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14
12
Yes, the media is biased. No, the media is unbiased.
Debate Score:26
Arguments:34
Total Votes:27
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 Yes, the media is biased. (11)
 
 No, the media is unbiased. (10)

Debate Creator

Kalamazoo(333) pic



The media fails to report politics evenhandedly.

The media, especially television, has ceased to be a news repoting service and has developed into a propaganda medium which regularly screens programms that are clearly slanted towards the political views of the directors and producers. The deliberate reporting of negative results of a government's policy but ignoring it's achievements, whilst extoling the merits of another party, (usually left wing/liberal) is an obvious example of media bias. It has been my observation that socialist administrations make a mess of a nation's economy and leave the unpopular job of rectifying their mess to others. 

Yes, the media is biased.

Side Score: 14
VS.

No, the media is unbiased.

Side Score: 12

Every media outlet is biased, towards one slant or another. Here in the United States, you can go to FOX and see the right-wing news, which will lambaste anything left wing and praise anything right wing, or you could go to MSNBC and see the left-wing parallel. You could go to HuffingtonPost.com and see a left-wing news outlet, or you could go to drudgereport.com. You could go to DailyKos, or RedState, etc etc. The best you can do is go to multiple sources, recognize their bias, and compare the stories until you get a sufficiently holistic view of an issue.

As for your last comment, historically speaking most socialist administrations have done HORRIBLE jobs, in large part due to the historical concept of socialism requiring an authoritarian state, which inherently leads to corruption and abuse of power. Modern hybrid-socialism has been working quite well in certain areas, such as the Northern European Social Democracies (Norway, Denmark, Sweden), but such models would not work everywhere.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
GenericName(3430) Clarified
3 points

Uh oh, somebody down voted me because I have a balanced opinion on media bias :P

Who wants to bet it was the FOX part that set them off.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
2 points

Anyone who thinks that the media is unbiased is extremely optimistic. News sells and the more sensationalist, the more it sells, though a really good investigative journalist is worth their salt.

There is a saying "If you cant find a story make one up" and it does happen.

I have read the same article with differing information in different papers with no consistency. Call it what you like creative writing, bias etc etc. News sells - whatever the content - no doubt about it and the more bias the more it keeps the public guessing what is really going on.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.

When you listen to Liberals they will always bring up Fox news as biased towards the GOP and they once in awhile bring up MSNBC that is biased towards Democrats. What these phonies will never admit is that the vast majority of News media is Liberal biased.

That includes the major news networks, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, PBS and others.

I would agree with their argument against Fox were it not for the fact that most of the other news programs are siding with one political party. That is a very scary thing for any nation as we see in the Arab world where their media is controlled by Government.

This is why Fox news is so needed to give the other side of the story and why they have the highest cable ratings year after year. The majority of Americans are desperate to hear the other side of the story and why Fox has such high ratings. The creators of Fox news were geniuses to see what Americans wanted and capitalized on it.

It's too bad that the people who can not afford cable are forced to listen to the network propaganda channels on their antennas. This is why an activist Liberal like Obama was elected twice.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
2 points

"When you listen to Liberals they will always bring up Fox news as biased towards the GOP and they once in awhile bring up MSNBC that is biased towards Democrats. What these phonies will never admit is that the vast majority of News media is Liberal biased."

It isn't, it is biased towards sensationalism, which has a tendency to change the bias on a case by case basis. That goes for all of the networks you have listed, except for some specific programs.

"I would agree with their argument against Fox were it not for the fact that most of the other news programs are siding with one political party. That is a very scary thing for any nation as we see in the Arab world where their media is controlled by Government."

But the media isn't controlled by the government. Even if the majority of the media WAS liberal, that would simply mean that the market has determined there is a larger demand for liberally-biased news, wouldn't it?

:" The majority of Americans are desperate to hear the other side of the story and why Fox has such high ratings. The creators of Fox news were geniuses to see what Americans wanted and capitalized on it."

ABC, CBS and NBC combined had a viewership (news programs only) of 22.1 million people. That is over seven times the viewership of FOX. How can you say that the majority of Americans are desperate to hear the other side of the story, when FOX can't even manage to get 1% of the country as viewers? Wouldn't that indicate the opposite, that they aren't interested in what FOX has to say?

"It's too bad that the people who can not afford cable are forced to listen to the network propaganda channels on their antennas. This is why an activist Liberal like Obama was elected twice."

So let me guess: Any time a Democrat wins, it is because of the liberal media, and any time a Republican wins, it is in spite of the liberal media. Did I get that right?

Side: No, the media is unbiased.
FromWithin(8241) Disputed
1 point

You never get it right. I told you why the major networks get more people watching. They get all the people who can not afford cable. People who have no cable are forced to watch the biased networks.

For you to deny that the major networks are biased shows how hideously Liberal you are. To not be able to see the obvious truth that even many Liberals admit means you are wasting my time. I refuse to debate people who are that ignorant or that dishonest.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.

It is truly impossible to present information without bias, especially in the media. Everything will always have some sort of slant to it, especially things on camera. Some things have a lot more bias than others, Fox News being the classic example of responding to things in a highly Conservative way, and often portraying false or twisted facts to back up a more conservative standpoint.

This is not something that can be stopped, but it's also not something impossible to overcome. People can try and go to multiple sources to get both sides, and form their own opinions. So, it requires a bit more effort, but to pretend that the media is not biased would lead to an uninformed, unthinking society.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.

Of course every media source will be somewhat biased or VERY biased. Which is why we must think critically.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
1 point

The media is completely insane. We have to pick between Bible thumping pundits and neo-Marxists bitching about T-shirts.

Yeah, it's pretty damn biased.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
1 point

Psh, I WISH we had some neo-marxists in the media. That would be far more amusing than what the left has to offer in the mainstream media.

Side: No, the media is unbiased.
pakicetus(1455) Disputed
1 point

Clearly you've never read the LGBT/minority/feminist section of HuffPo, the Telegraph, Salon (here's a good one: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/05/thelegendofzeldaisclassistsexistandracist/)) , Slate, TheDailyBeast, virtually anything Sargon of Akkad covers in his weekly spotlights.

Consider yourself lucky :)

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
1 point

From th OP

It has been my observation that socialist administrations make a mess of a nation's economy and leave the unpopular job of rectifying their mess to others.

The reason for that mess is the following:

Socialism in this country is tax the haves and redistribute to the have nots, resulting in a bloated government supporting a welfare state. Just Don't Work

Side: Yes, the media is biased.
1 point

As has been explained to you before, redistribution, within the context of what you are saying, is simply not socialist. At all. It is one aspect of Socialism, but it is not inherently socialist. In fact, it stems from Classical Conservatism.

Side: No, the media is unbiased.

Yes, the media is biased. Usually the media leans toward the party in which the President falls into for good reason. No President could act with any degree of success if the media didn't at least respect the Presidency. The media may hate the man in charge, but to do so is to also hate the nation. Nothing good can come out of a democracy when trying to inspire an insurrection.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.

Well the media is spoon-fed ask them to publish the report of a scam,a robbery hardly any exact details in presented.As for politics,each of them has their 'Supporting-Party' who would feed the means to them and in return the media publishes reports as per their explanations.

Side: Yes, the media is biased.

Just posting to ask a question - do you think there is an underlying reason for most people in news to be left wing/liberal?

Side: No, the media is unbiased.
1 point

Politics fails to report politics evenhandedly. (50 characters!)

Side: No, the media is unbiased.