Why does the media openly take sides on issues?

Question

A Tale of Two Protests: Media Cheer Wall Street Occupiers But Jeered Tea Partiers

The Occupy Wall Street protestors have received overwhelmingly positive coverage from the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) news networks, as they used their airtime to publicize and promote the aggressively leftist movement. In just the first eleven days of October, ABC, CBS and NBC flooded their morning and evening newscasts with a whopping 33 full stories or interview segments on the protesters. This was a far cry from the greeting the Tea Party received from the Big Three as that conservative protest movement was initially ignored (only 13 total stories in all of 2009) and then reviled.


http://conservativebyte.com/2011/10/a-tale-of-two-protests-media-cheer-wall-street-occupiers-but-jeered-tea-partiers/

AJ · Accepted Answer

Not really that difficult. Media has ALWAYS been directly or indirectly influenced by politics. Those in media have an own opinion, some more visible than others. It's like that all over the so called democratic societies with independent media. I do not agree with you that media is supposed to represent "us". Media is supposed to report on news and facts. Not because they represent us but because they have taken it on themselves to report TO us, which they indeed should do as objectively as possible. Some do (CNN?), some don't,,,,,,,,,,

AJ

Mujer Alta · Answer

The "media" has always taken sides.  There's never been an unbiased source of news.  During Washington's first term, Jefferson and Hamilton hated each other and used newspapers to fight it out.
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/hamilton/hamil27.htm

(Notice that the article begins "Following the stock market panic of 1792....".  The stock market has never been a rational thing;-)

That individual sources of the news have always had a slant is not the same as their lying about the facts to make their point.  This is what makes today's news sources a lot different from yesterday's.

It's also common for people to reject facts they don't agree with.  This doesn't make those facts false.  You can assume all welfare recipients are lazy and black and reject any information that conflicts with what you believe but that doesn't change the fact that most welfare recipients are white and only receive aid for a short period of time while unemployed or underemployed.  And most of that aid happens to be Food Stamps and aid for health care.

becs · Answer

Because they can. Freedom of Speech is for everyone, including the media. Fox News has enough right wing garbage to make up for all three anyway so don't worry.

Why does the media openly take sides on issues?

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