From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Subject: Re: CNN Anchor Admits Pro-Clinton Bias
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 08:01:01 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.211429.5267@ncar.ucar.edu> gary@colossus.cgd.ucar.edu (Gary Strand) writes:
>dp> Don Pajerek
>gs> Gary Strand

>dp> I didn't say that the average American was 'liberal'. What I said was that
>dp> the average American was moderate, with a slight leftward tilt. By slight,
>dp> I mean poll numbers in the low 50's in support of some 'liberal' position.

>  Is simply being pro-choice a "liberal" position? Heck, if you define the
>  liberal position as being that which 50%-55% of those polled support, then,
>  wow, you get your majority of Americans thinking like good liberals.

Well, it's certainly a Democratic position.  And we all know Democrats
are L-words.

>dp> The principal mass media consistently reflect this same 'bias', if the 
>dp> long-held beliefs of the vast majority can be called a 'bias'. 

>gs> No. The mass-media differs on a large number of issues with the majority.

>dp> Give me the media 'opinions' on these subjects and tell me where they dif-
>dp> fer from the polls. And I don't mean Dan Rather's personal opinion, or 
>dp> Peter Jennings'. I mean: what is ABC News' official position on abortion.
>dp> Is ABC pro-choice?

>  Yes, and 'twould seem that without conditions or restrictions. At least,
>  when Pennsylvania's abortion law was reported, all the networks described
>  it as "draconian" and "punitive", when in fact, it had no restrictions that
>  are not found palatable by the majority of Americans.

Really?  So most Americans think that women need permission from their
husbands to get abortions?

Furthermore, as you well know, it isn't really clear what most Americans
think of abortion restrictions, since the polls show that Americans are
opposed to "abortion on demand" but also to "severe restrictions on
abortion."  Sure, a waiting period sounds fine to them, until it's
explained that the effect of a waiting period is solely to prevent poor
women from obtaining abortions.

(Interesting aside: George Bush opposes waiting periods on gun buying,
but favors them on voting and abortions.)

>dp> Can you, Gary Strand, imagine yourself doing a report on Bill Clinton with-
>dp> out your utter contempt for Clinton coming through?

>  Of course not. But I wouldn't pretend I was being objective, nor would I see
>  my duty as being an agent of social change. I could easily be at least as
>  objective as these media types, because it's pretty obvious that they don't
>  really live up to their self-professed ideal.

No, since nothing can live up to an ideal.

>dp> There is nothing larger that reflects a different bias. All alternatives 
>dp> that are clearly different in tone from the big guys are also smaller.

>  Not true. A good number of magazines and politically-oriented books are all
>  read by much larger numbers of people than view the national evening news.

Really?  Which magazines have more circulation than the network news?

>dp> ...if the mass media isn't really 'mass', then this supposed liberal bias
>dp> is even less important, since so few people actually are exposed to it.

>  Basically, it comes down to whether or not the media is powerful. Since our
>  political leaders live and die by what the media perceives them to be, I'd
>  say it's plenty powerful. And, therefore, its bias distorts what political
>  leaders do and say, thus, our political system is different than what it
>  would be if the media were less biased toward a liberal view.

It's funny that we see Republicans/conservatives arguing that the free
market doesn't work all of the sudden.  Now we find that the media,
which, last time I checked, is a for-profit business, is not really
giving people what they want.  Wow.  Call Adam Smith, quick!  

-- 
David M. Nieporent   | Orioles 1992 World Series Champions
niepornt@phoenix.    | Mike Mussina 1992 AL Cy Young Winner
   princeton.edu     | Brady Anderson 1992 AL MVP
Vote Clinton/Gore '92.  
Newsgroups: alt.news-media