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If you think I don’t post to this blog often enough, consider reading my other, work-related blog, where I post more often.
What I'm Reading
- Apple to Unveil its Next Move in Music?CBS News | Aug 30, 2010Apple has scheduled a big event for Wednesday. CBS News speculates on the company's coming announcements.
- Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?New York Times | Aug 25, 2010Some psychologists believe preschoolers can experience bouts of depression, this New York Times report says.
- Electronic Arts stands by Medal of Honor Taliban featureCNET | Aug 25, 2010EA defends the ability to play as Taliban soldiers in the upcoming "Medal of Honor" game.
- Twitter’s not stupid – you just have boring friendswww.andrewdubber.com | Aug 16, 2010A nice look at how to get the most out of Twitter and refutation of some common Twitter complaints.
- Is 3-D dead in the water? A box-office analysisSlate | Aug 24, 2010Slate magazine looks at whether people are happy with just two dimensions in their movies, thank you very much.
- Apple to Unveil its Next Move in Music?
Recent Comments
My Clips- Cause of plane crash west of Bozeman under investigation, pilot pronounced dead at scene August 31, 2010
- The man who wanted train horns August 16, 2010
- Money well spent? August 15, 2010
- Local telecom company gets $64 million to bring high-speed Internet to rural Gallatin County August 5, 2010
- Montana Opticom receives $64 million in stimulus money for rural broadband August 4, 2010
- AT&T to replace Alltel in Montana within a year June 25, 2010
- Bozeman twin looks to scale namesake peak: K2 June 21, 2010
- High water claims Amsterdam Road bridge June 12, 2010
- Trio of veteran Belgrade teachers retiring June 7, 2010
- MSU robot digger wins NASA competition May 29, 2010
Michael Becker has been blogging about academia, digital culture and journalism since 2005. He is the Web editor of the
Jacob Weisberg criticizes bias at Fox News
Fox News is clearly biased, writes Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate Group and author of The Bush Tragedy, and reporters who value a truly fair and balanced press should avoid the network on ethical grounds.
The worst thing about it is that Fox News’ tactics have demonstrated that biased, politicized journalism gets good ratings, so other cable networks have followed suit to some extent. Fox News has “made all of cable news unpleasant and unreliable,” Weisberg writes.
The answer, for journalists at least, should be to ignore Fox News on ethical grounds:
Judging from a quick Google search, Weisberg’s article is being headlined as calling Fox News un-America — which it does — and that particular headline is going to drive a lot of traffic to the comment section of the story on Newsweek, which is already full of defensive comments from both sides.
Some of the commenters have a good point: Other cable news networks can be just as biased as Fox News but in different ways. What I think Weisberg is saying, though, is that Fox News caused that.
I don’t know the details or the history, but I do think it would be interesting to research the coverage on CNN before Fox News came on the scene and compare that to CNN’s current coverage. I wonder if you’d a difference in the tone and bias.
Edit — Just noticed that the title on Weisberg’s story page on Newsweek is similar to the headlines I noticed in my Google search, so those provocative headlines are not really just a simplification of his essay — they’re an SEO tactic.
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