Is America Still America?

[j3374]

Agreed. The idea that Fox News is agenda driven and other outlets are not is a pretty ridiculous statement, yet many tend to make it and believe it. From what I can tell, the media breaks down like this:

MSNBC, the big 3 networks and most of the print media are all far left and will present all news stories in a manner that promotes far left ideology. There are print exceptions but few.

Fox, for the mere fact that they do not present the information in a left leaning manner makes left leaning individuals assume it has a right leaning ideology. I see no evidence that the hard news is presented with any ideology leaning. Yes, Fox has opinion shows in primetime, as do all networks but hard news is simply that, hard news. A lot of people cannot tell the difference in hard news reporting and opinion pieces.

Online blogs, which are opinion driven, many seem to read these as if they're reading hard news reporting. How or why makes no sense.

The summary - most watch or read those who have an ideology that matches theirs and assume if the ideology doesn't then anything reported is a lie, which is a moronic view IMO.

The solution - people need to grow up and start wearing big boy pants and making decisions and learn how to shape their views on convictions, common sense and simply sane methods rather than ideological ones. This is, however, an impossibility for some. This holds true with those that lean right and left, but in my opinion, far more so for left leaning.

FOX is conservative. This is the reason that conservatives prefer to watch FOX. If it seems center to a viewer, it's because the viewer matches the FOX demographic. The same applies to the liberal outlets.

Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences - The Washington Post

[Metalject]

FOX is conservative. This is the reason that conservatives prefer to watch FOX. If it seems center to a viewer, it's because the viewer matches the FOX demographic. The same applies to the liberal outlets.

Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences - The Washington Post

I'd say that chart is fairly accurate. I'd also say that the outlets that showed up on the far left and right side of the scale really shouldn't be viewed as hard news. The ones on the far right of the scale are primarily opinion shows and do not claim to be hard news. The ones on the far left of the scale are pretty much the same, although I'm not sure how Steward and Colbert even fit on this list since their programs are comedy, satire and while opinion driven are not really news but rather entertainment.

Fox news on that chart, their placement, again not a surprise. The vast majority of Americans are not liberal, that's actually a very small minority of people. Most are either centrist or conservative leaning to a degree. Although, in my opinion, many (not all) but many who fall into the dead center are completely unaware of most things, which is why they choose the center.

Most Americans, your every day guy who keeps up with politics and world events a little bit doesn't want an ideological view from either side. The news outlets on the left side of the scale are all heavily ideological and since most American's are not that's why their ratings are also pathetic. Fox has stronger ratings, in part because many feel the hard news isn't ideological and in part because the hard news isn't presented in a fanatical fashion in either direction.

But the most important fact, people should take news as it really is. If someone does this or that and that is factually what happened, Person A blew up building B, who that news is presented by shouldn't affect whether it's true or not, but it does for many people. This is called insanity, ideological insanity.

[j3374]

I'd say that chart is fairly accurate. I'd also say that the outlets that showed up on the far left and right side of the scale really shouldn't be viewed as hard news. The ones on the far right of the scale are primarily opinion shows and do not claim to be hard news. The ones on the far left of the scale are pretty much the same, although I'm not sure how Steward and Colbert even fit on this list since their programs are comedy, satire and while opinion driven are not really news but rather entertainment.

Fox news on that chart, their placement, again not a surprise. The vast majority of Americans are not liberal, that's actually a very small minority of people. Most are either centrist or conservative leaning to a degree. Although, in my opinion, many (not all) but many who fall into the dead center are completely unaware of most things, which is why they choose the center.

Most Americans, your every day guy who keeps up with politics and world events a little bit doesn't want an ideological view from either side. The news outlets on the left side of the scale are all heavily ideological and since most American's are not that's why their ratings are also pathetic. Fox has stronger ratings, in part because many feel the hard news isn't ideological and in part because the hard news isn't presented in a fanatical fashion in either direction.

But the most important fact, people should take news as it really is. If someone does this or that and that is factually what happened, Person A blew up building B, who that news is presented by shouldn't affect whether it's true or not, but it does for many people. This is called insanity, ideological insanity.

Hey, great point about this chart including shows that were editorials or comedy. I looked at the graphic again, and noticed how it was labeled "media outlet" as opposed to "journalism" or especially "hard news". It makes sense that some viewers get their "news" from opinion and even satire, which both could fit under the broad umbrella of "journalism" along with "hard news". I guess even Facebook and internet discussion forums could be considered a "media outlet", even if not expressly "news". I've noticed that I get a fair amount of my news online, but will also verify with credible news sources afterward, due to my journalism experience in fact-checking in school.

Another point I wanted to point out about this graphic is their use of the word "ideology". In your post, you used it to define left leaning viewpoints, while this graph portrays it as a sliding scale that includes both major parties in varying degrees. Although I understand your point, I've got to agree with the poll's definition of ideology. Again, perspective is going to be affected by a person's placement on the liberal-conservative scale.

You also came to the conclusion that a majority of Americans are conservative by nature- I assume this is the conclusion that you came to after noting that FOX News has a much larger viewership. But according to PEW Research, it's actually because liberal viewers spread their viewership among several sources, and when they're all added together, equal roughly the same percentage as the FOX viewers, who almost unanimously watch FOX News. If anything, the poll results place the "average respondent" left of where they decided to portrait the "0", or neutral spot on the chart. I didn't take the time to look deeper to find out how they decided to place the 0 mark or put the "average respondent".

Political Polarization & Media Habits | Pew Research Center's Journalism Project

[Metalject]

Hey, great point about this chart including shows that were editorials or comedy. I looked at the graphic again, and noticed how it was labeled "media outlet" as opposed to "journalism" or especially "hard news". It makes sense that some viewers get their "news" from opinion and even satire, which both could fit under the broad umbrella of "journalism" along with "hard news". I guess even Facebook and internet discussion forums could be considered a "media outlet", even if not expressly "news". I've noticed that I get a fair amount of my news online, but will also verify with credible news sources afterward, due to my journalism experience in fact-checking in school.

Another point I wanted to point out about this graphic is their use of the word "ideology". In your post, you used it to define left leaning viewpoints, while this graph portrays it as a sliding scale that includes both major parties in varying degrees. Although I understand your point, I've got to agree with the poll's definition of ideology. Again, perspective is going to be affected by a person's placement on the liberal-conservative scale.

You also came to the conclusion that a majority of Americans are conservative by nature- I assume this is the conclusion that you came to after noting that FOX News has a much larger viewership. But according to PEW Research, it's actually because liberal viewers spread their viewership among several sources, and when they're all added together, equal roughly the same percentage as the FOX viewers, who almost unanimously watch FOX News. If anything, the poll results place the "average respondent" left of where they decided to portrait the "0", or neutral spot on the chart. I didn't take the time to look deeper to find out how they decided to place the 0 mark or put the "average respondent".

Political Polarization & Media Habits | Pew Research Center's Journalism Project

No, I made my conclusion regarding more Americans identifying with conservatives through polling. Gallup does this poll every year and the gap isn't even close. Of course that makes you wonder how liberals ever win, probably because most people have become so ill-informed they rarely know who they're voting for. But when you ask the basic questions, most identify with conservative view points. The number of people that actually call themselves liberal in the U.S. is fairly small. Here's an OK article on this by the WP: Conservatives outnumber liberals in 47 states - The Washington Post

Between you and me, when it comes to what people watch and read (news) I don't think most have any idea what they're watching and reading. As much as Gruber shouldn't have said what he said, he wasn't entirely wrong. I hope that changes, but I think it will require a true disaster to change.

[ChrisG217]

FOX is conservative. This is the reason that conservatives prefer to watch FOX. If it seems center to a viewer, it's because the viewer matches the FOX demographic. The same applies to the liberal outlets.

Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences - The Washington Post

FOX news is the most watched cable news show in America surprisingly. And my preferred news network.

FOX NEWS CHANNEL MARKS DECADE AS THE NUMBER ONE CABLE NEWS NETWORK – Fox News Channel Press

Kind of baffles me since this is a liberal dominated country these days. Oh and MSNBC can suck it, Rachel Maddows just needs to go away.

And I couldnt find a link that is current, that is from 2012. When Obama was probably at his most popular with the media.