This book is very well researched and includes an extensive bibliography citing sources. Fleischer gives numerous examples of similar situations that were treated very differently by the media depending on the political party of both Democrats and Republicans who were unquestionably at fault. Fleischer describes a news story where a Republican and a Democrat were involved in the same wrongdoing and includes photographs of the headlines showing how the story was covered in both instances. I’m sure this would be an eye opener for many but unfortunately the people who really should read this probably won’t. I’ve said for many years that I can read any headline and tell you without looking at the source whether it’s a left wing or right wing outlet and very often I can accurately guess the name of the outlet too. Many years ago when I was in school, I was taught that opinion is on the editorial page of the newspaper and the factual news was covered in the news stories. That is no longer the case, if it ever was. Every single article is laced with opinion whether it’s on the opinion page or in what is considered straight news.
Many years ago when there were only three major networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, the viewing audience was diverse and it included Independents, Republicans and Democrats. While journalism majors are overwhelmingly Democrat and liberal and probably were then as well, networks were very careful to find a middle ground so as not to alienate a significant part of their audience. It was a time when Walter Cronkite was voted the most trusted man in America.
I used to watch CNN all the time. In the past, the network had both liberal and conservative talking heads. I loved “Crossfire” and “Equal Time” where conservatives and liberals would make their case and the viewer could decide which argument(s) made more sense. James Carville, Paul Begala, Tom Braden, Geraldine Ferraro and others would argue for Democrats. Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Robert Novak, Tucker Carlson and others would argue for Republicans. Usually both sides made some good points as well as presented some rather weak arguments. Now the media model is to target a particular demographic audience and give them what they want to hear so they keep tuning in. CNN targets Democrats and their audience is overwhelmingly liberal. Fox News is conservative and their audience tends to be overwhelmingly Republican. So CNN gives their audience the liberal spin they want and leaves out anything that doesn’t fit the narrative. Fox News gives their audience the conservative spin. The result is that media outlets make lots of money catering to people who tune in by giving them exactly what they want to hear and leave out whatever doesn’t appeal to their target audience
Those on the left sometimes argue that the media they watch is not biased (it’s only the media on the right – wink wink) and that of course mistakes are made but they are rare. They obviously have no idea what is really happening. There certainly are accidental mistakes in all types of media because of a rush to be the first with “breaking news.” There are mistakes because anonymous sources are used and not fact checked first because the story is just too good and it fits the network narrative. If it turns out the anonymous sources were wrong, the media outlet spends very little or sometimes no time correcting the error and moves on. Few will hear the correction and the damage has been done. And there are mistakes of omission where there is a two-minute piece on a particular news story and something that is relevant but doesn’t support the accepted narrative is deliberately left out.
Every single news outlet, print or television has a bias without exception. The problem is that too many people think that the source of their news is an unbiased source and they only follow sources that tell them what they want to hear.
As a result, the media significantly contributes to the polarization of the electorate rather than serving as an objective fourth pillar of democracy as it was intended to be. This is not good for any of us or for our country.
Excellent read.
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- Richard ,Princeton bcReviewed in Canada on August 4, 2022
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