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News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:18 pm
by Dan Z
I'm interested in getting the most thoughtful and balanced perspective on the news that I can, and these days I am getting increasingly disgusted with the prevalence of extremist "news sources" - both left and right - and I suppose others here on MN are as well.

So, I recently saw this chart (below) that might be a good starting point in helping folks here in the US think about their news sources. What do you think? What would you change/add? How can we make this chart better?

Image

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:23 pm
by MaxPC
I think it would be helpful if we knew who created this chart and when it was created. This will give us an idea of whose "filter and agenda" is being used to categorize the various news outlets.

Another consideration: accessibility. Some of those sources are unavailable in various areas.

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:27 pm
by Dan Z
I don't have a source Max...for the sake of discussion though, it would probably be most helpful to take the chart at face value.

Although it might be helpful for those in this discussion to declare whether they would prefer a conservative or progressive slant in the first place...and if so, does that affect how you would read the chart.

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:50 pm
by lesterb
No Canadian sources? Or are they all off the liberal side of the chart?

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:53 pm
by MaxPC
In my experience: "Face value" when applied to political polls and charts tends to make one susceptible to manipulation unfortunately.

I question the date and source on this chart because in the last ten years I've detected a significant shift in bias in several of the news sources listed. I truly think it's helpful to know the date and source of any political chart as the shifting sands of media and politics are always in motion.

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:22 pm
by Dan Z
lesterb wrote:No Canadian sources? Or are they all off the liberal side of the chart?
Yeah...sorry for the Americentrism Lester. :)

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:24 pm
by Dan Z
I was a little surprised at how the chart author puts CNN so strongly in the bubblegum news department...although it does make sense

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:35 pm
by Bootstrap
Dan Z wrote:I don't have a source Max...for the sake of discussion though, it would probably be most helpful to take the chart at face value.
It comes from here:

https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.otero. ... 6385626062

We discussed it earlier here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=95&start=140#p3751

Back then, here was my response:
Bootstrap wrote:When I read a news article, I tend to ask myself these questions:
  • Are they presenting facts or opinion? Do they make it easy to tell the difference?
  • Are they already trying to manipulate me into a point of view with click-baity headlines that may or may not match the article?
  • Are they using propaganda techniques, suggesting that you should believe a particular point of view out of loyalty to their tribe? Do they fit each new story into a narrative about who the good guys and bad guys are, building a base of loyalty for themselves in the process? Do they sometimes manufacture news?
  • Do they tell you when they got something wrong, correcting the story and telling you that the earlier story was mistaken? You can't always get it right, but clear retractions are important, and you want them in a place that you actually bump into them.
  • Do they have a set of journalistic standards that tell you how they go about determining whether something is true and fair before publishing it? Is there evidence that they try to follow these standards?
  • Do they present multiple points of view from the mouths of people well chosen to represent those points of view, when relevant to the story?
  • When they present facts, are they clear about the level of evidence that exists and the source of this evidence? If I spend time and energy to verify the facts, how often do they turn out to be blatantly false?
How do the rest of you go about rating a news source to see if it is credible?

Re: News Chart

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 10:51 pm
by Dan Z
Funny – I guess great minds think alike.

Obviously I haven't read every thread :oops:

Re: News Chart

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:50 am
by Bootstrap
For me, a lot of it comes down to this.

When this source makes a claim, how can I verify that it is true, compare one fact to another, and get a good overview of what is going on? After I check, I ask, how hard was it to do that?

The media are one of the checks and balances in our political system. We need them to help us evaluate what the politicians feed us. You can't trust any one media source either, so you play them off of each other. This is the basis of the American system - you can't trust any one power, but you can balance them off. The best media sources are the ones that give you enough data to compare them to other sources of information.