The "Free" Press of The West

[Nonek]

Two things:

 

1)  As others have pointed out, the first bias of any non-state-run press corps is commercial-- how can it sell the most ads/papers/whatever with the least work?  Sometimes that means that the media entity carves out a niche by targeting a particular audience, which brings in a second bias (the likes of The Economist going for educated businessfolks, tabloids going for the barely-literate, Fox for the American right wing, MSNBC for the American left wing, etc.).   

 

2)  When one finds oneself in a position where the great weight of world opinion is against them, some self-reflection is in order.  Now, I'm not going to say that the mainstream opinion is always right, but more often than not, there is at least a little bit of logic going for it.  Humans are subborn beasts, and are not easy to convince to change their opinions, particularly not opinions that they see as core elements of their identity.  If there really is clear evidence on a point, and global opinion has generally lined up on the other side, it just might be that the bias you're looking for is in your information sources, rather than those supplying the rest of the world.  Again, it's not 100%, but it's a good self-check to apply to ensure that you're not letting your heart get ahead of your head. 

 

(Point #2 applies equally to whatever has become of the gamergate thread since I last looked at it a few days ago.) 

 

On point 1, one does not have to abandon integrity and objectivity to chase an audience, that is simply a fallacy. One merely presents a balanced view from all sides of the chosen subject. It is not an either or situation.

 

On point 2 I utterly agree, it is time that the few loud public voices that have condemned millions of gamers as dead time and again, and propogated a coordinated harassment and slandering of the public they should be serving, realise that they are wrong and that their corruption, bias and relationship with their subject matter has to change or else they will simply be abandoned and cease to exist. They can continue declaring all gamers as dead, but they will die long before gamers do, and no statistic or factual evidence supports their lies.

 

Edit: I doubt however that self reflection is in their nature, like all self righteous groups the SJF's will never admit they are wrong. This would be giving in to the millions who they despise and feel free to insult at will, as well as admitting their rampant corruption, and they would finally have to admit that their childish preaching and criticsism was hypocritical and two faced.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Nonek

[Longknife]

You have to keep in mind that American main stream press are just Democrat party operatives that won't admit it.

 

 

Yeah especially those Fox News guys!

[Enoch]

On point 2 I utterly agree, it is time that the few loud public voices that have condemned millions of gamers as dead time and again, and propogated a coordinated harassment and slandering of the public they should be serving, realise that they are wrong and that their corruption, bias and relationship with their subject matter has to change or else they will simply be abandoned and cease to exist. They can continue declaring all gamers as dead, but they will die long before gamers do, and no statistic or factual evidence supports their lies.

 

Edit: I doubt however that self reflection is in their nature, like all self righteous groups the SJF's will never admit they are wrong. This would be giving in to the millions who they despise and feel free to insult at will, as well as admitting their rampant corruption, and they would finally have to admit that their childish preaching and criticsism was hypocritical and two faced.

 

Not to derail the thread and make it a junior version of That Other One, but I'm no sure that you quite got my point there...