Tag Archives: Journalism

How reliable are government-paid broadcasters like Tavis Smiley?

Consider this sample from government-run broadcast media.

Christian taxpayers are paying him to say that about Christians. We would never freely choose to pay a corporation to bash our religion. But we allow the government to do it through mandatory taxation on income. They take a part of our earnings and use it to bash us in public.

Christians really need to think twice about voting to enlarge government. We don’t need to hand nitwits like Tavis Smiley any money. If he’s so good at his job, then lets abolish PBS entirely, and he can find a new job in the free market like the rest of us. I want him to have to work for a living, offering value to the people who pay him. Then we’ll see how anxious he is to insult people who pay his salary.

The nerve of these people. Asking for money in pledge drives after they are already funded by government.

NEVER GIVE A PENNY TO NPR OR PBS. They are anti-Christian bigots.

What can we learn about media bias from donations made by journalists?

From the radically extreme leftist MSNBC.

Excerpt:

MSNBC.com identified 143 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 16 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.

The donors include CNN’s Guy Raz, now covering the Pentagon for NPR, who gave to Kerry the same month he was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq; New Yorker war correspondent George Packer; a producer for Bill O’Reilly at Fox; MSNBC TV host Joe Scarborough; political writers at Vanity Fair; the editor of The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition; local TV anchors in Washington, Minneapolis, Memphis and Wichita; the ethics columnist at The New York Times; and even MTV’s former presidential campaign correspondent.

Here’s a little snip about The New Yorker:

The last bulwark against bias’s slipping into The New Yorker is the copy department, whose chief editor, Ann Goldstein, gave $500 in October to MoveOn.org, which campaigns for Democrats and against President Bush. “That’s just me as a private citizen,” she said. As for whether donations are allowed, Goldstein said she hadn’t considered it. “I’ve never thought of myself as working for a news organization.”

Don’t you think that this bias towards the left would affect how they report the news?

Is the mainstream media fair in reporting on abortion violence?

This is original work from Verum Serum. They contrast the mainstream media’s reporting of the Georger Tiller killing with the killing of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon.

Excerpt:

Of course there has been real right-wing extremism, most notably the murder of abortionist George Tiller last Summer. That shouldn’t be ignored or minimized. On the other hand, there was another killing not long after which received a lot less attention. Jim Pouillon, a long time pro-life advocate, was shot three times through the pro-life sign he was holding by a stranger who was irritated by his message.

How bad is the media bias in the reporting of the two killings?

News Outlet Tiller’s murder (stories/words) Pouillon’s murder (stories/words) Ratio
LA Times At least 10 stories totaling 8,286 words. Three stories totaling 423 words. 19.5:1
NY Times At least 17 stories and three editorials totaling 21,430 words. Five full stories and one partial story totaling 3935 words. 5.4:1
Time At least 9 stories totaling 4,838 words. No mention of Jim Pouillon at all. 5,000:0
Washington Post At least 15 stories and one editorial plus 5 AP dispatches totaling 12,002 words. Three AP stories totaling 981 words. Original reporting = 0. 12.2:1

Newsweek didn’t mention the Pouillon killing at all, just like Time.

There’s a lot more to their post, and you can read the rest here. This is a very original and informative post.

I recommend that people exercise caution when buying magazines like Time and Newsweek. They’re hard left, so you aren’t getting all the news. You are just getting all the news that fits their narrative.