Media Bias

It turns out there's a term for the kind of "he said/she said" reporting I've long complained about, which treats arguments on both sides of an issue the same and leaves it up to the readers to try to figure out what the truth is.

It's called "false equivalency," and is the topic of a column today by New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan.

A telling example from her column:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's endorsement of Scott Walker -- again -- should come as no surprise, even if, as Jim Rowen points out, the JS said it would not endorse any candidates.

They love Scott Walker.  They always have.  They endorsed him repeatedly for Milwaukee County executive (One year they didn't even wait until after the primary to endorse him in the general).  They endorsed him in 2010.  And they did it again today.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a post filled with Wisconsin references, explains why Fox News won't be setting up shop in Canada:

"Canada's Radio Act requires that "a licenser may not broadcast ... any false or misleading news." The provision has kept Fox News and right-wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom."

In the US, the First Amendment gives us the right to lie.  Ask Justice Mike Gableman, who used that defense after sliming his opponent with a false TV commercial.  

Or Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling, both of whom have admitted to simply making things up.

Is this a great country, or what?

But a search of jsonline turns up one other, a six-line blog item in August.

But this appears to be the first time it actually has appeared in print. The newspaper has never covered the event or reported on its speakers, although many are nationally prominent and crowds are 5 to 10 times the biggest Tea Party rally Wisconsin has ever seen.

On Saturday, May 21, over 600 people arrived at the Northern Wisconsin Fairgrounds in Chippewa Falls to spend a day listening to and sharing their progressive ideas at the first annual Fighting Bob Fest North event. Although there were several "headline" speakers such as: Former US Rep. Dave Obey (D), US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wisconsin State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D) and John Nichols of The Nation; one would hardly know it by reading or watching the local media. The Chippewa Herald newspaper did cover the event, but none of the Eau Claire broadcast or newspaper organizations bothered.

I grew up in a union home. Nearly all my friends did as well. My parents were able to send all nine of us kids to a Catholic school. The same elementary and high schools for all nine of us. My mother did not work outside our home until my dad broke his back (helping a coworker and union member) and was laid up for over six months, when I was in the sixth grade. All nine of us were expected to pay at least part of our high school tuition. The girls paid their tuition with babysitting money and the boys mostly had paper routes. My freshman year at Regis my tuition was $175 and my mom slipped me $50 that she had saved. I was never sure if she did that for my other siblings because she said never tell anyone. Sorry Mom.

Madison — With winter weather back in the capital city, Wisconsin demonstrators on both sides of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill have a chance to set themselves apart from the out-of-state protest set.

Union supporters were clapping and chanting "We want justice" and "We are family" Sunday morning in the Capitol Rotunda as heavy, wet snow and then rain fell on the square outside.

PolitiFact Wisconsin: Arbitrarily assessing an arbitrarily selected excerpt using arbitrary criteria and assigning an arbitrary rating. -- Pretty Important blog.

Particularly appropriate on the day PolitiFact declares  for the second time that tax cuts are not spending, even though they add the same amount to the deficit as spending the money would. Earlier: PolitiFact flunks economics.