Blatant Media Bias

Christian Graus

OK, so it's not bias, it's just evidence that as a news source, they are valueless, as they don't even know how to write a poll that can accurately reflect the most common likely opinions out there ?

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.

John Carson

Christian Graus wrote:

OK, so it's not bias, it's just evidence that as a news source, they are valueless, as they don't even know how to write a poll that can accurately reflect the most common likely opinions out there ?

I think that it is a very common experience in filling out questionnaires of all sorts that none of the available options captures what the respondent actually thinks. It takes care and thought to get questions right and I suspect that these online poll questions are churned out with little of either (though it should be noted that critics will tend to seize on the most egregious examples of bad questions, which are not really representative). Online polls have little value anyway because of sampling bias. They are there for commercial reasons.

John Carson

Roger Wright

I missed that one completely, but it at least has the grace to offer a yes/no range of options. This CNN goody offers only yes/definitely yes/probably yes as answers.

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Roger Wright

:laugh: Mine did, but then I realized that my friend's dog has a bladder problem.

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Roger Wright · Citizen 20.1.01

This is CNN, Shog, not CodeProject. They use CSpinCtrl.

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Roger Wright

I find that to be failry common in the media - they can't imagine that there might be people who have opinions that vary more than slightly from their own preconceived notions. That is a disservice to the public they are licensed to serve, and a disgrace to the journalism profession.

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

John Carson

Roger Wright wrote:

I missed that one completely, but it at least has the grace to offer a yes/no range of options. This CNN goody offers only yes/definitely yes/probably yes as answers.

Both MSNBC questions imply that Obama had said something negative about Palin. The only choice was whether he had gone too far. Thus it was a matter of "definitely guilty, but was the offence serious enough to deserve censure?". The CNN poll offers a choice of no effect/good effect/good effect. I don't see that it is any more biased than the MSNBC one. In my observation, it is very rare for people who complain about bias to be lacking in it.

John Carson

Lost User

I like Miss Piggy!

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Mike Gaskey

:thumbsup: * 2

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

Oakman

John Carson wrote:

Both MSNBC questions imply that Obama had said something negative about Palin.

He called her a pig. Is that a term of endearment where you come from?

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

Rob Graham

Roger Wright wrote:

and a disgrace to the journalism profession.

That's an either an oxymoron or a mistake on your part (Journalism == disgrace; at least these days).

John Carson

Oakman wrote:

He called her a pig.

Obama's remarks in context are given below.

John McCain says he's about change, too. And, so, I guess his whole angle is: Watch out, George Bush. Except for economic policy, healthcare policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics, we're really gonna shake things up in Washington. That's not change. That's just calling something, the same thing, something different. But, you know, you can't—you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.

The idea that Obama called Palin a pig is ludicrous. It is just a lie that McCain chose to promote. The failure of the media to supply this context is something I would attribute to the blatant anti-Obama media bias. However, one could also argue that it is because the "news" media is basically about entertainment and has only a very slight interest in uncovering the truth.

John Carson

modified on Friday, January 30, 2009 8:53 AM

Oakman · modified on Friday, January 30, 2009 8:53 AM

John Carson wrote:

The idea that Obama called Palin a pig is ludicrous. It is just a lie that McCain chose to promote.

I guess you're right. But, contextually, it is far from the worse thing either team said about the other.

John Carson wrote:

The failure of the media to supply this context is something I would attribute to the blatant anti-Obama media bias

Maybe in Australia. Over here it was quite obvious that with the exception of Fox (owned by an Aussie) they were talking about getting thrills when Obama spoke.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

John Carson

Oakman wrote:

Over here it was quite obvious that with the exception of Fox (owned by an Aussie) they were talking about getting thrills when Obama spoke.

My reference to "blatant anti-Obama bias" was actually intended as a satire of whingeing Republicans.

John Carson

Synaptrik

Total bull. Jon, come on. You're better than that. He was talking about policies not people. But twist away... And McCain used the same terminology earlier. Shall we twist his meaning as well? Sheesh.. :rolleyes:

This statement is false

Oakman

Synaptrik wrote:

He was talking about policies not people

I already agreed that John had the right of it.

Synaptrik wrote:

Shall we twist his meaning as well?

You mean like accusing him of wanting to fight in Iraq for 100 years? Basically both of these guys ran a prettly clean campaign and both of them corrected the wildest excesses of their subordinates and supporters. However neither of them is without sin, neither can be accused of never lying or distorting his opponent's record, neither can claim that their campagn staff didn't play dirty from time to time.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

Synaptrik

I hadn't read that when I replied. But you knowingly carried it along. I'd hate to quote Illion at a time like this but.... ;)

This statement is false

Oakman

Synaptrik wrote:

But you knowingly carried it along.

:confused:

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.