Thursday, January 27, 2005
Hoo-wee! I've been neglecting my blog again!
Watched a sort-of interesting documentary on The Fifth Estate last night, on the right-wing media going mainstream in the U.S.. Nothing I hadn't heard or read about before, but I got to see some examples of what Fox "News" actually puts on the air, since I don't have cable and have never sampled that before. It's frightening, but how seriously does the average American take Bill "Shaddup" O'Reilly? I don't know.
I do think that some balance between conservative and liberal media might come around, but it seems as if we are headed towards greater polarization before that happens. I do, however, think that a "liberal agenda" has prevailed in most of the mainstream media for decades, and although I am a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, I don't think that a liberal bias is any more conducive to truth-telling than its opposite. However, it did seem that when the liberals ran the shop there was so much more challenging of the government and its policies. The scary part of having a "conservative bias" in the media is the fact that it seems to make the news media a propaganda machine for the (obviously backwards) government and its corporate-imperialist backers.
Just a word about The Fifth Estate: This used to be a highly credible news organ, with thoughtful documentaries and really balanced, in-depth journalism. No more. In style and substance, it is rapidly descending into an easy, self-righteous, mud-slinging type of journalism, with obvious motives and transparent bias. I still watch it because, as I mentioned earlier, I don't have cable. But for truly great journalism and interesting and thoughtful documentary work, check out the PBS show Now. It is pretty much the best thing going, at least on the four channels I can tune in with my rabbit ears!
Watched a sort-of interesting documentary on The Fifth Estate last night, on the right-wing media going mainstream in the U.S.. Nothing I hadn't heard or read about before, but I got to see some examples of what Fox "News" actually puts on the air, since I don't have cable and have never sampled that before. It's frightening, but how seriously does the average American take Bill "Shaddup" O'Reilly? I don't know.
I do think that some balance between conservative and liberal media might come around, but it seems as if we are headed towards greater polarization before that happens. I do, however, think that a "liberal agenda" has prevailed in most of the mainstream media for decades, and although I am a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, I don't think that a liberal bias is any more conducive to truth-telling than its opposite. However, it did seem that when the liberals ran the shop there was so much more challenging of the government and its policies. The scary part of having a "conservative bias" in the media is the fact that it seems to make the news media a propaganda machine for the (obviously backwards) government and its corporate-imperialist backers.
Just a word about The Fifth Estate: This used to be a highly credible news organ, with thoughtful documentaries and really balanced, in-depth journalism. No more. In style and substance, it is rapidly descending into an easy, self-righteous, mud-slinging type of journalism, with obvious motives and transparent bias. I still watch it because, as I mentioned earlier, I don't have cable. But for truly great journalism and interesting and thoughtful documentary work, check out the PBS show Now. It is pretty much the best thing going, at least on the four channels I can tune in with my rabbit ears!
# posted by becca : 8:01 AM
