Media = biased

[Lovelydude]

I'm glad you finally came to this realisation. You don't actually believe everything you observe in the media, do you?

 

 

 

;\

[angryjoe]

 

Agreed. Most of these polls say that they might be inaccurate by up to 8%! Thats a 16% swing, changing a 50-50 tie into a 58-42 clear victory/loss!!

 

 

 

 

Gallup polls don't work that way. They have an extremely accurate history of being correct, and the error margin is about 1-3% usually.

 

 

 

It worked recently in East Timor, the polls showed about 70% general support for the prime minister to become president, he recieved about 72% of the vote.

 

 

 

It worked for the french presidential election with about no error. It worked in USA in 2000/2004 (though, because of the electoral college system, Al Gore lost despite having more popular support)

 

 

 

It has worked thousands and thousands of times.

 

 

 

Just remember, properly conducted polls always show what the general public thinks. They are not rigged or 'filled with agenda'. You can't fake polls without getting caught or looking dubious.

Yeh but they will just select their samples carefully to reveal the statistics that they want.

[Nazgul740]

 

Agreed. Most of these polls say that they might be inaccurate by up to 8%! Thats a 16% swing, changing a 50-50 tie into a 58-42 clear victory/loss!!

 

 

 

 

Gallup polls don't work that way. They have an extremely accurate history of being correct, and the error margin is about 1-3% usually.

 

 

 

It worked recently in East Timor, the polls showed about 70% general support for the prime minister to become president, he recieved about 72% of the vote.

 

 

 

It worked for the french presidential election with about no error. It worked in USA in 2000/2004 (though, because of the electoral college system, Al Gore lost despite having more popular support)

 

 

 

It has worked thousands and thousands of times.

 

 

 

Just remember, properly conducted polls always show what the general public thinks. They are not rigged or 'filled with agenda'. You can't fake polls without getting caught or looking dubious.

 

 

 

Yeah I have to disagree with you on this one...

 

 

 

They can pull the people they want to poll from a specific area that is known to root for "x"

 

 

 

They can use a graph that shows how much somones support has gone up or down in "x" amount of time but normally its over the last 3-5 months and doesn't show the whole time they have been in office

 

 

 

It is possible to manipulate polls

[rft]

Well I am from the UK, and we have the same problem here. Our national newspapers are owned by media moguls who often have very strong political affiliations. Hence, the stories are often skewed and as such have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

We are fortunate that in this country, the BBC is pretty good at doing independant reporting (though not always), as it's entire income is generated from the licence payer and not a media fatcat or government (well it does to 'some' extent).

 

 

 

With regards to polls, I rarely believe any of them. Take the US for instance, you could go to Texas and ask their political affiliations and you would have a strong pro-Bush majority, but asking the same questions to a more democratic state could reveal the exact opposite. Always look and see what their data source is. If it is "based on a survey of 10000 people" (not saying how they selected these people) or doesn't even say, then you need to be careful what you believe when listening to the statistics.

 

 

 

I read somewhere that "Half of what you learn in the classroom is crap. Education is working out which half is which". A lesson that could easily be applied to the media...

[leila]

I agree that the Media can be biased.

 

 

 

Some, are more biased than others, however. FOX News is more biased than CNN.

 

 

 

I agree that there are some polls that I do not think are true. I saw on CNN, that 13% of american muslims believe suicidal bombings are justified, in some cases. I question the factuality of that poll.

[i_D_r]

And that is why democracy and capitalism is a paradox.

 

 

 

A system of economics and a system of government are hardly paradoxical. There are merely unusual pairings. :)

 

 

 

Seriously missed the point. Big time. Research some basic sociology and political science and you will understand.

[indy500fan]

And that is why democracy and capitalism is a paradox.

 

 

 

A system of economics and a system of government are hardly paradoxical. There are merely unusual pairings. :)

 

 

 

Seriously missed the point. Big time. Research some basic sociology and political science and you will understand.

 

 

 

That's what most anti-capitalists say.

 

 

 

"I got some books for you to read."

[i_D_r]

And that is why democracy and capitalism is a paradox.

 

 

 

A system of economics and a system of government are hardly paradoxical. There are merely unusual pairings. :)

 

 

 

Seriously missed the point. Big time. Research some basic sociology and political science and you will understand.

 

 

 

That's what most anti-capitalists say.

 

 

 

"I got some books for you to read."

 

 

 

haha, that made me lol in rl

[malo2]

Yep the media is very often biased, and the problem with every media outlet, is the topics they choose to report on. There are topics media usually wastes way too much time on (remember John Mark Carr? [sp?]), and topics that are just so important, yet are left un reported.

 

 

 

I also completely agree on the part about politics. In fact, I find that far more sickening. Remember the party election in November? My god, I have never seen something more disturbing.... Not a single candidate as far as i remember has said anything about what exactly they would do when they would go to office, and why they are the correct choice. All of the political ads were about bashing their opponents, and not a single ad I saw said anything about the strengths of the candidate that funded that ad, I knew nothing about him/her, nothing at all.

 

 

 

The same thing has spread to local politics as well. At the end of last year I was listening to the radio when a political ad for the local governor election came up, and all I hear was flaming of the the opponent. All the ad was about was some very unlikely drug use and drunk driving accusations of the other side, that made it obvious that some guy sat down for a day, and found some evidence about these charges, and once the chances of these accusations being true went above .5%, they put it in the ad. In the end of it all, I learned nothing about the candidate that funded this ad.

[darkmage099]

It's only like this because the media needs to make money. They will only report and broadcast news that sells. A poll saying 1% of Muslims agree that suicidal bombings are justified is hardly as interesting as 13% (see a couple posts above). We made them this way because we dont "care" about "boring" news. So the media is forced to bias things so they're "interesting". For example, there have been many reports of all the bad things in the Middle East and how Muslims are bad, how Bush is bad, and how the whole damn world is bad. But what about the good? What about the positive side (as well as the negative)? We don't care that the world is fine and perfect.

[Satenza]

Of course it is, I don't even think it's possible for the media not to be biased. You are all talking like they make up stories and put them in there and then go burn little people. Can anyone even name a specific instance where one media corporation told lies for a specific political party?

[Duke_Freedom]

People like to hear biased opinions. It's just what darkmage099 said: the people make the media like this because they don't want to hear the real truth in most cases.

 

 

 

Most people either think "bush sux" or "bush rox" anyway, so hearing someone on the radio yell "bush sux" when you think that too is great and the same goes for hearing "bush rox" on the tv when you think that instead.

 

 

 

And that is why democracy and capitalism is a paradox.

 

 

 

Democracy is a paradox in itself. Especially the way it works in practice.