Local Posts #40 (Part One)

2009-10-7 03:54:00

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #1

JJ:

Good letter by Mr. Coryat. I minored in journalism at the U of I and wrote for the Argonaut way back in the Sixties and was taught the same thing. The emphasis was that the prime directive in journalism which was to report the news objectively and leave your bias out. We were taught to write so bias would be reduced to a minimum.

Journalism has always been on the liberal side but I noticed that the media made an attempt at objectivity until Regan came along. That was the beginning of the change as many could not resist letting their bias reveal how much they loathed the man.

The bias has increased in the national media culminating abject hatred of George Bush and "a slobbering love affair" with Obama, as Bernie Goldberg describes it with his book title.

The last bastion of objectivity is in some local media. Even though I would guess that most the Statesman staff are liberal they seem to make an old time effort at fairness.

That said, I hope they keep Wayne Hoffman for balance.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #2

"Gimmeshelter" wrote:

"As it is, the greater populace wants the Liberal news - because of the previous 8 years of swallowing garbage from Fox, Limbaugh, Beck and company. Papers print what sells -- deal with it."

JJ:

If you are right then why are the newspapers going bankrupt or cutting back just to survive? Meanwhile, Fox, Limbaugh and Beck's ratings are going through the roof.

In many towns, like Boise, there is only one paper so if you want to take one there is no alternative. Fox, Limbaugh and Beck all have many competitors one can tune into at any time, yet they continue to outpace their competitors. This tells us there is a big untapped market for the conservative side that has been suppressed by liberal dominance.

Another reason conservative media is exploding is they present a lot of news not even covered by liberal media. The Van Jones story was huge, but not a word of it was covered by the NYT, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The Statesman, etc., until he resigned.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #3

"Proletariat" wrote:

"Why do you think that Dick Cheney only appears on Fox News shows?"

JJ:

Fox [News] is probably the only one that will let him on. There are a number of conservatives that can't get on any station but Fox. On the other hand, Fox is happy to have liberals on. Just saw Howard Dean there over the weekend.

"Proletariat":

"Balance? The Statesman is decidedly conservative. It rarely features writers that are progressive or further to the left."

JJ:

I guess this view is to be expected from someone who uses an Avatar of Karl Marx. The last time this subject came up I did a survey of a week's columns in the Statesman and here is what I found: There was one recognizable Republican which was Hoffman. Democrats writing columns in those 7 days were: Pitts, Broder, Reineck (2 columns), Ronayne, and Thomas. That's 6 to 1.

Now some weeks it may be more balanced, but no one with objectivity can accuse the Statesman of conservative bias.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #4

"Badnana" wrote:

"Not one word from ole 732 about Van Jones (it was on CNN, MSNBC and Huffington Post all weekend) so where was it NOT news? Hmmm, methinks we can connect the dots...."

JJ:

You need to argue with what I do say not with what I do not say. Here is what I said: "but not a word of it was covered by the NYT, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The Statesman, etc., until he resigned."

The news you talk of on the major media happened AFTER he resigned, by not a word BEFORE he resigned. The Huffington Post was not mentioned by me as it is a blog. Blogs talk about everything.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #5

"Thatsrap" wrote:

"Newspapers are failing because their source of bread and butter - classified ads - has dried up because of the Internet. Too many free sites like Craigslist to compete for classifieds with.

"Add to that the digital age of more and more people getting their news from the Internet, and the age of paper and print news is ending....

"It has NOTHING to do with political affiliation...."

JJ:

The Internet has had a big effect but political bias still has its influence. The most successful paper in the country in expanding circulation is the conservative Wall Street Journal. The second is the fairly non partisan USA Today. Between 2002 and 2006 the conservative New York Post increased circulation 19.3% whereas its competitor the liberal New York Times declined and approached bankruptcy. Rush Limbaugh's newsletter has a circulation of 400,000 and growing. Conservative papers, as a whole, are more financially stable than the liberal ones. The problem is their scarcity.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #6

"Badnana" wrote:

"It (Van Jones story) wasn't news before he resigned."

JJ:

It was a huge story for the half of America that did not exclusively watch the censored Obama news media.

Missing the pre-resignation story is like missing all the BSU-Ducks game and aftermath except for the punch delivered by the Ducks' Blount to BSU defensive end Bryon Hout. If that's all you saw you would wonder why such a thing could happen.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #7

"Rap":

"Yeah, Joe that 0.6% gain is torrential."

JJ:

My statement was correct. The WSJ had the best growth of the major papers. Any growth is good in this economy.

"Rap":

"And your New York Post 19.3% gain "from 2002 - 2006" - well it's circulation dropped 20.6%"

JJ:

This fall was during a six-month period after they doubled their newsstand price and had a major controversy on political correctness that scared off liberals. Since most of their money is made from newsstand sales the price increase will improve their financial stability.

Your bias concentrates on the six months and overlooks the rest of the decade of constantly beating the NYT. I'd like to see what would happen to the Times if they doubled their price.

"Rap":

"USA Today still has the highest circulation, WSJ is second, and The New York Times is 3rd."

JJ:

The subject was about the change of circulation, not the size of circulation.

"Rap":

"Your sweeping generalization that "Conservative papers...are more financially stable than the liberal ones..." is more of an opinion you pulled out of your gluteus maximus than anything based on statistics."

JJ:

Look at all the papers going bankrupt:

The Chicago Tribune,
The Sun-Times,
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune,
Seattle Post Intelligencer.

The Tribune Company which owns 8 daily newspapers (including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and The Baltimore Sun).

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and Rocky Mountain News.

The ultra liberal Seattle Times and New York Times have been on the verge.

See anything conservative on this list?

Some may argue that the Rocky Mountain News was conservative, and they used to be, but they refused to endorse McCain, called illegal aliens "heroic," had liberal editorials than angered their base. Their base pulled their support so one could argue that liberalism was to blame for their demise.

  

Sept 8, 2009 -- Post #8

"Mud" wrote:

"I won't often bother to comment, as history has proven that a frustrated Corporal can become a 'supreme leader' if given attention, and made to feel persecuted. I've already mentioned Joe's proclivity for narcissism. He's written enough to prove his paranoia, He considers himself a spiritual leader. Three strikes. A sociopath in training."

JJ:

It's bad enough that the Lefties here are always judging what is in my mind garnered from their own imaginations but your comparison of me to Hitler is over the line and violates Statesman rules as well as any rules of decency.

  

-- End Of Part One --

  

[Compiler's Note: The "Local Posts" series of articles found here in "The Archives" are a collection of exchanges between JJ Dewey and others participating on a local online newspaper blog which can be read online at Idaho Statesman Letters To The Editor. These exchanges were subsequently re-posted by JJ Dewey to The Keys Of Knowledge discussion group prior to being archived here.]

  

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Local Posts #40, Part Two