Do you pursue truth from media?

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   breathe2travelposted 11 years ago

   Do you pursue truth from media?
   
   Often, I feel like I am reading an editiorial rather than a news piece.  I have found myself having to research what I read in news articles.  Do you fact check the news, or take it at face value?

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2. 72

   pagesvoiceposted 11 years ago

   In any given 24 hour news cycle I will watch CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC and CSpan. I read numerous online newspapers, journals and international outlets, i.e., the BBC. In addition, I also listen to talk radio, although in my area all talk radio is from the right and I have to go online to find NPR.

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      Larry Wallposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Pagevoice: You are probably getting a good perspective. However, most people do not have that amount of time or desire to devote that much effort. It is good that some people do.

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   Larry Wallposted 11 years ago

   To get the news, you have to find the news. Commentaries are not news, they are opinions. Even if you agree with the commentator, you have to learn to sort out the fact from the opinion.
   
   Newspapers use to do a good job of that, but not as good as they use to. I question a lot of what I read. I do not fact check every item, but I wait to see if something changes that day or that week.
   
   There are some good papers, the old wire services, such as AP, do a decent job. The printed material is easier for separating fact from opinion.
   
   Objectivity in news has always been a problem. I remember as a reporter having to write quotes of people at meetings I knew were wrong. I then have to find some expert in the field to explain why the quote was inaccurate. It takes time and with the demand for 24 hours news on television and the internet, I do not know if that kind of time is available anymore.
   
   Finally, Ackman1465, I think Fox started out as a decent news source and perhaps you have become comfortable with that. I do not find it to be any more objective than the others. I find CNN the closest to being objective, but they are fair from perfect. I am referring to the straight news segments, and not the special programs with the talking heads that all the networks use.

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      ackman1465posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Larry:  Fox News (Faux news) is no more a news outlet, than I am the King of Siam.....  It dispenses no more news than a rock-n-roll oldies station (about 5 minutes, on the hour).  Otherwise, it's just a vehicle for its (idjit) talking heads.(listed)

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      Attikosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You mean like the rest of the mass media, but from the other side of the political fence? Who'd a thunk it?

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      Larry Wallposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I do not disagree. As I said, it started out with potential, but did not live up to that potential.

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4. 61

   Dubuquedogtrainerposted 11 years ago

   Seriously? No. I gather my news from various sources and do my own investigation into matters I want to know the truth about. Otherwise I take the news with a grain of salt, knowing that it is biased and often contains errors of fact and omission.

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   screamingposted 11 years ago

   Anymore I believe the news are nothing but the commentators opinion. And of course station bidding for big advertisers and ratings. I do my own homework.

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6. 82

   Attikosposted 11 years ago

   No, I don't expect to find either truth or factual reporting in the national media. 80% of it is partisan propaganda, and increasingly that is so of what are called news stories as well as opinion. You can mine it for reliable information if you have time and inclination to sift through several sources, picking a couple from each side of our abysmally corrupt two-party political system, but even then you have to maintain some skepticism of the pablum it feeds us. 80% of the media is progressive and effectively the propaganda ministry for the demwits, as it has been since FDR. The rest, led by Fox, is conservative and allied with the retardicans. We do not enjoy an independent press today in America.
   
   The worst aspect of it is that so many of us have been sucked into the illusion that we do. You're always encountering people who attack only one side of the divide and excuse their own, those who damn MSNBC or Fox but not both, people who gobble up reinforcement of their prejudices and cast continual contumely on dissent to them. I guess a lot of people are just lemmings.

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      Dubuquedogtrainerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The story about lemmings is a made-up story too.

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