Media Bias

So, almost two months down the road, does this article still hold true?

Since the beginning of the semester, the topic of media bias has come up often, whether we're talking about Obama/McCain, Biden/Palin, Clinton/Palin...the comparisons could go on and on. Who is the media really looking out for? To whom are they favorable? Of whom are they suspicious?

In some ways the aforementioned article speaks of an out of touch liberal media that is suspicious of any journalist who leans to the right. Conversely, the same article could be taken at face value and thus reveal a conservative bias in the press.

Just last night I had a discussion with a friend about the controversial unairbrushed photo of Palin on the cover of Newsweek a few weeks back. He asked me if Newsweek had a notable liberal bias, and if Palin knew when she was being photographed that her pictures would remain as is and be used "against her" to quote him. I mused that Newsweek was probably trying to sell magazines and create an eyeopening, interesting cover, and that the article critical of Palin was followed by a pro-Palin article by Republican spin-master Karl Rove.

But, honestly, I'm not sure. How much of what the media says is based on bias? And what sort of bias? Liberal bias? Conservative? Bias towards whichever version of the story is the truth? Which version will sell more magazines? Alignment with the writer's gender, race, social background?

Bias can be based on motives other than political. The trick is looking out for it. I guess that this view circles back to our discussion of social codes. Often, the public is naturally suspicious of people in the media, ex David Letterman, Karl Rove, Lou Dobbs. We expect people to have biases, which is a bias in and of itself.