Fox News Channel video: "Fox News Watch" -Media coverage of the RNC; Host: Jon Scott, Special Guests: Judith Miller, Jim Pinkerton, Alan Colmes, Cal Thomas. Uploaded September 1, 2012. http://video.foxnews.com/v/1818497994001/
See the entire show at: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-watch/2012/09/03/media-coverage-rnc
Seinfeld's Cosmo Kramer once famously felt compelled to share with his best friend what he was doing with some of his free time when we didn't see him -"I'm watching the watchers, Jerry.'
Similarly, former LA-based Slate blogger Mickey Kaus, long a favorite of ours, and now with a media perch at The Daily Caller, takes a scalpel to the the U.S. Mainstream Media over their new "Fact Check"-ing obsession and wonders if what they're really doing is simply walking onto more thin ice -and only MORE BIAS.; Kaus adroitly observes that it "opens up a giant sluice for the introduction of concealed bias, esp. when “facts” are fed to the fact-checkers by the competing campaigns"
The Daily Caller
Credulous fact-checkers fall for scam
By Mickey Kaus
September 2, 2012
Why the Fact-Checkosphere is failing: So, as I understand it, this year the MSM will righteously strike back against “Post-Truth Politics” through rigorous fact-checking, followed by a manly, non-balanced, yet authoritative calling out of transgressors for the liars that they are. James Fallows and Jay Rosen, among others, have heralded this great new day. One problem, of course, is the ease–rather, the constant temptation–of presenting debatable policy issues as right/wrong fact issues, a problem emphasized by dissenter Ben Smith yesterday. Another is the way what Smith calls “the new pseudo science of fact-checks” opens up a giant sluice for the introduction of concealed bias, especially when “facts” are fed to the fact-checkers by the competing campaigns.
Read the rest of his post at:
Earlier this afternoon, TheWrap had the story on an effort by one prominent conservative media personality to push back at what they see as the guilty parties. In this case, reporter Beth Fouhy at the AP who seems to have a history of... well, you be the judge, and take a look at what one well-known conservative media website says.
Can they really be so wrong about one person who has such a proven track record like Fouhy's, many of whose pieces appear in the Miami Herald?
That would have to be an awful lot of coincidences for her to be correct every time, wouldn't you say? http://newsbusters.org/people/beth-fouhy
TheWrap
'2016: Obama's America' Author Dinesh D'Souza Fires Back at Associated Press 'Fact Check'
By Todd Cunningham
September 03, 2012 @ 2:37 pm
Author Dinesh D’Souza, who wrote and co-directed “2016: Obama’s America,” told TheWrap Monday that a recent Associated Press report “fact-checking” his hit documentary is “a crude and inaccurate attack masquerading as a news story.”
The AP article, posted Friday and written by Beth Fouhy, was headlined “Fact Check: Anti-Colonial Obama Not Plausible.”
Read the rest of the post at:
Closer to home, the problem of media bias, and even institutional bias, is even more rampant on a local level because there are not only fewer people paying close attention and who know all the details and context about what's REALLY GOING ON, there are fewer people in newsrooms who will stand up and stop it from airing or going into print.
They just look the other way and make a mental note of it.
A SUBTLE FORM OF BIAS IN LOCAL NEWS
And just so there's no confusion on this point, let me be clear.
In my opinion, despite the efforts of Journalism Schools to inculcate a stronger sense of pro-active ethical probity into their students the past thirty years, the evidence to date suggests that in an era of news reporting retrenchment and uncertain economic futures, fewer people in the press corps will stand up to their own corporate management team, editorial superiors or Editorial Board when those people engage in untoward behavior and bias, and in some cases, don't even try to hide it,.The reason?
Because, hello, those are the very same people who will have a say in who is around a year from now in that very newsroom.
NATIONAL USC ANNENBERG-LOS ANGELES TIMES POLL SHOWS LOCAL TELEVISION NEWS RULES WITH VOTERS
Posted August 24, 2012
That is especially true in South Florida, where despite what you may want to believe, the general level of ethics in the news room down here is certainly no higher than you'd find in the offices at City Hall, County Halls and the State Capitol that are being followed.
That level of newsroom ethics in South Florida is largely below-average compared to the rest of the country, and some have been able to keep jobs despite how well-known their own biases and proclivities are for looking the other way and making excuses for shoddy journalism practices.
Over the next week, I'll be pointing-out some examples of this to you readers here on the blog by putting some sunshine on some stories and news angles that you haven't seen mentioned or reported upon elsewhere.
MediaTrackers.org
PANTS ON FIRE: PolitiFact Florida Rulings Show Clear Bias in Favor of Democrats, Against Republicans
By Sean Davis
30TH AUG 2012 AT 12:36
Recent posts of mine on media bias in its various guises include my April 16, 2012 blog post, titled, Despite self-congratulatory declarations, Tampa Bay Times' PolitiFact's bias in analyzing "facts" over past few years is becoming increasingly apparent to everyone, and Breitbart's Big Journalism's Tony Lee points out some recent examples re Romney.
as well as my January 1, 2012 post, Florida voters shake their heads in wonder as Tampa Bay Times continues flogging their stories re their poll of "political insiders" -favoring incumbents in 2012. Surprise!
