Thursday, April 15, 2010

Are Newspapers Really Fair and Unbiased?

The Corrector has taken more than a little flak over our tendency to “tilt” our stories to the conservative side. We guess that some readers don’t realize that this is a blog where opinions can be expressed and it only stands to reason that the author of any story here lets their personal convictions guide how the story is portrayed. We don’t try to hide the fact that we can be biased. What we see in the comments on many posts is the quick blame people will put on elected conservative politicians to make a counter-point to something we have reported that we allege is a bad decision or a stupid decision. In many cases comments will refer to the “fact” that the “real” newspapers always report with “fair and balanced" coverage, but is that really true?

Case in point is tonight’s letter to the editor by the Havre Daily “News” former publisher, Val Murri. Mr. Murri was blasting Jo Jones who had the audacity to write a couple letters to the editor complaining about the Obama administration. Murri went on to point out all the faults of the Bush administration as reasoning to refute Ms Jones points. Take a look at the letter yourselves in tonight’s Havre Daily “News”. We find it quite interesting that “professional” newspaper people actually believe that their political views do not come into play when they are publishing all these “fair and balanced” news stories. If our readers will recall, former Editor Datko was also prone to slanting “news” coverage to reflect her liberal views. Didn’t she immediately join the local democrat team supporting Senator Jon Tester’s campaign when she was sacked at the paper?  Haven't many of you had the "news" paper refuse to print your letters to the editor because of some obscure "problem" or another? What about the "I love the pot growers" article by Alice Campbell a few weeks ago that was written as a "news" story?

The Corrector has never claimed that we are not partisan to some degree and we freely admit that we slant the bent of our coverage. We would charge that the local “news” paper does not give the people of Havre any better “fair and balanced” coverage than do any of the scores of political blogs.

Be careful of what you believe to be fact just because you read it in print. That goes for the “real” papers as well as the blogs, this letter to the editor is just another bit of evidence that newspapers are indeed biased.

5 comments:

  1. I think we all know that you have to take what the newspaper tells us is going on with a grain of salt

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  2. Murri has always been one of the liberal good old boys, What ever made you think this newspaper even attempts to be fair?

    If your not a tree hugger or a pot business, you ain't squat

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  3. HDC said: "this letter to the editor is just another bit of evidence that newspapers are indeed biased."

    So posting a letter to the editor is now indicative of bias? I note in your write up that the letter in question was written in response to 2 other letters. If true bias existed in this case why would they have posted the 1st 2 letters?

    Now then, does a bias exist in the media? Undoubtedly. It does, however, go both ways.

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  4. Surelyyoujest the point we were trying to make with this story was that each newspaper has a distinct “personality” that is reflected by the political beliefs of those running the paper. We were merely pointing out that the political beliefs of both Murri and former editors were ones that were liberal or to the left of liberal. For these same people to claim they are presenting fair and balanced news coverage while employed by the same newspaper is ludicrous. These “professional” newspapermen let their political ideology affect their respective stories much the same as on the blogs we read.

    Just because you read it in print in a newspaper someplace doesn’t make it true.

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  5. Watch out, City Council is going to pass the Fairness Act if we don't bow to the liberal media and agree with everything the Havre Daily says. LOL

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