Running commentary: Republican National Convention 2016

Well ... this could be and sounds reasonable, indeed.
I have master in history and main focus of me was (is) the War of Independence (master work was about battle of Cowpens as turning point of war) and out of this knowledge I must confirm that your 2 points are logic.

But on the other hand ... is this in general still all really valid with point of view of today? But is interesting that this ... let me say ... will for more decentralization of power and decisions etc. is the same in the EU with same distrusting, reservations and skeptics towards Brussel. Interesting...

 

I do. And they lean slightly to the right. But here's a list that leans far to the left:

CBS
NBC
ABC
PBS
CNN
MSNBC
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The L.A. Times
The Dallas Morning News
The Boston Globe

 

Americans are now split, almost 50-50.

Half of us still believe in the private sector and distrust government. We believe government is inherently inefficient and incompetent. We believe the expansion of government inevitably limits our freedom.

The other half of America sees government as a positive force. They seek to expand government's control over the economy and our lives, to increase "equality".

In my opinion, this is the third worst division in American history. Only the Civil War and the 1960's were worse.

 

Fox news leans "slightly" to the right ?

Fox news completely changed politics in they way they presented their "news". Roger Ailes was a political consultant before he came to Fox news, and him heading Fox wasn't by accident. Fox News changed the game completely in 2001 when they fought in court for the right to lie (and won) when they report. Fox news openly and unabashedly forwards the conservative cause, while demonizing anything progressive. There is no media outlet, no matter what the medium, that is more unabashedly skewed in a set direction.

The fact that you mention the others as being far left is a direct result of Fox News moving the needle so far to the right, that the middle is now seen as being far left.

The right has turned this behavior into a belief systems. Just look at the gay rights debate. Gay rights activists asking for equal rights are seen by the right as oppressing THEIR rights. They have turned equal rights into an oppression of their own right. Its an amazing feat to have accomplished so subtly.

 

Why do you think so many media outlets "lean left"? This is an actual question. How did the left get so POWERFUL that they now control almost all media?

 

What's amazing is that it is the private sector that has coopted the government, and then sat back and watched quietly while those they are taking advantage of fight amongst themselves. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing everyone he didn't exist.

And this is one of the greatest scams purported on the american people in the history of our country. Keep everyone busy fighting each other, while you steal toe country.

The right believes that government is bad/inefficient/worthless while they fight for the rights of the private sector to flow money freely into politics under the guise of free speech. And then they can't figure out why government creates laws that hurt them.

The left on the other hand thinks that the government will take care of them by defending them from the predators in the private sector, without ever watching those they elect to do this. They do this by believing what politician say, and then not holding them accountable when they don't. (That could be said for the right also)

At the end of the day, it benefits both the private sector, and the government to keep the american electorate fighting amongst themselves. And we gladly do so while believing "we are the ones who are right" !

 

Weirdest....but BEST...things to come out of the Republican Convention-


1. Trump and Peter Thiel effectively destroyed the influence of homophobes in the Republican Party in their speeches.

2. Ivanka Trump contradicted years of Rightwing spin and denial, and admitted that "yes, there IS gender pay inequality in America" and promised her dad would fix it.


Old Conservatism had a leg broken and a hand smashed....by its own Nominee and his friends and family.

 

Liberals are drawn to media jobs. They see themselves as crusaders to "expose the truth" and "change the world". So we have a media where 85% to 95% describe themselves as liberal. And that does influence how the news is reported.

Conservatives are drawn to business ... making and creating things. Unfortunately, those jobs don't influence public opinion.

 

Primarily because the communications majors graduating from the liberal arts programs in our nation's universities tend to lean Left. Naturally, they are going to bring their beliefs and biases with them.

 

A study by the UCLA School of Journalism found Fox News was the least biased news outlet, although it still leaned slightly to the right. They only studied the hard news department with Shepherd Smith; they did not include the opinion shows like Hannity in the study.

The study found the other news organizations leaned left. And they were all further to the left than Fox was to the right. This is not new. The media has been left since at least the 1960's.

Just an example of the bias: in 1983, 80% of the economic indicators were positive (lower inflation, higher employment, etc). But 90% of the network news stories on the economy were negative (factories closing, soup kitchens, etc.). The media tried to destroy Reagan.

 

LOL - Baloney.

ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS are all just as bad as FNC, and don't even get me started on some of the cable "news" networks like MSNBC. They're nothing more than Leftist propaganda bullhorns.

As a communications professional I can tell you that virtually every media outlet in this country is biased, and you see that not only in their editorial biases but their content biases, as well.

 

When a supermajority lists Big Government as their greatest fear it is safe to say no one beyond DC trusts government

“Record High in U.S. Say Big Government Greatest Threat, Now 72% say it is greater threat than big business or big labor”, by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup, 12/18/13.

That 72% includes far more than the conservative base - hence Trump.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166535/r...syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All

 

Most media outlets are biased in their reporting because they are revenue generators now. They will skew a story whichever way (progressively/conservatively) to generate the most revenue. Fox on the other hand changed the game when they chose to stay one way, and demonize the other. They banked on the fact that they could get a certain demographic, and financially capitalize on only that demographic.

I never said the others weren't biased. But as I said above, they are biased for financial gain, not for ideological gain. Fox changed the game when they did it for ideological gain.

 

So conservatives are not powerful enough to own the BUSINESSES of media outlet. Your argument is failing. LOL

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The question to ask is why?

 

Before you can use that as a guide, you have to first look at how they scored the study from UCLA. They scored congressional votes based on whether they were liberal or conservative on each issue, score that base on the number of votes, and then claim that to be a representation of the american electorate. The problem with that was that during the entirety of the study, the right controlled both houses of congress. So any vote they made would be more conservative, and if the news story was anything but positive towards that vote, it was skewed left. They used the votes of the republican controlled legislatures as the representation of the american electorate to somehow gauge the bias of the media.

That being said, I don't deny that the media has a bias. They all have a bias in not only the way they report, but also in what they report. And yes, MSNBC is very biased, but so is Fox news. I hold them both to the same standard, while those on the right only hold MSNBC accountable.

And remember that Fox news has been found in study after study to have the most uninformed viewer. That means that they are lying about things. And it was Fox News that fought all the way to the supreme court to lie in their reporting. And yes, other outlets do this now because Fox News not only set the precedent, they fought in court to give (by proxy) all news agencies the right to lie. THAT is how they changed the game

 

Well, given recent events, apparently female journalists who want to work for Rightwing Media....

had to let Roger the Hutt over at Fox News grab their ass.


((BTW, good partisan "explanation" of why Trump does so poorly with the college-educated))

 

Why are they biased?

They're run by human beings.

 

I disagree with the premise of your argument.

The ideological biases of those networks remains consistent, regardless of ratings. When ratings suffer, it's the personalities and producers that change, not the biases. ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS do not skew their news conservative.

The only thing that sets FNC apart from ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS is that it's conservative. If ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS didn't choose to "stay one way and demonize the other" ideologically, FNC wouldn't even exist.

 

You're entitled to that opinion, I would respectfully disagree that they ABC, NBC, CBS exist for anything other than profits. They do change their personalities and producers from time to time, but they change their message all the time to make ratings, which drive revenue. IMHO, those on the right see them as always left because, again, FOX News has moved the goalposts so far to the right, that anything less is seen as left. Fox News has not only moved the message to the right, they have changed the discussion to the right of center. They are so far right that Ronald Reagan today would be considered a democrat.

The traditional "news" outlets started as part of the public good to "inform the electorate". They lost their way when they were allowed to become revenue machines. Fox News changed that paradigm completely when they were started with an ideological model that drives coverage. Revenue was a distant second to ideology. Rupert Murdoch even said when he started the "News" division that he wanted to change the conversation. And he proved that out when he hired a political operative/consultant (Roger Ailes) to run it. Fox doesn't exists because of the others, it exists for a political purpose, "Ideology First"

 

And why are conservatives so helpless that THEY can not own a majority of these media outlets?

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Liberals must be very powerful indeed if they can control most of media. VERY POWERFUL. Why?

 

ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS do not change their ideological biases all the time. Their editorial and content biases have been and consistently remain Left of center, and FNC has nothing to do with that or people's perceptions of that. Those networks are what they are, and most Americans, not just Fox viewers, recognize and acknowledge this. The only people who deny it are Leftists.

I disagree. The networks lost their objectivity when the Leftists working for them started interjecting themselves, their opinions and biases into news reporting. This started decades before Fox was around. Again, if it wasn't for the blatant ideological biases that created a niche for a conservative television network, FNC wouldn't even exist.

 

They absolutely do. The big 3 don't produce much of the news they broadcast because they buy it as "native" content. Thats an advertisement disguised as a news story. Their editorial content is heavily "native" as was exposed in the early 2000's. You can deny all you want but FNC changed the landscape of political discourse to the right. Before FNC, Reagan was considered a maverick and a hard liner, today he wouldn't even be considered a conservative.

All due respect but your response is totally based on an ideological bent. To say that the big three were moved "when leftists working for them started interjecting" is beyond conspiratorial. News changed in 1987 with the removal of the Fairness Doctrine (lobbied for by corporate interests), and then again when they changed the ownership rules for news outlets (again, lobbied for by corporate interests). The changes in news, were mainly driven in the profit motive, not leftists. But the biggest change in our lifetimes came with Fox News. It is, by design, nothing more than a propaganda machine for the republican party. News outlets may be driven by a profit motive, but Fox isnt. Their one and only reason for existing is to deliver a message.

Fox wasn't created as a response to some "niche", it was created to change the landscape of political discourse. It was created to change what was being discussed/debated to create outcomes that fit an ideological bent.

 

Conservatives seem so helpless that they can't own and control major media outlets.