC was widely lauded as a more reliable source of international news than US news outlets about a decade ago. I stopped watching broadcast news around that time, so I can't say if that's changed since.

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geetarzrkool t1_j9640cx wrote

That's like saying Jack the Ripper was slightly better than Jeffrey Dahmer. Define "better" :/

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thirdender t1_j966jxo wrote

I think the benefit of following BBC or Al Jazeera, as an American, is that our national news sources overemphasize the importance of America on the international stage. Even if a news source is incredibly biased, access to alternative news sources can induce cognitive dissonance. This can be uncomfortable, but allow us to objectively engage with our own internal biases.

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ilhahq t1_j95eeiv wrote

I dont think that BBC is that biased (at least in comparison with other sources). Check a bias in media website to see. For instance,

https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Deutsche welle is quite good, and it is funded by this tax. Dont know abiut the other channels, since I am not a german speaker.

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geetarzrkool t1_j9b9oai wrote

"Here in Germany" ....Media Good....."I am not a German speaker."

Wirklcih? Ich spreche kleine Deutsch!....nur ein bischen ;)

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geetarzrkool t1_j95nurs wrote

AMEN!!!! Force state-sponsored propaganda and you have no other options. This is precisely why Orwell modeled Big Brother after the BBC where he worked for years. He knew from experience. They even have a statue up at BBD HQ mocking him with one of his own quotes.

"If Liberty means anything at all, it means telling the People what they don't want to hear."

Correct, the People do not "want to hear" the lie, propaganda and double-speak that the BBC produce for global consumption.

Statism is never the answer. The First Amendment to the US Constitution is. That's why they put it first, of course.

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geetarzrkool t1_j95nm1s wrote

Forced State-Sponsored media....what could go wrong? I'm sure they'll be very rigorous on the folks paying their salaries, and if not they can always go to another, independent paper and get another job, right? Wrong. Statism is NEVER the answer ;) What sort of "study" could check the "efficiency"(wtf?) of State-Sponsored Propaganda? .....an equally biases State-Sponsored "study", no doubt.

If you were more skeptical and educated about the history of your own beloved "German" Press over the years, I don't think you would even consider this as a "solution" to the question at hand.

More government = Less Freedom; Less Government = More Freedom

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ilhahq t1_j96fff4 wrote

All I can say, is that you have lot to learn.

For starter, you can educate yourself on different international groups who check media agents for trustworthyness and political alignment. One does not need to be a genius to know its possible to judge these things.

For instance, biased media channels will use loaded words and frame situations in a specific way. And you can count these situations, and score it. It is all a matter of methodology.

If you dont believe this can be done at all, by no person or machine, then you can not even trust yourself to judge the media you consume by yourself.

Since, what methodology are you applying that is better? You should introduce it to the world, and help us out.

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geetarzrkool t1_j9b82sm wrote

'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

The "better" method is many, many independently owned outlets, so that people have a wide variety of sources to draw their data set from in the first place. Relying on "International Groups" is Globalism, which is 100x worse that Statism. Yes, give me a "Truth Score" to go with my "Social Credit Score" and my "Gullible, Nanny Stater Dip Shit Score"!!!!!

I'm sorry you love the boot heel of your Government on your throat. Free Peoples do not. That's why "Modern Germany" has repeatedly conquered and is nothing more than an occupied puppet state of the US :)

Now, go run along and pay your government, which is really our government to lie to you and to "score" you for being the proper little Pleb that you so desperately want to be.

Vielen Dank!

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geetarzrkool t1_j9b9v85 wrote

All I can say is you literally have no idea what you're talking about in either German or English.

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geetarzrkool t1_j95m3hg wrote

If I read you right, you're saying the Globalist Corporate Media Cabals....I mean "Conglomerates", formerly known as "The Press", actively lie and shape the Public Narrative. Who could ever dream of such a thing? A profit-motivated Lying Press Sounds down right conspiratorial.....Also sounds incredibly accurate and like something we've all heard before. If only we had listened.

Pro Tip: You "Press" is just another person's "Propaganda".

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over-turtle t1_j95dv39 wrote

I don't know, how much economic factors play into this compared to the demographics of journalists. Like, in Germany we have two big public news stations wich are financed by an 18€ fee every (working) citizen has to pay, wether they watch/listen to it or not, so there is no need to be profitable. Yet those stations have a clear progressive bias.

So a reason for this might be, that - especially young - journalists often come from an urban, academic class, some sociologist called them "progressive left", but they are more like "woke capitalists" with values and a worldview that is highly different from the rest of the people, so many people don't feel represented by them but rather often patronised.

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xguitarx812 t1_j980lnu wrote

The other reason would be if they’re paid for with a tax, “progressive” politicians are more likely to raise that tax which could raise their pay

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wingsrul t1_j98kpy6 wrote

All that matters is being first, not being factual. Clicks over truth.

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