ALL Media Are Wrong Sometimes

By: Pamela D. Hart

It’s not unusual to find a story about how Fox News needs a Geography lesson. There are many on the Left who live to bash Fox News for just about-- everything. What IS odd is that the story is from 2009.

Fox News misrepresented Egypt on the World Map, showing it to be where Iraq actually sits. Now, this IS a problem, considering most Americans probably don’t even know what states make up the Midwest and have been hit with the latest winter blizzard. It’s sad, quite frankly, that there are adults that can barely name all 50 states, let alone tell you the location of Egypt or Pakistan. So, yes, Fox was wrong, but what’s even MORE appalling is there were probably very few viewers that even noticed! (Hey Rasmussen do a poll on THAT!)

Okay, Fox was wrong-- can’t defend them. Now to be “fair and balanced”, I’ll admit that it must be challenging to be 100% accurate with 24/7/365 day a year coverage, after all, it IS performed by HUMANS, and people AREN’T perfect. So, while I'm pointing out that Fox was wrong, I can also point out that MSNBC is guilty of mistakes, too.

While discussing the situation in Egypt, Chris Matthews, on his Hardball show, said, “…It’s so strategically located. It has, of course, the Nile River. It has, of course, the Panama Canal.” Now, to be fair, he corrected himself and later said the Suez Canal, but how is it that HE can slip up, assuming that’s what it was, but according to him, Bachmann and Palin can NOT? They are balloon heads, mail-order brides, or exotic dancing spies. No leeway for THEM, but he, Chris Matthews, just had a slip of the tongue. Or did he? We don’t know for sure. All we DO know is that he corrected himself. So, did he catch his OWN mistake, or did someone whisper into his ear piece? I’ll assume he caught himself, because I have dignity. I just wish Matthews would show a little to others who don’t “think” along the same political lines as he does. But I won’t hold my breath.

Then there’s the Rachel Maddow show where she was talking about the state of Indiana but her visual map had Indiana where Illinois should have been. How many Americans noticed THAT oopsie? And how many Left-leaning blogs wrote that MSNBC needed a Geography lesson or misinformed its audience? I’m guessing a big fat zero. I’ll bet the citizens of Illinois and Indiana caught the err right away, but did Maddow notice while reporting? Guess not, or she would’ve said something, right? Is she a balloon-head? Or was she so engrossed in her reporting that she just didn’t notice? I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter.

Again with Maddow, but this time on her December 9, 2010, Debunktion Junction show, where she verifies the authenticity of rumors. Ms. Maddow confirmed her own prediction from her appearance on Meet the Press that Christine O’Donnell would end up on Fox News, “…it takes precisely zero genius to predict O’Donnell would host TV on Fox News but it has now gone from prediction and rumor to true.” Maddow went on to praise her brilliant prophecy because she had it on good authority that Christine O’Donnell was the new guest host for Fox & Friends. Oops, turns out Maddow wasn’t so brilliant, and seems she may need a crystal ball, because O’Donnell is NOT a guest host on Fox anything. So, Maddow was wrong, but has yet to come out on her show to “debunk” herself. The Left hasn’t demanded that Maddow correct her false claim, you know, like they do when the Right “lies” but “never” retracts. Oh, and we didn’t have any head-lines that read MSNBC is misinforming the public by the Left, either. Hmm, maybe they’re still in the works…I won’t hold my breath though.

Fox News makes a mistake and they are Faux News, Fixed News, Fog News, and Fascist News, to name a few. MSNBC errs and it’s no big deal. I don’t like the double standard. If one news source screws up a map and is called ill-informed, stupid and every other conceived name in the book, then every other news source that screws up should be stupid, ill-informed and every other conceived name in the book, too. EVERY news medium SHOULD be held to the SAME standards.

I hear and read that there isn’t bias in the media, but that’s simply not true. It’s sometimes difficult to SEE the bias when the side you’re on is doing the slanting, because it appears normal, therefore you don’t SEE it. We need to look at our media WITHOUT our political lenses. It’s challenging because we tend to see issues from our OWN perspective. But our media is TOO important and MUST be held to different and higher standards. They are supposed to be our watchdogs; therefore we need them to use FACTS, not opinions or prejudices, and they must NOT wear political lenses. They MUST NOT omit facts, even if those facts could harm someone with the same political leanings.

I would really like a reliable, honest news source. One that reports FACTS and omits the slanting and bias. I truly believe it would be the most popular venue that would pull in the highest ratings because it would receive viewership from both sides of the political aisle for reporting FACTS, not opinions. (We have enough of those!) The public wants information, and it deserves the truth.

But hey, I won’t hold my breath.

Comments

  1. Thank god for the internet and the rest of us. Remember the days of three news networks and no way to even spot the bias?

    Maybe it's not going to be possible to find an unbiased news source, but it would be nice to slow down the news cycle to allow for a little more fact checking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent post Pamela. Your comments are spot on factual, without bias, and unfortunately far above your average liberal and conservatives capacity to discern your Truth.

    I will now freely admit I am a cynic, the result of dunderhead liberals and so called conservatives alike.

    Call me what you will. At this point I couldn't care less. I will call em as I see em and this nation is in DEEP TROUBLE.

    Plod on Oh Obama the Wonderkind. Plod on Oh you Gifted and Highly Intelligent beyond belief PROGRESSIVES and NEO-CONS.

    Your combined intellectual prowess over the last century plus has given us a great reality. Thanks ever so much.

    Now I shall go have a class of a fine french wine and content myself to the realization the human race is, well, ..... I'll leave that one to you all.

    ReplyDelete

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