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A Comment on Media Accuracy and Editorial Choice

I have had several conversations about the reliability and accuracy of our media. Like many conservatives, I am unhappy with media bias. I am told, in reply, that our media simply report the news without lying. It is true that no overt lie is told. My complaint is with emphasis, adjectives, labels, and story choices. Today has an easy example for illustration.

I read many sites. I watch no TV. My primary sites for a 'first cut' at the day's news are Foxnews and CNN. I then typically go to ESPN for sports, GoVols24xtra for UT information, and RealClearPolitics. RCP publishes from many sites, and I then go to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Breitbart. Yes, Breitbart. I look at this site about as often as I look at the Huffington Post, and for the same reason. Each represents the unfiltered views of extremists on both sides.

In reading Breitbart, I learned that Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis are going to propose a constitutional amendment for congressional and senatorial term limits. I, and many people of both parties that I know, strongly favor term limits. I would have thought this would be a significant news story. Their idea was published in an editorial in the Washington Post on December 9. Instead, I read about it on that purveyor of white nationalism, Breitbart.It was not on the front pages of any site I went to- Fox, CNN, MSNBC, RCP, WSJ, NYT. Nobody. In fact, searching for 'Ron DeSantis' or 'Term Limits' on each of these sites brought up exactly no references to stories on the editorial. Here are the search results-

Breitbart
CNN
FoxNews
Washington Post

Even the WaPo search showed the editorial as the second item, behind one about Chuck Schumer and how Democrats will fight Trump.

Also revealing is the Google search I did for 'Ted Cruz Term Limits Bill'.
Here it is- Google Search
Note that all the hits are so-called 'conservative' or 'right-wing' sites except for The Hill.

This is what I mean by media bias. It is in part presentation, but also editorial choice. In not running a story about a term limits proposal, media sites keep the idea out of the news. By labeling other news sources as right-wing, or extremist, major media outlets encourage ignoring or quashing the stories on these outlets. Those who go to them are labeled extremists, white supremacists and worse.

It is not possible to get a clear sense of 'news', however, without reading these sites, and many more that I visit for information. Now, more than ever in my life, Mark Twain's aphorism about the media is true- if you don't read the papers, you are uninformed. If you do read the papers, you are misinformed. One site I read today decried the 'false equivalency' of fake news and our media, but I have made that comparison myself. Failing to report important topics, or changing tone and words to color a story, is every bit as fake as just making it up.

I think Cruz and DeSantis are right- we need term limits for congressmen and senators. No one should be a politician for life. I favor having ordinary people with ordinary jobs be our representatives- factory workers, doctors, secretaries, whatever. Politics is not a lifetime employment. It is a service to society like jury duty, and ought to be temporary.

It's a shame on our media that I had to see this story on Breitbart. For me the 'extreme' sites now get almost the same respect as the 'normal' ones. It is sometimes the only way I can get real information.

Ted

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